Allmendinger became the first U.S.-born driver since Michael Andretti to win back-to-back Champ Car races with his victory today, and more importantly, got back in the title hunt as the top-two drivers in the standings suffered their worst results of the season. He beat Bruno Junqueira to the line by 3.279 seconds to take the win with PKV Racing’s Oriol Servia coming home less than a quarter-second behind Junqueira to round out the podium. The crowd of 51,426 had barely gotten a chance to sit down when things started to spiral out of control. The treacherous Turn One claimed its customary pound of flesh, but this time the obligatory first-turn Cleveland spin took a little longer to materialize.

The field got through the first turn with relatively little trouble, but the short straight on the way to Turn Two saw a number of problems. Andrew Ranger spun, Cristiano da Matta was clipped and Alex Tagliani suffered light contact in avoiding the spinning Charles Zwolsman. Farther ahead, Paul Tracy tried to split the Newman/Haas cars of Junqueira and Sebastien Bourdais, but ended up flying up and over the Bourdais car as the three got together leading into Turn Three. Bourdais was immediately knocked out of the race while Junqueira survived with only the loss of the rear wing. Tracy landed hard but was able to continue on in the top five before his damages eventually triggered his Lap 43 accident. Servia led up to the first round of pit stops, turning the lead over to Junqueira after making his first stop. Junqueira and Allmendinger went back-and-forth for the next few laps in a battle for the lead with Allmendinger eventually making a tough pass in Turn Nine to take the point. From there he started hanging more than a second per lap on the field, building a 10-second advantage in just six laps, but the lead evaporated quickly as a Tonis Kasemets spin brought out the yellow flag.
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"It's been a great weekend for us," said Hornish, who closed to five points of Castroneves in the standings halfway through the season. "The Firestone tires were great. We ran more than 100 laps there at the end with them. We were really happy to get out of here with a win for Marlboro right in the backyard of Philip Morris. I also heard it was Honda's 100th win, so that's great too. Team Penske did an awesome job for me, especially in the pits. You have to keep the lead here. It's hard to pass on the track, and the team just did what they needed to do."
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"I'll take it," said Castroneves, who also started from the pole at Watkins Glen (practice speeds) and Motegi (points because all cars didn't have equal practice time). "I'm not upset that we didn't qualify. Every time you have a chance to start on the pole position without qualifying, it's a blessing in disguise."

It is Castroneves' seventh consecutive top-five start this season and his second pole start at Richmond International Raceway (2004). He was midway through his first warm-up lap in qualifying when he spotted two raindrops on his visor. Obviously, he immediately stepped off the throttle.

Sam Hornish Jr. (172.561 mph) and reigning IndyCar Series champion Dan Wheldon (172.492) will occupy the second row. Wheldon was the provisional pole sitter (173.991 mph) when rain cloud engulfed the facility. Rookie Marco Andretti (172.068) and Panther Racing's Vitor Meira (171.972) will share Row 3, while Tony Kanaan (171.950) and Kosuke Matsuura (171.802) are in Row 4. The cars of Buddy Lazier and Felipe Giaffone would not have made qualifying attempts. Lazier's Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone made contact with the SAFER Barrier in Turn 4 in the first session. The team will have the back-up car prepared for the race. The A.J. Foyt Enterprises team changed the engine and multiple other components after a plume of smoke was visible after eight laps.
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