In my opinion, this has the look of a force-out by George's three sisters Josie, Nancy, and Kathi. It couldn't have come at a worse time in terms of public relations for the series, which is still getting slammed for markedly poor racing last week at Richmond International Raceway.

If the goal was for a smooth transition from George to Curt Brighton and Jeff Belskus, the new men in charge of the Speedway, that was not reached by any stretch of the imagination.

Consider the fact that Brighton and Belskus were the track's chief legal counsel and chief financial officer of the Hulman-George companies respectively. I don't care what the IMS board was thinking, it's going to look like the track has been taken over by Legal and Finance. And automatically, some people are gonna think, "They're setting up for a sale."

That may not be the truth. I'm betting it isn't the truth. But perception is just as powerful as truth nowadays.

At the same time, I understand where the sisters were coming from. IMS is a cash cow, but the recession has forced the folks at 16th and Georgetown to re-think things. The IRL had won the open-wheel war, so it was natural for somebody to come to George and say, "Tony, good work. But it's time for your league to show it can stand on its own."

And if George had been pushing the alleged half a billion dollars to make this league work in a 14-year span -- well, look at the returns and you could see why the sisters would be wanting to draw the purse strings, especially in this current climate. They may or may not know about racing, but if you were entitled to an inheritance, you'd certainly like to have it, right?

But -- and this is where I really wish we knew the whole damn story -- what exactly set George to give up his post at the IRL? By all accounts, that was the one job the IMS board wanted him to keep and focus on. Is this all just a matter of "You think you can do it better than me, well here's your chance"?

I wouldn't be surprised if it was. Or maybe, George finally got sick of all the drama, all the politics and all the B.S. that infects major-league sports' every nook and cranny these days, which can become amplified when family is involved.

I read Bruce Martin's take on the situation for Versus and I keep coming back to this passage:

"For anyone who knows the history of the Hulman George family, it can be rather contentious - probably not much different than other families around the globe. But most of those families aren't rich and money often outweighs family loyalty. So the sisters turned on Tony. Reports of screaming and shouting in board meetings and family gatherings began to surface.

One report that was never substantiated was Josie threw her checkbook at Tony in the May 26 board meeting and screamed, 'You've spent all my money so here, go ahead and spend the rest of it.'

George had already lost his power as CEO after that meeting but when news leaked out that he was ousted, even the sisters had to be surprised at the backlash that followed. George's mother, Mari Hulman George, issued a statement saying her son was still in power and George met television reporters to say he was still in charge but as the days went on, it became obvious while he still had the title, his decision making power had been stripped."

And then Tony decided to give up the IRL job as well, creating even more surprise for Mari. It's as if any future plans had been geared to see George as the CEO of the IndyCar Series with Mari and the sisters as the watchdogs. And now, unless the two-president system of Brian Barnhart and Terry Angstadt works out fine, those plans need to be recalibrated.

Who would want to deal with a situation like this? Not many. If you told me that you had talked with George after the decision came down and you said you felt a sense of relief around him, I'd believe you. He still has his millions and he can fully focus on his Vision Racing operation now. Considering where the team is, that's enough for his plate.

Still, the handling of this whole situation would make the IRL the biggest soap opera in professional sports -- if it had a higher stature. Instead, it's in big trouble. Everyone expected 2009 to be a tough year with the recession involved, but it's gone from tough to almost unbearable.

At least the league's come out with a plan to make the product better. That's priority one. Priority 1A? That's obvious: Find a leader. One that knows racing and perhaps even more importantly, knows how to market it. I'd nominate Eddie Gossage for the position, but he's in a good spot with his Texas Motor Speedway. I'm not sure if he wants to give that up for the headaches of running an entire racing series.

In the meantime, we've still got a bunch more races to cover and this next one is at a track that's near and dear to my heart. It's the first place I went to see an open-wheel race and it's a beautiful place. This stuff, even with all of its flaws and foibles, still makes me happy.

And that's what counts. We're still gonna watch. We're still gonna root for our favorite drivers. We're still gonna get angry at blocks and chops. And if we're lucky, we'll still yell, "Fight, Fight, Fight" if another pit road brawl breaks out.

