Dixon Ties Hornish's Win Record

 RICHMOND, VA ~ With his 19th career victory Saturday night, Scott Dixon pulled even with Sam Hornish Jr's career IndyCar Series win record.  One would expect Dixon to overtake the mark, and claim his 20th win sooner than later.  Dixon owned the second half of the Richmond race and cruised to the #9 car's third win of the season.  During a midway pitstop, Scotty D took the lead from his teammate, Dario Franchitti, and never looked back.  The win puts him into second place in the standings, only one point shy of Franchitti, who took second Saturday.  Graham Rahal was third.

                                                          Franchitti, Dixon and Rahal on the podium at Richmond.

  

Team Target Chip Ganassi claimed the 1-2 finish, and had a huge points day over rival Team Penske.  Both Penske racers found the wall and failed to finish.  Ryan Briscoe completed only 26 laps before sliding high and into the wall.  Helio Castroneves imitated his teammate on lap 246.  They finished 19th and 17th, respectively, the first DNF of the season for both.

Andretti Green Racing ran strong, considering less than stellar starting positions.  Hideki Mutoh led his first ever IndyCar Series laps, logging a total of 74 out front.  Mutoh finished fourth, following up a solid third at Iowa last week.  Danica Patrick ran strong all night, and appeared in position for a podium finish before Castroneves' late crash allowed the leaders to avoid a green flag pit stop.  She finished behind Mutoh in fifth.

Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti finished sixth and seventh, respectively.  The AGR drivers claimed solid points at Richmond, however still have to figure out how to compete with the Target and Penske teams.  This momentum will have to carry over to the road courses, starting with Watkins Glen next.

Overall, the SunTrust Indy Challenge was the subject of criticism for being a dull, processional race.  The night turned into a track position and fuel milage competition.

Practice Update: Franchitti, Matos fastest

Dario Franchitti turned in the fastest practice speed of 166.135.  Raphael Matos recorded a speed of 165.816, second fastest, surprising when you consider this is his first run on Richmond's oval.  Scott Dixon was third.  No surprise that Target Chip Ganassi's drivers are running fast and strong today.

Rounding out the top-10, in order:  Castroneves, Scheckter, Viso, Wheldon, Mutoh, Briscoe and Marco.  

Problems continue for Tony Kanaan as he only ran 13 laps before a fuel leak problem sent the 7-Eleven team back to the garage.  His fastest speed was clocked at 162.137.  TK has already said this weekend is very important.  In midst of his worst season in years, Kanaan sits seventh in points and needs a momentum boost here.

The qualifying order has been released; Mario Moraes will lead things off, followed by Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti.  Helio Castroneves will go 10th, and Danica Patrick will anchor the field (20th).  The qualifying will air on VERSUS tonight at 5pm CST.  

Franchitti Wins at Iowa

The third running of the Iowa Corn Indy 250 brought a re-peat winner in two ways on Sunday.  Dario Franchitti took the checkers at the Iowa Speedway for the second time in his career.  He won the inaugural race there in 2007.  Also, Target Chip Ganassi's #10 entry won for the second season in a row, as Dan Wheldon got the job done for the team last season.

                         

IOWA RESULTS

1.  Dario Franchitti

- Loves this track.  Two wins in two races (missed last years), and holds the track's speed record at 182.031 mph (set in '07).  Dario was also this year's fastest in practice at 182.031 mph, which gets him around the 7/8 mile oval in 17.6805 seconds.  He's fast.

2.  Ryan Briscoe

-  As frustrating as a third second-place finish in a row can be, he continues his perch atop the standings after seven races.  Briscoe led the most laps (85), but gave his lead up to Dario during the last installment of pit stops.

3.  Hideki Mutoh

-  Turned in the fastest lap of the day, reaching 178.673 on lap 32.  Mutoh now has back-to-back top three finishes at Iowa, the best two races of his career.  He was all smiles as he got out of his blue and red Formula Dream car Sunday afternoon.

4.  Dan Wheldon

-  Run was solid from start to finish, including a stint in the lead (laps 106-113).  The National Guard Panther Racing team has to love having Wheldon in the seat.  He sits sixth in the points after Sunday.

5.  Scott Dixon

-  If it wasn't for qualifying being cancelled due to weepers, Dixon could have contended for his third pole at Iowa.  If that happened, Helio wouldn't have flatten his tire 18 laps into this one after being passed by #9.  Dixon held it together for the 30 points.

6.  Tomas Scheckter

-  His #23 Mona Vie car was one of the best on race day.  Starting 16th, he flew around six cars on the high side during the first lap!  Tomas showed he can race with the best of them, when he isn't in the wall.

7.  Helio Castroneves

-  A disappointing day for Helio as he started on the Peak pole and dropped back to finishing a lap down.

8.  Mike Conway

-  The Dad's Root Beer car delivered for Father's Day.  The rookie kept it steady for his best IndyCar Series finish of his career, and turned in the largest move of the day (19th to 8th).

9.  Danica Patrick

-  Lead for the first time this year, yet snapped the string of five consecutive top-6's. Despite debris causing a flat tire on the first lap, and a near disaster with Conway and Rahal, her run was fast and competitive.

10.  Ed Carpenter

-  The sole Vision Racing entry has a mediocre car.  Started 13th, finished in the middle, and now sits 12th in the standings.  

11.  Graham Rahal

-  Was forced high early, and brushed the Turn 3 wall.  Was forced to pit, and never recovered, he finished five laps down.  His season is slipping, with only one top-10 in the last three races.

12.  Marco Andretti

-  Crashed in practice, and had to make too many adjustments during the race.  Hard to recover from that on a short oval.  He'll be back in the top-10 at Richmond.

13.  Jaques Lazier

-  Was slow, and in the way all day.  Last of the cars in "Running" status.

14.  Tony Kanaan

-  Oh, TK!  His third crash in turn 2 at Iowa in three races there.  Led for 48 laps early, yet after a green flag pit stop for fresh (cold) Firestones, he spun around and hit the wall ending his day early, AGAIN.

15.  Robert Doornbos

-  Got sideways on Turn 4 of Lap 1 and tangled up with Hunter-Reay.  The Newman/Haas/Lanigan team was able to get him back on the track, but retired later due to handling.

16.  Raphael Matos

17.  Mario Moraes

-  Matos took Moraes with him into the Turn 2 barrier on Lap 55.

18.  Justin Wilson

-  Became another victim to Turn 2 on Lap 34.

19.  Ryan Hunter-Reay

-  Too much damage from his collision with Doornbos ended his debut in the ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing #14 car on the first lap.

20.  E.J. Viso

-  In a separate incident at the same time in the same spot, Viso failed to complete the first lap Sunday.  He is now 0-for-7 in 2009.  That is "Races Finished for Races Started".  Viso's seat has to be getting hot.