Tony Kanaan made the most of his qualifying position at Richmond International Raceway to avoid the chaos that marred the SunTrust Indy Challenge and claim his first victory of the 2008 IndyCar Series campaign.
Starting from the pole meant that the Brazilian was ahead of the majority of the incidents that forced no fewer than nine yellow flag periods as the 300-lap race saw a third of its distance completed at controlled pace. Ironically, however, the result was probably decided when a yellow
didn't appear, as Marco Andretti's alternative strategy saw him making the only green flag stop of the day, losing the lead of the race in the process.
The mayhem began as the field took the green for the first time, Ryan Hunter-Reay spinning his Rahal Letterman Racing entry even before crossing the start line as he attempted to floor the throttle in an attempt to make up early positions, having been forced to start at the back by problems in qualifying.
Although RHR was able to control the rotation and rejoin the tail of the field, he took advantage of the surprisingly prolonged yellow to join fellow backmarkers Enrique Bernoldi and Justin Wilson in the pits. Only two rejoined, however, as Bernoldi called it a day after reporting that his car continued to feel unhappy following its hefty practice crash on Friday.
The restart was finally called for lap eight, but 'racing' only lasted a matter of corners as Will Power, aware that he was being pinched down by Helio Castroneves, lost the Team Australia car in turn four and hit the wall hard with the right-hand side. The Aussie later reported that his car had been loose from the start and denied that there had been any contact from Helio.
Castroneves had been the man on the move in the opening laps. Defying the belief that Richmond does little to promote overtaking among the Indycar fraternity, the Team Penske driver showed that his qualifying performance had been an abhoration by rising ten places in as many laps.
