Kanaan thrilled to end win drought

The 2004 champion had fought for victory in several races this year but was involved in a number of incidents and not won since last season's Detroit race.

He was on course to win the season-opener at Homestead until being clipped by the spinning EJ Viso in the closing laps, then crashed while dicing with teammate Marco Andretti at Indianapolis, and spun into the wall when running third at Iowa a week ago.

Kanaan was therefore delighted to stay out of trouble in last night's chaotic Richmond race and convert his pole position into a win.

"I'm going to enjoy my win tonight for sure," he said. "I knew that I had to keep fighting. There's nothing else I can do. If you're going to have the season you expect every year, then it's going to be pretty boring I would say."

He said the Iowa error had made him particularly determined to get back on track at Richmond.

"I knew it was going to turn around," Kanaan said. "I didn't know when. I thought it was last weekend and I made a mistake.

"When those kind of things happen, I have a tendency to actually have more strength to turn the situation around.

"I think I work better when I put a lot of pressure on myself, and you know, I came in determined to win this race, and it worked out."

The Andretti Green driver added that he had not necessarily expected Richmond to be the scene of his comeback given his poor recent record at the 0.75-mile oval.

"Out of all of the races my best finish here out of the last six years was fourth; so it wasn't the race that I would say, we had a huge shot," Kanaan said.

"I knew that we had a good car, but it's how funny racing is. Sometimes it comes when you least expect it."