While that all occurs, I'm gonna be like George Phillips and give the doom and gloom a rest for now. Leave that for all the numbskulls on Crapwagon that can't let things go.

They can rant and rave. I'll just watch the race.

And remember, folks. It's always darkest before the dawn.

A new management team has been put in place at the Speedway with W. Curtis Brighton taking over as Hulman and Company president and CEO, and Jeffrey G. Belskus becoming president and CEO of the IMS Corporation. The change will be effective tomorrow.

In a statement, IMS chairman of the board Mari Hulman George said that after the IMS board had asked George to "structure [their] executive staff to create efficiencies in [their] business structure and to concentrate his leadership efforts in the Indy Racing League," the grandson of Speedway savior Tony Hulman has "decided that with the recent unification of open-wheel racing and the experienced management team IMS has cultivated over the years, now would be the time for him to concentrate on his team ownership of Vision Racing with his family and other personal business interests he and his family share."

George has been the president and CEO of the Speedway since 1990. During his two decade reign, he has helped the world's greatest racecourse grow beyond the famous Indianapolis 500 to include events from other major series such as NASCAR, Formula One and MotoGP.

In 1994, George formed the Indy Racing League, which ran its first race two years later at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, Florida. The resulting open-wheel split between the IRL and Championship Auto Racing Teams lasted until 2008, when the two sides finally merged under the IndyCar Series banner. 

The turmoil that ensued in the schism has had devastating effects which are still being felt as the IRL attempts to reclaim American open-wheel racing's former glory.

The heat continues to ratchet up for the Milwaukee Mile. As word emerges that its new promoter owes NASCAR nearly $1.9 million for their recent Nationwide and Camping World Truck series events, the IRL is also looking for the full payment from last month's A.J. Foyt Indy 225 at the historic facility.

With the league reportedly heading for a 50-50, nine vs. nine split between oval and road/street races, the buzz is centering around Milwaukee getting the axe. But this goes beyond a simple loss of a race date. Nothing less than the fate of the world's oldest operating motor speedway -- a track that has held auto races since 1903 -- appears to be on the line.

As Jeff Iannucci at MyNameIsIRL.com mentions, it looks like Eddie Gossage's quest to reclaim the coveted post-Indianapolis 500 race date for his Texas Motor Speedway may finally be ending. Texas lost the date to Milwaukee after the 2005 season, something that the promoter extraordinaire has not been happy about in recent years.

Of course, if Gossage gets another dronefest like he did earlier this month, he may not want it so badly. But I'm on a tangent now, so I'll digress on that.

The important thing here is that the IRL is on the verge of losing another piece of American open-wheel racing history, just two years after Michigan International Speedway fell off the schedule in a blur of flying cars and failed negotiations.

Granted, this is not their fault. From what I've read on Milwaukee's financial situation, it appears that's been a real problem for some time now.

Reading Curt Cavin's article on the situation, it appears that based on IRL commercial division president Terry Angstadt's comments, the league is working on a plan to get the money. I'm not quite sure how things like this work: Would they utilize incremental payments or ask Milwaukee for one big payment at a certain time in the near future?

In any case, I feel that the league needs to utilize every possible option in trying to keep Milwaukee on the schedule. It's a fan favorite and like I mentioned, this isn't just the loss of any old race date. Ask the veteran fans about the "Indy-Milwaukee" tradition and I'm sure most of them will tell you they hold it in high regard.

I didn't grow up on that tradition, so I'm not as attached to it, I guess. But even if Eddie Gossage and TMS do get their post-Indy spot back, it'd be sad not to have Milwaukee around.

Let's hope it all works out in the end. It may be a fool's hope at this point, but it's still hope.

Considering that he and his Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing team went through hell last year on the ovals -- a byproduct of their quick integration into the IRL after unification -- Graham Rahal appears to be catching on to speedway racing.

The American driver notched a third-place finish under the lights Saturday at Richmond International Raceway, and while he was unable to catch up to the Target Chip Ganassi Racing duo of Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti, he still felt like it was a big step up for himself and his team.

"I should say to come home second to the Target team is like a victory for us," he said. "And especially with the troubles that some others had, obviously far fewer troubles this year than last.

