Franchitti wins again at Richmond

Franchitti put on another dominating show Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway, leading all but eight laps of the 250-lap SunTrust Indy Challenge. It was his second commanding win on a short oval in seven days. Last Sunday, he controlled most of a crash-filled race at Iowa Speedway.

With a stretch of races that plays to Franchitti's strengths - Watkins Glen, Nashville and Mid-Ohio - the rest of the IndyCar Series is beginning to wonder if it's a done deal.

All except Franchitti, who cautions that, in spite of an impeccable first nine races this season, he and his Andretti Green Racing crew still have eight more left.

"We're way too early in the season to start points racing," Franchitti said. "You have to just get the maximum that you can, but I've always done that, anyway. You take what you can get. There's only so much you can do.

"If the car is good, you've got to be out front. If the car isn't so good, you've got to get the most you can out of it. Sometimes you can grab the car by the scruff of the neck and get an extra place or two, but it seems the way the series is, that's become more and more difficult."

Franchitti, who started from the pole by virtue of entrant points when qualifying was rained out Friday night, took advantage of the starting position. The only time he didn't lead was when Tony Kanaan beat him out of the pits on the 64th lap, and when Helio Castroneves led a lap while the field cycled through green-flag stops on the 160th lap.

Franchitti set two significant records in the course of victory, breaking the track record for average race speed, 133.408 mph, and breaking the IndyCar Series record for most laps led in one race, 242.

Franchitti finished the authoritative performance by pulling away after a restart with six laps remaining to beat Scott Dixon to the finish line by 0.4194 seconds.

Following Franchitti and Dixon to the stripe were Dixon's Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dan Wheldon in third and Franchitti's AGR teammate Kanaan in fourth. Franchitti came into the race with a 51-point lead over Kanaan in the IndyCar standings, but he left with a 65-point lead over Dixon.

Buddy Rice finished fifth, his second-best performance of the season and third consecutive in the top 10. "Iowa was a bit of a gimme," Rice said of his fourth-place finish in a crash-filled race. "But tonight was a legit one, from the back."

Dixon had little for Franchitti at the end, blaming a single-groove track for the issues.

"It was a weird race," Dixon said. "Nobody could make up too much ground on anyone else. It's always tough to pass here. It's very hard to get close to the guy in front of you.

"The restarts were a lot closer. You were worried about losing traction on restarts, so everyone was being very careful. It's the same deal here as always: there are so many marbles off-line. It's just not worth the risk."

About the only drama during an unusually dull Richmond race were attempts to lap Milka Duno before she retired with handling problems after 79 laps, and a late-race attempt by Sam Hornish Jr to pass Franchitti to get a lap back.

Franchitti didn't mind Hornish's attempt, eventually slamming the door after saving fuel for several laps. "I haven't thanked him yet," Franchitti said facetiously. "If Scott wants to look at the race video, he'll see that Sam gave me a bloody hard time. It didn't hurt me toward the end."

Hornish backed off and eventually settled for a 15th-place showing after starting the race with a spin on the frontstretch. Hornish indicated Franchitti played rough, then said he decided to back off to keep from crashing the leader.

"I got blocked a little bit, and then he held me back," Hornish said. "When you're three laps down, you don't want to take out the leader of the race. That was pushed more than necessary."

Dixon wasn't thrilled with the episode either, especially when it prevented him from getting near Franchitti.

"Sam was trying to pass the leader with 20 laps to go, and he was three laps down," Dixon said. "I don't see a reason for it. He ruined that part of the race for us."

Wheldon held on for a frustrating podium finish that kept him alive in the midseason points race - tied for third with Kanaan, 72 points behind Franchitti. Like most other competitors, Wheldon noted the lack of the usual side-by-side Richmond drama.

"It was a very difficult race and very much unlike past races here," Wheldon said. "If you were in the lead, it was good, but when you were trying to get to the leader and pass, it was very difficult."

Kanaan also was frustrated by his inability to gain any ground on Franchitti, especially when lapped cars became an issue. "We were just hanging on today. I'm really disappointed."

The IndyCar Series resumes Friday with practice sessions at Watkins Glen International in preparation for the Camping World Watkins Glen Grand Prix on July 8.

Pos  Driver              Laps
 1.  Dario Franchitti     250
 2.  Scott Dixon          250
 3.  Dan Wheldon          250
 4.  Tony Kanaan          250
 5.  Buddy Rice           250
 6.  Danica Patrick       250
 7.  Tomas Scheckter      250
 8.  Scott Sharp          250
 9.  Vitor Meira          250
10.  Ed Carpenter         250
11.  Helio Castroneves    249
12.  Marco Andretti       249
13.  A.J. Foyt IV         249
14.  Darren Manning       249
15.  Sam Hornish Jr       248
16.  Sarah Fisher         247
17.  Kosuke Matsuura      236
18.  Jeff Simmons         153
19.  Milka Duno            79