2008 SunTrust Indy Challenge

The 2008 SunTrust Indy Challenge was the ninth round of the 2008 IndyCar Series season and took place on June 28, 2008 at the 0.750-mile (1.207 km) Richmond International Raceway, in Henrico County, Virginia. At the start, Ryan Hunter-Reay spun just before the start/finish line, which brought the yellow out immediately. The first 7 laps were run under yellow with Tony Kanaan leading from the pole position. On lap 8, the green came out, but only one lap was completed before the next yellow. Will Power was driving below Hélio Castroneves, lost control, and crashed in turn 4. The race finally got going on lap 21, when the green came out once again. On lap 31, A. J. Foyt IV touched wheels with John Andretti, and Foyt crashed in the wall in turn 2. His Vision Racing teammate Ed Carpenter ran over debris from the crash, and both cars were sidelined. During the caution, a handful of cars pitted, including Danica Patrick and rookie Jaime Camara, but most of the leaders stayed on the track.

United States 2008 Richmond
Race details
9th round of the 2008 IndyCar Series season
DateJune 28, 2008
Official nameSunTrust Indy Challenge
LocationRichmond International Raceway
CoursePermanent racing facility
0.750 mi / 1.207 km
Distance300 laps
225.000 mi / 362.102 km
Weather89 °F (32 °C), Hazy
Pole position
DriverTony Kanaan (United States Andretti Green Racing)
Time1:04.3333 (4 laps)
Fastest lap
DriverTony Kanaan (United States Andretti Green Racing)
Time16.9369 (on lap 234 of 300)
Podium
FirstTony Kanaan (United States Andretti Green Racing)
SecondHélio Castroneves (United States Penske Racing)
ThirdScott Dixon (United States Chip Ganassi Racing)

Kanaan continued to lead when debris brought out the caution again on lap 67. All of the leaders pitted, while Camara and Patrick stayed out and took the first two spots. On the restart, Camara led the field, but Buddy Rice spun and tagged the wall on the frontstretch. The field checked up, and Darren Manning, Ryan Briscoe and Bruno Junqueira were involved in a separate crash. Camara led at the next restart, while Kanaan, Patrick, and Castroneves went 3-wide for second. Behind them in turn 2, John Andretti and Vítor Meira tangled, and crashed hard in the wall. Patrick returned to the pits, and topped off with fuel. Camara continued to lead, and impressively held off Kanaan on the restart. On lap 116, Marco Andretti caught up to Camara, and took the lead for the first time.

Graham Rahal crashed on lap 133 in turn 4. Many of the leaders pitted, but Marco Andretti stayed out to lead. Another restart saw only three green laps, as yet another crash occurred, this time involving Hunter-Reay and Mario Moraes. Around this time, some teams anticipated that rain might end the race early. Marco Andretti gave up the lead on lap 204 when he made his final pit stop. That put Kanaan back into the lead. On lap 217, after a brilliant run in the top five, Camara lost control and crashed on the frontstretch. The yellow trapped Andretti a lap down, and kept Kanaan in the lead after the final sequence of pits stops. The rain held off, and Kanaan led the rest of the way for his first victory of the season.

Result

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Finish Car
No.
Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Laps
Led
Points
1 11   Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing 300 2:04:05.5111 1 166 53
2 3   Hélio Castroneves Penske Racing 300 +4.7691 18 0 40
3 9   Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 300 +6.6504 4 0 35
4 10   Dan Wheldon Chip Ganassi Racing 300 +7.7270 6 0 32
5 5   Oriol Servià (R) KV Racing 300 +10.7701 10 0 30
6 7   Danica Patrick Andretti Green Racing 300 +10.9198 14 0 28
7 02   Justin Wilson (R) Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing 300 +16.3094 23 0 26
8 23   Townsend Bell Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 300 +17.5175 21 0 24
9 26   Marco Andretti Andretti Green Racing 299 +1 Lap 2 90 22
10 33   E. J. Viso (R) HVM Racing 298 +2 Laps 19 0 20
11 20   Ed Carpenter Vision Racing 238 +62 Laps 13 0 19
12 14   Darren Manning A. J. Foyt Enterprises 235 +65 Laps 22 0 18
13 27   Hideki Mutoh (R) Andretti Green Racing 220 Mechanical 7 0 17
14 34   Jaime Camara (R) Conquest Racing 217 Contact 24 44 16
15 6   Ryan Briscoe Penske Racing 158 +142 Laps 11 0 15
16 17   Ryan Hunter-Reay (R) Rahal Letterman Racing 143 Contact 25 0 14
17 19   Mario Moraes (R) Dale Coyne Racing 143 Contact 20 0 13
18 06   Graham Rahal Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing 131 Contact 3 0 12
19 25   Marty Roth Roth Racing 117 Handling 15 0 12
20 4   Vítor Meira Panther Racing 91 Contact 17 0 12
21 24   John Andretti Roth Racing 91 Contact 12 0 12
22 15   Buddy Rice Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 80 Contact 5 0 12
23 18   Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne Racing 78 Contact 9 0 12
24 2   A. J. Foyt IV Vision Racing 29 Contact 8 0 12
25 8   Will Power (R) KV Racing 8 Contact 16 0 10
26 36   Enrique Bernoldi Conquest Racing 6 Handling 26 0 10
Race average speed: 108.790 mph (175.081 km/h)
Lead changes: 3 between 3 drivers
Cautions: 9 for 102 laps

References

edit
Preceded by IRL IndyCar Series
round 9

2008
Succeeded by