Fri Jun 27 20:56:29 2008

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Kanaan quickest at RIR

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Richmond, VA (Sports Network) - Tony Kanaan won the pole for Saturday night's SunTrust Indy Challenge at the Richmond International Raceway. The No.11 Andretti Green Racing driver circled the 0.750-mile short track four times in one minute, 04.3333 seconds (167.876 m.p.h.).

The pole victory was Kanaan's second of the season and 10th of his IndyCar career.

"I was just thanking my guys they did a great job on the stop last week and I kind of let them down," said Kanaan, who finished 18th after an accident.

"I love this track...it's a good place to start from the front for sure," he added.

Starting on the front row with Kanaan will be teammate Marco Andretti who posted a second-best time of 1:04.3642.

Graham Rahal (1:04.5740) and series points leader Scott Dixon (1:04.6242) will start in the second row.

The 2008 IndyCar Series campaign continues to look like the 2003 season in which Dixon won the title.

Five years ago, Dixon won three of the first eight races. If we look at this season's results - Dixon has won three of the first seven events. In 2003 Dixon led 524 laps in his first eight starts versus in 2008 when he has led a series-high 634 laps.

The bad news for the other drivers is that in 2003, Dixon still trailed Kanaan by 31 points after eight events. Currently Dixon holds 48-point lead over Helio Castroneves, starting 18th, and 49 points over his Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dan Wheldon.

Wheldon, the 2005 champion, is coming off a win at the Iowa Speedway to close to within 49 points.

Last year's race at the Richmond International Raceway was dominated by Dario Franchitti who led 242 of 250 laps, but Franchitti has since headed for NASCAR and will not defend his title.

The race is scheduled to drop the green flag on Saturday night at 8 p.m. (et).