Dan Wheldon had enough fuel to perform a few smoke-filled spins after his victory June 26 in the twilight SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway.

The No. 26 Klein Tools/Jim Beam Dallara/Honda/Firestone, he might say, was good to the last drop.

Wheldon, who inherited the lead on Lap 193 when the leaders pitted under yellow for fuel and tires, ran the final 121 laps on the 0.75-mile Richmond International Raceway on one tank (30 gallons) of methanol.

Confidence in fuel calculations and pit strategy of his Andretti Green Racing team manager, Tony Cotman, was rewarded after some anxious moments in the cockpit early in the race. It was the second victory of the IRL IndyCar® Series season for Wheldon, the 2003 Bombardier Rookie of the Year.

"It's a little luck, but also good strategy," team co-owner Michael Andretti said. "At a little place like this, track position is king."

Wheldon, who started an IndyCar Series career-low 20th, wasn't concerned about position early in the race -- save for being lapped by leader Sam Hornish Jr. on Lap 65.

"(In the team's pre-race meeting) they said there's a probable chance you are going to go a lap down early in the race," Wheldon related. "But Tony said, 'Don't panic.' When (Hornish) passed me, I definitely freaked out a little bit. But once they explained to me again the car what we needed to do, how we needed to do it, that kind of made sense. So I got into a rhythm."

Wheldon pitted for four tires and fuel on Lap 113 with others on the lead lap, and Cotman had him come in again to top off the fuel cell on Lap 129. A good handling car quickly gave Wheldon the opportunity he was seeking.

"I was kind of fortunate all night," he said. "The traffic that I came up to I was able to pass very quickly and run in clean air. That gave me track position.

“I think every time that you get into an Andretti Green car you know it’s always going to be relatively strong. I don't think I had the quickest car today, but what helped me during the race was the fact I could run a lot of laps on the Firestones and the car just seemed to keep getting better and better.”

It was the deepest starting spot to victory since Al Unser Jr. came from 21st to win at Las Vegas in 2001. It was the fourth victory of the season for Andretti Green Racing.

“With the teammates I have, I harp about it, but when you qualify 20th and you’re able to come through and win, it’s their help that really does it,” Wheldon said. "Obviously, Tony called an excellent race and (engineer) Eddie Jones kind of turned our car around (from the qualifying effort). It's a whole team effort."

Wheldon won under caution after a post-race review of the final lap by IRL senior vice president of racing operations Brian Barnhart. After contact between the cars of Ed Carpenter and Greg Ray brought out a caution on Lap 246, drivers simultaneously took the green and white flags. Wheldon maintained his position on the restart and pole sitter Helio Castroneves passed Vitor Meira for second.

Barnhart nullified the restart because the track’s yellow caution lights were still flashing. The results were posted as the field crossed the start-finish line on Lap 249. The ruling moved Meira to second and Castroneves was credited with third. Tony Kanaan's pass of Bryan Herta for fourth also was disallowed.

“We had the white and green flag, so I restarted normally but the yellow kept blinking,” Meira said. “I thought something happened behind me in the pack that I didn’t know about because of the yellow. My spotter said, ‘Still yellow, still yellow,’ so I didn’t get a good jump on the restart.

“When Helio passed me, I realized there must have been a mistake, so I got on the gas. My thought was to stay slow because of the yellow.”

Kanaan, who won the Bombardier 500k two weeks ago at Texas Motor Speedway, maintained the Series points lead. But Wheldon sliced it in half and trails Kanaan 240-225.

"Certainly with where I qualified there wasn't any particular laps where I was driving any harder," Wheldon said. "I had to drive real hard throughout the race. But that's what makes the championship exciting.

"Our four cars are very strong, and I could name 10 others that could potentially win a race. That's what makes the series very exciting for me."