Helio Castroneves said after qualifying that Richmond International Raceway “owed me a victory.”
Well, he got it and climbed the fence for the first time since last October.
Castroneves, who started on the front row in the No. 3 Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Toyota/Firestone, led the final 100 laps of the SunTrust Indy Challenge on the 0.75-mile D-shaped oval and won the fifth annual event on a balmy early summer evening. Castroneves, who started from the pole in 2004, finished third.
Dario Franchitti, who started fifth in the No. 27 ArcaEx Dallara/Honda/Firestone, finished second and Patrick Carpentier third.
Tony Kanaan and Sam Hornish Jr. lost ground in the points race with leader Dan Wheldon because of early exits.
Kanaan, the reigning IndyCar Series champion who is second in the standings, had his streak of races completed end at 25 when his No. 11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone made contact with the No. 17 Menards/Johns Manville Panoz/Honda/Firestone driven by Vitor Meira on Lap 145. The last DNF for Kanaan was in August 2003 at Nazareth Speedway.
“I knew it was going to happen one day,” he said. “So today was the day. We didn’t start the weekend too good, so let’s forget about it and go to Kansas.”
Hornish, the pole sitter with a track-record 176.244 mph (15.3197 seconds) and third in the standings, exited on Lap 165 when his No. 6 Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Toyota/Firestone spun in Turn 4 and made contact with the SAFER Barrier.
“The car was pretty good throughout the race,” said Hornish, who was running second to Castroneves after passing Franchitti two laps earlier. “It was driver error. I was trying to push it too hard trying to get around Helio.”
Three hours before the green flag, hordes of enthusiastic fans were already milling in the midway. Purchasing Danica Patrick merchandise and trying their hand at the Indy Racing League Fan Experience interactive properties were a favorite pastime.
In the garage area, a smaller but was equally enthusiastic crowd was on the prowl for autographs. And they weren’t disappointed. From Patrick to Helio Castroneves, who joined his Marlboro Team Penske teammate on the front row, the swelling crowds behind the haulers got a closer look at the stars of the series.
