Richmond qualification suprises
Written by Scott Keller · June 28, 2008
The Indy Car Series heads from the Heartland to the Eastern Seaboard this weekend to take on the 3/4-mile high banks at Richmond International. Yesterday’s qualifying action produced some surprising results with several of the “new” Indy Car teams qualifying in the top ten.
Tony Kanaan, who has been having a year fraught with horrible luck, turned in the top time of the day, taking the pole position for tonight’s 300-lap race. Kanaan has to be one of the sentimental favorites tonight because he has faced a lot of adversity this year. But he won’t have it easy with two young guns just behind him. Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal will start second and third, and it will be interesting to see how that develops. Both of these young men with legendary last names have both crashed a lot this year, but have run up front. If they can keep their cars out of the fence, they just might be there fighting for their first oval win.
The Target cars also both qualified in the top ten with Dixon in fourth and Wheldon in sixth. They are split by Buddy Rice who drives for Dreyer & Reinbold, one of the smaller teams in the series.
The young phenom from Japan, Hideki Mutoh who had an amazing run at Iowa will start seventh next to AJ Foyt IV, who also had a great run. It is great to see Foyt doing well, and it seems like he is coming along as a drive, especially on the short ovals. I think it would be great to have a Foyt win an Indy Car race again, and he has a shot.
I’d have to say that the biggest surprise of the weekend was the qualifying effort of Bruno Junqueira. This guy has had a tough year, and he’s not exactly driving for the best team in the paddock. But the Coyne team has come a long way in the last three years, and they put together some good laps. It is hard to believe that a DCR car is starting ahead of both Penske cars.
Another “new” Indy Car driver, Oriol Servia, rounds out the top ten. The KV Racing journeyman has been consistent this year, although not terribly fast. He’s done well for KV in getting good track time, and experience for the team. He’s one of the nicest guys in the paddock, and I hope he does well tonight.
The race will air live on ESPN at 8PM ET. Check your local listings.
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