The 2008 SunTrust Indy Challenge was the ninth round of the 2008 IndyCar Series season and took place on June 28, 2008 at the Richmond International Raceway, in Henrico County, Virginia. At the start, Ryan Hunter-Reay spun just before the start/finish line, which brought the yellow out immediately. The first 7 laps were run under yellow with Tony Kanaan leading from the pole position. On lap 8, the green came out, but only one lap was completed before the next yellow. Will Power was driving below Hélio Castroneves, lost control, and crashed in turn 4. The race finally got going on lap 21, when the green came out once again. On lap 31, A. J. Foyt IV touched wheels with John Andretti, and Foyt crashed in the wall in turn 2. His Vision Racing teammate Ed Carpenter ran over debris from the crash, and both cars were sidelined. During the caution, a handful of cars pitted, including Danica Patrick and rookie Jaime Camara, but most of the leaders stayed on the track.
Kanaan continued to lead when debris brought out the caution again on lap 67. All of the leaders pitted, while Camara and Patrick stayed out and took the first two spots. On the restart, Camara led the field, but Buddy Rice spun and tagged the wall on the frontstretch. The field checked up, and Darren Manning, Ryan Briscoe and Bruno Junqueira were involved in a separate crash. Camara led at the next restart, while Kanaan, Patrick, and Castroneves went 3-wide for second. Behind them in turn 2, John Andretti and Vítor Meira tangled, and crashed hard in the wall. Patrick returned to the pits, and topped off with fuel. Camara continued to lead, and impressively held off Kanaan on the restart. On lap 116, Marco Andretti caught up to Camara, and took the lead for the first time.
Graham Rahal crashed on lap 133 in turn 4. Many of the leaders pitted, but Marco Andretti stayed out to lead. Another restart saw only three green laps, as yet another crash occurred, this time involving Hunter-Reay and Mario Moraes. Around this time, some teams anticipated that rain might end the race early. Marco Andretti gave up the lead on lap 204 when he made his final pit stop. That put Kanaan back into the lead. On lap 217, after a brilliant run in the top five, Camara lost control and crashed on the frontstretch. The yellow trapped Andretti a lap down, and kept Kanaan in the lead after the final sequence of pits stops. The rain held off, and Kanaan led the rest of the way for his first victory of the season.
Result Finish CarNo. Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid LapsLed Points 111 Tony KanaanAndretti Green Racing3002:04:05.5111116653 23 Hélio CastronevesPenske Racing300+4.769118040 39 Scott DixonChip Ganassi Racing300+6.65044035 410 Dan WheldonChip Ganassi Racing300+7.72706032 55 Oriol Servià (R)KV Racing300+10.770110030 67 Danica PatrickAndretti Green Racing300+10.919814028 702 Justin Wilson (R)Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing300+16.309423026 823 Townsend BellDreyer & Reinbold Racing300+17.517521024 926 Marco AndrettiAndretti Green Racing299+1 Lap29022 1033 E. J. Viso (R)HVM Racing298+2 Laps19020 1120 Ed CarpenterVision Racing238+62 Laps13019 1214 Darren ManningA. J. Foyt Enterprises235+65 Laps22018 1327 Hideki Mutoh (R)Andretti Green Racing220Mechanical7017 1434 Jaime Camara (R)Conquest Racing217Contact244416 156 Ryan BriscoePenske Racing158+142 Laps11015 1617 Ryan Hunter-Reay (R)Rahal Letterman Racing143Contact25014 1719 Mario Moraes (R)Dale Coyne Racing143Contact20013 1806 Graham RahalNewman/Haas/Lanigan Racing131Contact3012 1925 Marty RothRoth Racing117Handling15012 204 Vítor MeiraPanther Racing91Contact17012 2124 John AndrettiRoth Racing91Contact12012 2215 Buddy RiceDreyer & Reinbold Racing80Contact5012 2318 Bruno JunqueiraDale Coyne Racing78Contact9012 242 A. J. Foyt IVVision Racing29Contact8012 258 Will Power (R)KV Racing8Contact16010 2636 Enrique BernoldiConquest Racing6Handling26010Race average speed: Lead changes: 3 between 3 driversCautions: 9 for 102 laps
References IndyCar Series (Archived 2009-06-01)