Ganassi Duo dominate race, season & championship

While Ganassi driver Dario Franchitti would lead the field to the green flag, it would be teammate Scott Dixon who would lead them to the checkers, tying Sam Hornish Jr.'s record for the most wins in IndyCar series history.

The duo of Dixon and Franchitti have now won 5 of the 8 races this season, and sit 1-2 in the Championship, with Franchitti edging the reigning champ by just 1 point.

The race started in what has become typical fashion this season, with the caution flying before the completion of the first lap. Jacques Lazier in the Team 3G car, who started at the back of the field, had a solo spin putting an end to what had already been a frustrating weekend for the team, and would likely have been a frustrating evening for Lazier with a car that was way off pace.

"We've been battling a car that we just can't get a hold of," said Lazier. "At the start of the race we went into the corner and got tied up with everyone slowing down I was just waiting when the thing just snapped around on me. It is a tough deal and I feel bad for the guys."

Back to green, the field got back to the business of racing, with Marco Andretti showing that he meant business. The big mover, jumping from 16th to 11th on the first lap, he picked up two additional spots and settled in behind teammate Hideki Mutoh.

27 laps in the caution flew again. Another solo off, this time for points leader Ryan Briscoe, who's car snapped around coming out of turn 2 and slamming him hard into the wall. The crew initially thought of repairing the car and sending him back out to try to collect some points, but the damage was too extensive and Briscoe's night was done.

"The car just snapped on me and caught me by surprise," said Briscoe. "It's obviously very disappointing and hopefully we can start catching back up next week in Watkins Glen. I feel bad for the Team Penske guys, they worked hard all weekend and it's a shame we ended the race they way we did."

With the DNF, Briscoe loses the points lead, heading into Watkins Glen now 3rd in the Championship.

The entire field minus AGR drivers Hideki Mutoh and Danica Patrick came in for pit stops, putting them on an alternate strategy and allowing for Mutoh to take the field to the green flag and lead the first laps of his IndyCar career. Though Franchitti was able to easily get around Patrick for second, Mutoh managed to hold off the hard charging Scot until lap 105 when he would have to pit for fuel. Patrick, who was also on an alternate strategy, went a handful of laps further than her teammate, pitting on lap 112.

As the green flag pit stops were just about coming to completion, D&R driver Mike Conway found the wall, bringing the field to caution with just three drivers still to pit. Graham Rahal and Dario Franchitti had to come in for a splash and go, which handed the race lead to Dixon.

Back to green once again, there was a lot of driving, but not a lot of racing. On a short oval, which sets up for a lot of dicing through traffic, there was very little if any competitive passing, setting the stage for a long, single file stint.

With the laps winding down, and the field all beginning their final round of green flag pit stops, it was looking like the alternate fuel strategy may play out for Mutoh and Patrick. Unfortunately for them, in an almost mirror image of the earlier incident prior to the completion of the green flag pit stops, Helio Castroneves would find the marbles then the wall just prior to the leaders making their stops, thus taking away the alternate strategy advantage from the AGR drivers. With Castroneves joining his teammate in the DNF category, this marks the first race since 2007 in Michigan that neither Penske car has finished.

Dixon would win the race off pitlane, ahead of teammate Franchitti and Newman Haas Lanigan's Graham Rahal. Though Franchitti would eventually catch Dixon in traffic, he would be unable to make any pass or real challenge for the win.

Highlight of the race:

E.J. Viso finished his first race this season, finally shaking the bad mojo that has followed the team at every event. Some squiggly moments had everyone catching their breath, but Viso held on and brought the car across the line in one unscathed piece.

Lowlight of the race:

Very little actual racing.

Dario Franchitti walked into the media center at post race and asked if everyone was still awake. This only punctuated the earlier comments of himself and several of his fellow drivers post race about the lack of "show" or actual racing that went on in the 300 laps contested tonight. There is definitely a problem with the current set up with needs to solved asap for everyone's sake.

Then again, perhaps "oval fatigue" has set in and the change of pace and track layout for the next handful of races will infuse a little bit of excitement into the fray.

With Richmond complete, the series now heads northeast to the historic Watkins Glen International for the Camping World Grand Prix, July 3-5.

SUNTRUST INDY CHALLENGE POST-RACE QUOTES:

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing, winner SunTrust Indy Challenge): "Richmond has been a place I've wanted to win at again for quite some time. You know, we won here in 2003. To come through and get the points when we need them and have such a great day points-wise over the Penske two was very, very big. I definitely hand it to Team Target. The guys definitely had it covered with a 1-2 and almost putting the majority of the field almost a lap down."