"But still for us, the guys did a great job in the pits. To be standing on the podium finally on an oval, it feels pretty good, and to kind of give us momentum into the next couple of road courses, where we feel we should be one of the favorites; it's a good improvement."

Dixon, who led Franchitti to the checkered flag for the 19th victory of his career, had some praise for the young American.

"I think he's had a rough start to the season, especially with some of the ovals, like Texas and even I remember seeing him at Iowa and I felt bad for the guy," he said. "He had his hands full there. But to come away with this place on the podium is nothing to sneeze at and I think those guys have been working hard at it."

However, Rahal was, along with Dixon and Franchitti, mulling over the lack of side-by-side racing that turned the event into a snoozer, with fans leaving the 3/4-mile bullring long before the 300-lap race was complete.

Considered to be one of the league's future stars, Rahal felt that he didn't have enough experience in the IRL to figure out an answer to the problem that has marred almost all of the series' oval races this season.

"What is it that fixes it? I honestly can't really tell you because I haven't been in it long enough to know what the cars felt like two years ago here," he said. "I know what it felt like last year, and it was a handful for me anyway, so this year we're finally competitive.

"But from my perspective, it seems like everybody's gotten so close, it's so competitive now, that that makes it tough. But then, again, as Dario says, there are guys certainly struggling out there a lot more tonight than I was. And it was tough to get by."

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Danica, Mutoh score top-5s

Hideki Mutoh and Danica Patrick nearly wound up battling for the win at Richmond on Saturday by making their final stops much earlier than leaders Dixon and Franchitti did. But their plans went down the tubes on Lap 248, when Helio Castroneves hit the SAFER Barrier in Turn 2 to bring out the yellow.

Dixon wound up beating Franchitti and Rahal off of pit road two laps later to effectively seal the victory. Mutoh came home fourth for his second top-5 in a row, and Patrick finished fifth.

The two Andretti Green pilots stayed out under the first yellow, caused by Ryan Briscoe's crash on Lap 27. Patrick admitted she had no idea how that strategy would play. 

"I wasn't sure how staying out on that first yellow would work out," she said. "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."

Patrick qualified tenth for the race, which may not have helped in the end. The American vowed to do more for better starts in the races ahead.

"We need to put our heads together and figure out what happened with our qualifying here and apply that to everywhere else," she said. "We will have to work harder."

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The things we'll do for money

A nice part about Saturday night racing is that drivers, crewmen, fans and media can sleep in. The bad thing is that you have some time to kill beforehand.

Andretti Green Racing's Tony Kanaan wound up making a bet with a league employee to sit in an on-site portapotty (with taped-up ventilation ducts) for one hour in the sweltering heat. If the employee could do it, Kanaan would pay him $1,000 -- money that, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, consisted of $500 from spectators and $500 from himself.

The employee won the bet, which was documented with pictures on Kanaan's twitter feed and quickly spread through the assembled media in the afternoon. 

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Other cool stuff

Mario Moraes paid tribute to the late music legend Michael Jackson by wearing a silver driving glove on the right hand, which was the same as MJ's famous glove. Moraes was 16th in the race...

Castroneves' third Indy 500 victory, which came a month after he was acquitted of federal tax evasion charges, will be up for "Best Moment" honors at the ESPY Awards on July 11. You can vote for Helio (or Scott Dixon, who's nominated with Helio for "Best Driver") here...

Officials from the IRL and International Speedway Corporation (owners of Richmond International Raceway) will meet tomorrow to discuss a 2010 IndyCar date at RIR. But track president Doug Fritz isn't too thrilled about Saturday's race. Click here to read the AP story with his comments... 

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Some material used for this article was taken from the IRL's trackside report on Saturday. 

One of them chimed, "Not after that one."

Franchitti had just finished second in the 300-lap race to his Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon. Even better for the Ganassi gang in terms of the championship, Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe crashed out early in a rare double debacle for Team Penske.

But as far as the show itself, the fans in attendance at RIR probably got a bigger kick out of the post-race fireworks instead of the race itself. The lack of side-by-side action throughout the field made for a boring affair, with Dixon leading the final 161 laps and Franchitti unable to mount any challenge despite being in striking distance in the final stages.

