Kanaan

RICHMOND, Va. -- IRL cars crashed in bunches the first two times the series ran at Richmond International Raceway -- a classic NASCAR bullring.

And as series points leader Tony Kanaan prepares to compete for the first time on the three-quarter-mile oval, a test session and information from other drivers have him expecting a race Saturday night that's really close, really grueling and really fun.

"This place is amazing," Kanaan said during a test last month. "It reminds me of my go-kart times.

"It is so short and you have the possibility to drive a little bit sideways, which we don't get to do with these cars very often with the ovals."

The first two SunTrust Indy Challenge events brought fans a combination of what they know -- NASCAR-like bumping and spinning -- and what they don't -- blistering speed.

Buddy Lazier won the series debut here in 2001, leading a record 224 of the 250 laps and pulling away from the field at a speed unlike anything NASCAR fans had seen. There also was plenty of contact, and nine of the 20 starters failed to finish.

Last year, only 13 of 22 cars were running at the end, and Sam Hornish Jr. passed Gil de Ferran with less than two laps to go and won by 1.8 seconds.

Hornish went on to claim his second consecutive IRL championship, but arrives this week 10th in the points race as he and other drivers with the new Chevrolet engines play catch-up to those with the dominant Honda and Toyota motors.

Through six races, Scott Dixon is the only two-time winner. He took the season opener in Homestead, Fla., in his IRL debut, and was the winner June 15 in Fountain, Colo.

Kanaan won at Phoenix International Raceway and leads Dixon by 49 points. Penske teammates de Ferran and Helio Castroneves are tied for third with Al Unser Jr., just a point behind Dixon.

Unser and Indy 500 champion de Ferran have one victory apiece.

De Ferran and Unser know tight racing at Richmond with virtually no margin for error makes for a tension-filled night where a wiggle could derail a championship run. But both look forward to the green flag.

"It's a real driver's track. It's a handling track and very difficult to get around," de Ferran said. "You're not wide open. You have to back off in both turns, so it's very difficult. It is almost like a road coarse even thought it is an oval."

Unser finished fourth here two years ago and fifth last year, making him the only driver with two top-fives on the track. He's grown fond of the place, where drivers expect the most physical and exhausting race of the year.

"It's very busy out there," the two-time Indy 500 winner said. "You are always in a corner, and you are always fighting for position and are always fighting traffic. You never have time to go down any kind of straightaways and do any type of resting at all.

"You end up rubbing wheels with a lot of guys out there." And in Indy-car racing, unlike NASCAR, that rubbing often ends your day.

Castroneves discovered that last year, his first here. He started second alongside de Ferran, but crashed eight laps in and lost 150 for repairs.

Two-time Indy 500 winner Castroneves also crashed during a test at Richmond last month after making contact with Kanaan's car.

"Richmond is a tough, unforgiving track," Castroneves said.