DARIO FRANCHITTI (No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing, finished second): "It's a great 1-2 for the Target team. It came down to a yellow. We were very close on fuel and had to come in when the pits are closed. We couldn't pass. We were a second slower when we were in traffic. I have to apologize to the fans because that was an awful, awful race. There's nothing the drivers can do about it. We're trying as hard as we can. It was a terrible race, but the bright spot is a 1-2 for Team Target."

GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 02 McDonald's Racing Team, finished third): "It shows how hard the McDonald's guys worked because honestly at the start of this weekend we weren't where we wanted to be and we were struggling. We just kept working through it. It's great to be on the podium. We've been good on the short ovals but we just need to find some more speed on the mile-and-a-halfs."

HIDEKI MUTOH (No. 27 Formula Dream, finished fourth): ""The car was great. We made some changes at practice yesterday so that made the car better. The guys did a fantastic job with the pit stops."

DANICA PATRICK (No. 7 Boost Mobile/Motorola, finished fifth): "It was good. I wasn't sure how staying out on that first yellow would work out. I guess it did work out. When we first went back out we were really fast and we were picking people off. I don't know if that had anything to do with that strategy working out. The guys did a real good job in the pits tonight. I would have liked to stay up with Scott and Dario in the beginning when we stayed out because I think we had the pace. The car got better and better all night. When you get lapped traffic in the way some are tougher than others and it makes for a long night. It was a solid run for AGR. We need to put our heads together and figure out what happened with our qualifying here and apply that to everywhere else. We will have to work harder."

TONY KANAAN (No.11, 7-Eleven, finished 6th):"The Team 7-Eleven crew was able to make a good night out of a rough weekend. I think we did out best and made some good decisions on the strategy. The yellows weren't always in our favor but I think we put a good show on for the fans."

RAPHAEL MATOS (No. 2 US Marines/Luczo Dragon Racing, finished eighth): "We're happy to finish top 10, but we had a top 5 car. We were held up on one of the restarts and that really hurt us. Overall it's a good result. After a DNF at Iowa it was extremely important for us to finish tonight. It was good for the Marines Luczo Dragon team to get another top 10, to increase the lead in the Rookie of the Year race and to pick up two positions in the point standings. We proved again that we are capable of running up front. We have the performance, it's just a matter of putting all the pieces together."

ROBERT DOORNBOS (No. 06 Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, finished ninth): "That was very hard work for P9. It reminds me of my F1 days when you had to work really hard to get up there. I'm very happy with the experience. It was very good for us to come home like this. All my team did a great job in setting up the car, it was really good to drive. Unfortunately, we got unlucky with the yellow twice. I think we had the pace, especially with new tires. I was pushing really hard and really enjoyed that. For me it was like driving like in qualifying for 300 laps. With a bit more luck with the yellows we would have been higher but I'm happy with a good solid race. This will make me stronger on ovals but I have to be honest, I look forward to the road courses."

ED CARPENTER (No. 20 Menards/Vision Racing): "It was a frustrating race. You could run a decent pace on your own but this was like no Richmond race I have ever run before. The no.20 Menards car was really affected by dirty air and loss of grip in traffic. We didn't have much luck with cautions coming out of the pits either. Finishing in 13th place is nothing to be happy with but we made it through in one piece when others didn't."

JAQUES LAZIER (No. 98 Novicomm LED Lighting Technology): "We've been battling a car that we just can't get a hold of. At the start of the race we went into the corner and got tied up with everyone slowing down I was just waiting when the thing just snapped around on me. It is a tough deal and I feel bad for the guys."

RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Team Penske): "The car just snapped on me and caught me by surprise (Briscoe was involved in a single-car incident in Turn 2 on lap 27). It's obviously very disappointing and hopefully we can start catching back up next week in Watkins Glen. I feel bad for the Team Penske guys, they worked hard all weekend and it's a shame we ended the race they way we did."

MIKE CONWAY (No. 24 Charter/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing): "Basically Ed (Carpenter) came out of the pits and I went to the outside of him and caught the marbles. That was it."

HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Team Penske): "I'm extremely disappointed with the way our race ended tonight. We didn't have a winning car but we had a top-5 car and we were just trying to stay on the lead lap and score some Championship points. Unfortunately for some reason a car slowed down in front of me and in order for me to not crash him, I ended up crashing myself. I had to get out of the throttle which just pushed my car up into the marbles and then the wall. We just have to focus on Watkins Glen and move forward."

Full results of the race on Richmond Raceway