Versus cameras caught Franchitti apologizing to the fans afterwards for "a dreadful race." When he was holding court in the press room, he struggled to find an answer on how to cure the unexciting racing that has prevailed in IndyCar Series oval events this year.

"We have run the zero package before with good results," he said. "Whether it's just the track is getting older...or it's a new compound tire, I don't know what the deal is.

"Because we've got the same ingredients we had two years ago and three years ago when we put on great shows. So we can do it. We just got to figure out what's missing and I don't know the answer to that."

Dixon was glad to have won but called the night both fantastic and frustrating in terms of navigating the 3/4-mile bullring.

"The only guy that kind of got close is my teammate and, to be honest, I don't think there was any way he was going to pass me even if I went a half second or second slower," he said when asked about the problem.  

"It's not one thing. It's not going to be one thing. There are many things we've changed over the last two years that have maybe stopped the amount of passing that we have had. But we've got to keep in mind what we're here to do and we're here to race."

Saturday night didn't see a race, but a parade. Dixon and Franchitti were the class of the field all night long and with Briscoe's Lap 27 crash and Castroneves' on Lap 248 -- both coming in Turn 2 -- there was nobody to stop them.

Dixon took over the point at Lap 139 under yellow after Franchitti pitted for fuel on a closed pit road. While that's legal, it also meant he had to go back a second time for four tires and more ethanol.

Later in the night, Andretti Green Racing's Hideki Mutoh and Danica Patrick pitted on Lap 213 and 224 respectively. Hoping that both Ganassi drivers would have to blink and come to pit road, their plans of stealing a victory were scratched when Castroneves had his wreck.

The ensuing pit stop on Lap 250 saw Dixon retain his lead as he came out of pit road ahead of Franchitti and Graham Rahal. That was basically that.

"Once Scott got ahead, we did our best," Franchitti said. "And we were pushing like hell to pass him, but we couldn't get it done. And the guys in the pits tried their best as well. And they almost got it.

"But when you're up against the Target guys, it's the same with the cars, the cars are equal, the guys are equal in the pits. It's hard to find an advantage. That was it."

Expected challenges from drivers such as defending Richmond champ Tony Kanaan, Dan Wheldon, and Tomas Scheckter never materialized as well.

All of it came together to create a very dull event in a place that isn't called "The Action Track" for nothing. 

And even though the winner and runner-up were happy with their performances, their joy was tempered by the fact that the fans had not gotten a good show.

"We're here to put on a show," Dixon said. "Without our fans, we don't exist. I definitely want to keep on racing for many years. I want to put on a show because I want the fans to come and watch and love what we do."

"I apologized to the fans because they came out to see good racing and traditionally the IndyCar Series put on fantastic races, especially at Richmond," said Franchitti. "I didn't feel tonight was that."

Tens of thousands of race fans that showed up last night are probably agreeing with him now.

8:44 p.m. ET -- GREEN! Jaques Lazier spins out going into Turn 2 and crashes into the SAFER Barrier, ending the night before it starts for Team 3G.

Lap 8 -- BACK TO GREEN.

Lap 16 -- Ryan Briscoe now in the top three. Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon and Briscoe are opening up a gap over fourth-place Helio Castroneves.

Lap 22 -- Marco Andretti has jumped to ninth position, seven up from a 16th place start.

Lap 26: Jaques Lazier to Versus -- "We'd been building more and more momentum and this is the last thing we wanted."

Lap 27: CAUTION! Ryan Briscoe makes contact in Turn 2 and has heavy rear end damage on the No. 6 car.

Lap 31: Leaders head to pit road! Franchitti uses a 6.5-second stop to keep his lead over Scott Dixon out of pit road. Castroneves, Rafa Matos, Graham Rahal and Tony Kanaan (jumping five spots) follow.

Lap 32: Briscoe spun off Turn 2 and crashed in the backstretch. T2 is the toughest part of the track. The 14 degree banking switches to 2 degrees on the backstretch real quick.

Lap 35: Hideki Mutoh and Danica Patrick stay out to get ahead of Franchitti. First laps Mutoh has led in his IndyCar Series career.

