Dario Franchitti's Pit at Richmond--Just Another Saturday Night Cruise?????Saturday Night Special--IRL Indy Cars at Richmond...Short Track DeLuxe
Greetings from Richmond...which is a 3/4 mile oval...just about the perfect length for NASCAR Nextel Cup cars. Tonight, after a rainout of qualifying, the IndyCar series runs on its shortest track of the year...some wags describe driving these cars as similar to "flying jet planes in a barn". Dario Franchitti starts on pole because of the washout of qualifying. The Indy 500 winner comes off a win in the "wreckfest" at Iowa Speedway's 7/8 mile oval. Dario's led most of these laps easily...in the late stages, he's fighting off the challenges of Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon. Danica Patrick is 6th...not quite a factor, with 224 of 250 laps in the books.
Updated at 9 PM local.
Dario Franchitti holds off Scott Dixon for his second win in the last 7 days; adds to point lead going into Watkins Glen next week. Margin of victory was 0.41 second...Franchitti was credited for leading 241 of the 250 laps.
Updated at 9:35 PM local
Best quote of the night from Dario (whose picture we shot at the post-race news conference) "You get paid to do the PR stuff; the driving you do because you like it."--attributed to Scott Dixon in a response to a question about all the media appearances that accrue to Indianapolis 500 winners.
If we get to an event next weekend, then we'll blog from there.
