No hard feelings

With Chip Ganassi Racing dominating so far this season, there have been uneasy times at Andretti Green Racing. The AGR team -- including pole-sitter Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti, Danica Patrick and rookie Hideki Mutoh -- have managed only one win this season.

Patrick won in Japan earlier this season, but not much else has gone right. Kanaan came close at both Indianapolis and Iowa only to have his chances dashed by accidents.

Also, there has been talk of dissension among the drivers. That prompt a closed-door meeting in which they aired their differences and tried to figure out what had gone wrong.

On Friday night, they seemed to work things out. Mutoh and Andretti played major roles in helping Kanaan capture his second pole of the season.

"Right before we went out, we made a small change on the car, and I think we shouldn't have made the change," Mutoh said after qualifying seventh.

As it turned out, Mutoh's change helped Kanaan.

"I have to thank my teammates," Kanaan said. "Danica and Hideki came and tested here a few weeks ago, and I think it helped us a lot. It helped that all my teammates qualified ahead of me."

RIR winner gets lift

Scott Dixon entered last night's SunTrust Indy Challenge knowing a victory at Richmond International Raceway would help his chance of winning the IndyCar Series championship.

Dixon, who has three wins this season, will have history on his side if he survives the competition in the 300-lap race: Four of the seven winners at RIR have gone on to win the points championship.

"It's pretty cool knowing that, and I'd love to keep that tradition going," said Dixon, who was bumped from the pole by Kanaan late in Friday's qualifying. "It can definitely help you win a championship, but you can't lose it here, either.

"We have to keep an open mind. If we can't win here, we have to think points."

One for the little guys

Driving for under-funded Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, Buddy Rice knows the numbers are stacked against him. That hasn't stopped an uptick in his season.

Entering Richmond, Rice finished in the top-10 in three of the last four races. He qualified fifth for last night's race, his best starting position of the season. That's also his best starting position since a fifth at California in '05.

He is, however, coming off a disappointing 22nd at Iowa last week.

"This is (the) place that's an equalizer," he said. "We left stuff out there. Hopefully we can rebound."

The IndyCar Series/Champ Car Series merger is also starting to pay dividends for his team. Co-owner, Robbie Buhl announced a sponsorship deal with Rigid Building Systems for the remainder of the year.

"We've been putting together a lot of deals lately, and this is the busiest we've been in doing so," Buhl said. "We're already laying the ground work for a solid finish to 2008 and are already well ahead of where we usually are for next season's sponsorship programs."

Turning up the heat

Early yesterday afternoon the heat index was already 100 degrees. Earlier in the week Andretti Green co-owner Kim Green called the Richmond weather, "like standing in the middle of a wok."

Lug nuts

Dario Franchitti (2007) and Dixon (2003) are the only drivers to lead wire-to-wire in winning an IndyCar Series event at RIR. . . . The top four qualifiers last year all finished in the top four Franchitti, Dixon, Kanaan, andDan Wheldon. . . . For the 36th time in IndyCar history, teammates started on the front row. Kanaan won the pole while Andretti Green teammate Marco Andretti was the second-fastest qualifier on Friday. . . . Helio Castroneves qualified 18th to end a streak of 11 consecutive top-10 starts.

-- From Staff Reports