Lap 38: BACK TO GREEN!

Lap 41: Franchitti has swiped P2 from Patrick.

Lap 44: Graham Rahal and Marco Andretti touched wheels coming out of T4 a few laps ago, but both survive and keep going. Andretti got sideways a little, but he saved his car.

Lap 48: Tony Kanaan has moved from 17th to seventh.

Lap 54: Mutoh's been able to stay ahead of Franchitti.

Lap 56: Briscoe to Versus on his crash: "I was saving fuel, hanging in there, and it's just so disappointing to have this happen early on."

Lap 60: Tomas Scheckter and Dan Wheldon still have lots of time left, but they haven't moved as much as I thought they would. In fact, Scheckter's fallen to 11th. Wheldon fell to 16th on the first lap, but has climbed back to 13th where he started.

Lap 65: Franchitti has chopped Mutoh's lead down to less than three-tenths of a second.

Lap 75: The field has settled into a rhythm right now. Mutoh still has a lead of a few car lengths on Franchitti.

Lap 82: Castroneves is way behind the front four, but he may be playing possum and saving fuel.

Lap 91: Almost four seconds separate the front four (Mutoh, Franchitti, Patrick and Dixon) and Castroneves. 

Lap 97: Doesn't seem like ANYTHING is happening on the track right now.

Lap 104: Castroneves is getting closer to the front four, the gap betwen him and them is down to less than two seconds.

Lap 106: Mutoh's in the pits under green!

Lap 109: Franchitti holds the point now over Patrick by 1.92 seconds.

Lap 112: Patrick heads for pit road, she's down and away in 8.4 seconds.

Lap 117: Franchitti and Dixon hold the top two spots for Target Chip Ganassi Racing.

Lap 126: Your top 5: Franchitti, Dixon, Castroneves, Matos and Kanaan.

Lap 128: Robert Doornbos makes his stop as does Ryan Hunter-Reay. Still under green.

Lap 133: Mike Conway and Matos make their stops, as does Dan Wheldon.

Lap 138: Green flag stops continue with Ed Carpenter and Kanaan.

Lap 140: CAUTION! Mike Conway in the wall on the frontstretch. Dario Franchitti goes into the pits under yellow to get fuel and then he'll head back.

Lap 142: Franchitti and Rahal were going to pit but had to bail out when Conway crashed. Dixon goes in for his stop and Franchitti does his second one. Rahal goes in the pits and goes out.

Lap 146: All of the cars ahead of Scott Dixon will get the wave around...When that occurs, Dixon, Franchitti and Rahal will be the top 3.

Lap 147: Can't wait to see how the field shakes out thanks to the accident happening under green with cars on pit road.

Lap 152: The entire field besides Dixon, Franchitti and Rahal get the wave around.

Lap 155: RESTART with Dixon, Franchitti, Rahal, Mutoh and Patrick as your top 5.

Lap 165: Dixon leads by almost a second.

Lap 170: Dixon and Franchitti have dusted Rahal. Getting toward another Target march...

Lap 187: Mutoh is in fourth, ahead of fifth-place Patrick by 6.5 seconds. Ouch.

Lap 195: Rahal is moving closer to the Target cars, he's only one second off of Franchitti for second place.

Lap 200: 100 to go. Allen from The Furious Wedge "tweets" that more than a few fans are leaving the track. Not good.

Lap 206: A yellow could spice things up here...or maybe not. The Ganassi guys have been dialed in once again tonight. 

Lap 208: Found on IndyCar.com 'timing and scoring': "Dario Franchitti seems content to follow his teammate and wait until the end to make his move." Yaaaaaaaaaay.

Lap 214: Mutoh kicks off what should be the final stops of the night. Still green.

Lap 220: Dixon's lead is a tick under three-tenths of a second.

Lap 226: Patrick's in for her final stop. 8.2 seconds.

Lap 231: Matos goes to the pits.

Lap 236: I'm really getting tired of this Danica "man boobs" commercial for Boost Mobile, her sponsor.

Lap 237: Just showed replays of E.J. Viso sliding like crazy to stay off the wall in Turn 2. He's still going. Nice save.

Lap 241: Helio's in the pits. One lap later, Wheldon's in and out.

Lap 248: CAUTION! Castroneves in the wall on the backstretch!

Lap 251: Leaders in the pits now! This could be the race right here...Dixon beats Franchitti off pit lane, followed by Rahal in third.

Lap 252: Scheckter was also way high in Turn 2, but it was Castroneves behind him that hit the SAFER. Not sure if Castroneves had to slow up and that helped him go into the wall.

Lap 254: Rahal needs a killer restart coming up against the two Ganassi pilots.

Lap 258: Wave around for all except Dixon, Franchitti, Rahal, Kanaan and Andretti.

Lap 261: RESTART!

Lap 263: Dixon got a great restart, he leads by 1.2 seconds now.

Lap 267: The two Target cars are pulling away. Surprise, surprise.

Lap 278: Less than 25 laps to go with the TCGR cars still 1-2. The Conway caution pretty much shot this race to Hell.

Lap 287: Dixon will have to deal with lapped traffic very soon. Will that help Franchitti catch him?

Lap 290: Ten to go in this one!

Lap 293: Ed Carpenter is in front of Dixon. Will the Vision driver wind up playing a role in the outcome despite being lapped traffic?

Lap 297: Dixon's gonna have to botch in order to lose this one, I think.

Lap 300: CHECKERED FLAG for Scott Dixon over Dario Franchitti, Graham Rahal, Hideki Mutoh and Danica Patrick. Fireworks are now marking the massacre. 

At first glance, this appears to be another chapter in the Penske-Ganassi saga that has basically been the 2009 season so far. But while polesitter Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe will be tough to top, there's a fair share of dark horses including Tony Kanaan, Dan Wheldon, Tomas Scheckter and Graham Rahal. Keep an eye on Kanaan and Scheckter, especially on starts and restarts -- they'll be looking to move up rather quickly.

I'll be posting updates during the race here and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/estradawriting. Keep on the lookout for photos on my feed there and on my Facebook page.

The race starts at 8:45 p.m. ET, with coverage on Versus going on at 8 p.m. ET.

The "Big Three" has become the "Big Two."

Andretti Green Racing has gotten a strong season out of Danica Patrick, but overall, the team has been unable to keep up with the Ganassi gang of Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti and the Penske duo of Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe.

Team leader Tony Kanaan comes into Richmond as the defending race champion, but he's also trying to shake a string of bad luck that has seen him DNF in three of the last four events. Marco Andretti has only grabbed one top-5 finish this season and the same goes for AGR's fourth driver Hideki Mutoh.

All four drivers are in the top ten in points, but this season, it's been the "Big Two" versus everybody else. And now, AGR has joined the side of the latter. They'll have another tough job ahead of them tonight on the bullring. Mutoh starts eighth and Patrick starts tenth, but Andretti and Kanaan are farther back at 16th and 17th respectively.

For AGR, it will take a perfect effort in the SunTrust Indy Challenge -- and even that may not be enough if the "Big Two" are dialed in and stay out of trouble. Franchitti and Dixon are on the front row, while Castroneves and Briscoe hold the second row.

"We definitely have our work cut out for us tomorrow," Andretti said following yesterday's qualifying session. "...The No. 26 car was strong here last year and we'll keep working to get back to that point."

Patrick also acknowledged the challenge (no pun intended) that lies ahead.

"We were really strong here last year and we are completely off our marks this year," she said on Friday. "We have to put our heads together and hopefully, we can figure out what we can do between now and tomorrow. Richmond is a difficult track to pass on, so we need to be strong on the start, any restarts, and in the pits to make up for it."

Adding to the difficulty will be other teams and drivers as well.

Dan Wheldon will start 13th for Panther Racing, but he was second-fastest in final practice under the lights on Friday. Dreyer and Reinbold's Tomas Scheckter (starting ninth) had some sensational moments last week at Iowa and he'll look to do the same thing tonight on another bullring. Graham Rahal (starting fifth) of Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing also looks to be a dark horse here at "The Action Track."

But while AGR has had its troubles, you would think it still has the tools and the resources needed to take down the red cars -- at least, more so than the other teams outside Ganassi and Penske.

Kanaan has been known to shoot off like a rocket on starts and re-starts, and along with Scheckter, they could provide some fireworks at the drop of the green. A steady race from Patrick, combined with some of the usual attrition at RIR, can help her get another good finish. Ditto for Andretti and Mutoh, too.

However, as I mentioned earlier, it all may go for naught if the Penske and Ganassi boys stay up front and stay clean throughout tonight's 300-lap race.

Can the "Big Two" become the "Big Three" again? We may find out after darkness falls.

Interestingly enough, my media center spot was near Curt Cavin from The Indianapolis Star and RACER magazine's Jeff Olson -- yeah, two of the biggest writers in the open-wheel game. Oh, and Bruce Martin from Versus.com was on the other side -- he's no slouch either. 

I ended up picking both Curt and Jeff's brains on what I need to do in order to advance my career even further. They were both easy to talk with, thankfully, and I told them that I appreciated their advice, which I truly do.

Before that though, I met Shawn Fenner from the Richmond Times-Dispatch. I was kinda shocked when he said he knew me from this blog and we had some good conversations during the day.

I also met one of his colleagues at the RTD, Michael Phillips, who got USAC duty at the end of the night. Looking at the crowd (or lack thereof) in the grandstand and in the media center, I pitied him a little. They're both cool folks.

To top it all off, I finally got to meet Allen from The Furious Wedge and Will from IsItMayYet.com. It was great to see them and talk racing with fellow IRL bloggers, and some damn good ones at that.  

I had to get used to the media bullpen again, which I hadn't experienced since I worked the Watkins Glen race in 2005. It would have been fine if it weren't for the fact that it was in the 90s and before the sun had started setting to cool things down. I'm betting my redneck tan got even more defined as a result. But I got what I needed for my Fox story, which will be posted some time before Saturday night's race.

All in all, a good day on the track and in the media center. But things changed after the night fell as Mario Moraes crashed in final IndyCar practice and a giant thunderstorm dumped rain on the area after I left. I caught a great lightning show on my way home.

With the precipitation, that means a green track for both the IndyCar Series and USAC Silver Crown Series drivers tomorrow. The SCS guys will race 100 laps at 6 p.m. ET, followed by the SunTrust Indy Challenge at 8:30 p.m. ET (coverage starts at 8 p.m. ET on Versus).

That means the IndyCar drivers will have nothing but Hoosier rubber to deal with instead of a mix of Hoosier and their regular Firestone Firehawks. Another thing to consider is that the Firestone tire specs for Richmond are completely new this year, featuring a new carcass construction made to reduce understeer and new compound formulas on all four tire positions.

There could be something intriguing in all of this. Or there may not be. I'll have to ask around about it.

Anyway, I'm hoping for a great race. Remember, you can follow all the action tomorrow night right here on Indy Racing Revolution and at www.twitter.com/estradawriting. If you weren't on my twitter page today, know that I'm now using TwitPic, so look for photos from me on the feed as well.

Off to bed now...

Dan Wheldon, who qualified 13th for tomorrow's race (8 p.m. ET, Versus), was P2 in the session with a lap at 161.368 m.p.h. in the No. 4 Panther Racing car. Helio Castroneves was third at 160.943, followed by Dario Franchitti at 160.436 and Graham Rahal at 159.933.

Here's the rundown from tonight's 30-minute session at RIR:

1. 9-Scott Dixon, 161.917.

2. 4-Dan Wheldon, 161.368.

3. 3-Helio Castroneves, 160.943.

4. 10-Dario Franchitti, 160.436.

5. 02-Graham Rahal, 159.933.

6. 2-Raphael Matos, 159.911.

7. 13-E.J. Viso, 159.601.

8. 14-Ryan Hunter-Reay, 159.410.

9. 11-Tony Kanaan, 159.301.

10. 23-Tomas Scheckter, 159.275.

11. 6-Ryan Briscoe, 159.120.

12. 7-Danica Patrick, 157.692.

13. 26-Marco Andretti, 157.395.

14. 24-Mike Conway, 156.763.

15. 20-Ed Carpenter, 156.428.

16. 06-Robert Doornbos, 156.309.

17. 5-Mario Moraes, 156.276.

18. 18-Justin Wilson, 156.075.

19. 27-Hideki Mutoh, 155.925.

20. 98-Jaques Lazier, 149.988.

Target Chip Ganassi Racing one-upped Team Penske in tonight's qualifying session for Saturday night's SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway, as last week's winner Dario Franchitti and defending IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon took the front row ahead of Penske duo Helio Castroneves (third) and Ryan Briscoe (fourth).

Franchitti's four-lap average of 167.315 m.p.h. in the No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing machine bested Dixon's average of 166.638 m.p.h. in the No. 9 TCGR car, enabling the Scotsman to bag his second pole of the season.

"The last time I was here [in 2007], [the pole] was on points because qualifying was rained out, so it's nice to earn the pole," he said. "It's very important to start up front here, absolutely. But I think we've seen at a lot of the races this year, a lot of people run alternate strategies.

"Lap traffic is going to be interesting and the field is so close again that passing is very, very tough. Plus, the race [changed] to 300 laps since I was last here [in an IndyCar], so it should add up to a pretty exciting night, I think. Hopefully, we can keep the Target car up front, especially when it counts at the end."

Helio Castroneves will start on the inside of Row 2 after putting down a four-lap average of 165.931 m.p.h. in the No. 3 Team Penske car. His teammate Ryan Briscoe will be on the outside of him thanks to an average of 165.749 m.p.h. in the No. 6 car.

Row 3 will see American driver Graham Rahal (165.218) on the inside and Brazilian rookie Raphael Matos on the outside (165.218). The top ten spots were completed by E.J. Viso, Hideki Mutoh, Tomas Scheckter, and Danica Patrick.

Here's the full starting grid for tomorrow's event (8 p.m. ET, Versus):

Row 1

10-Dario Franchitti, 167.315.

9-Scott Dixon, 166.638.

Row 2

3-Helio Castroneves, 165.931.

6-Ryan Briscoe, 165.749.

Row 3

02-Graham Rahal, 165.218.

2-Raphael Matos, 164.928.

Row 4

13-E.J. Viso, 164.629.

27-Hideki Mutoh, 164.575.

Row 5

23-Tomas Scheckter, 164.441.

7-Danica Patrick, 164.197.

Row 6

24-Mike Conway, 164.129.

06-Robert Doornbos, 164.071.

Row 7

4-Dan Wheldon, 163.843.

20-Ed Carpenter, 163.824.

Row 8

18-Justin Wilson, 163.506.

26-Marco Andretti, 162.780.

Row 9

11-Tony Kanaan, 162.634.

14-Ryan Hunter-Reay, 162.506.

Row 10

5-Mario Moraes, 160.895.

98-Jaques Lazier, 153.176.

I'll try and post a recap (or at least a blurb) on this late tonight.

USAC Rotondo Weirich Shootout (60 laps)

Row 1

9-Brad Sweet, 134.939 m.p.h.

67-Darren Hagen, 134.362 m.p.h.

Row 2

69-Jerry Coons, Jr., 134.248.

21-Tracy Hines, 134.002.

Row 3

67K-Cole Whitt, 133.968.

20-Levi Jones, 133.756.

Row 4

07-Jacob Wilson, 133.485.

5-Bobby East, 133.208.

Row 5

17-Shane Hmiel, 133.005.

67X-Henry Clarke, 132.828.

Row 6

2B-Dave Darland, 132.685 m.p.h.

71-Damion Gardner, 131.791 m.p.h.

Row 7

98-Bobby Santos III, 131.547 m.p.h.

44-Brian Tyler, 131.483 m.p.h.

Row 8

51-Eric Gordon, 130.934 m.p.h.

13-Jesse Hockett, 130.675 m.p.h.

Row 9

81-Troy DeCaire, 122.382 m.p.h.

I've also met Allen Wagner from The Furious Wedge and Will McCarty of IsItMayYet.com, part of the "blogger airdrop" this weekend according to Arni Sribhen at IRL PR. We've been swapping stories and checking things out. I've also chatted with Shawn Fenner from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, that's been pretty cool too.

Anyway, not much to report for now on the blog. I'll keep tweeting updates and posting pictures during the day though to hold you over.