Tony Kanaan admits he wasn't exactly poised under pressure in his rookie season with Championship Auto Racing Teams in 1998.

Occasionally, a then-overzealous Brazilian would rub almost everyone the wrong way with his aggressive, often reckless style of driving. Ultimately, he absorbed a season's worth of lessons from stars such as Alex Zanardi and Michael Andretti to thrust himself among the open-wheel elite.

Ten years later, Kanaan must see so much of his former self in his Andretti Green Racing teammate, Marco Andretti.

Andretti is still learning when to throttle down. He, too, has yet to recognize that every pass isn't a measure of success and every position lost doesn't reflect defeat.

Andretti, in just his third IndyCar Series season, must cultivate the patience that enabled Kanaan to weather a storm of misfortune that left him winless until he rediscovered victory lane on Saturday night in the SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway.

If Andretti had been paying attention, he would have noticed that Kanaan didn't bother to challenge rookie Jaime Camara. Camara led 44 laps, in part, because Kanaan understood that one pass wasn't going to secure him the victory he needed to get back into the championship chase.

Then on Lap 114, Andretti swept past Kanaan before overtaking Camara two laps later. But he came within a whisker of taking himself out of the race as he barely eluded Camara, who slid down along the apron in Turn 2, forcing Andretti to squeeze his way through the corner.

That, of course, was a gamble Kanaan wasn't willing to take with a rookie driver.

"When I was in the lead in traffic and when Marco pulled away, I had a pretty good battle with Jaime at one point," Kanaan said. "So much for teaching the kid, and all of a sudden, you get all you teach him back.

"[Camara] was driving the hell out of the car. I think for such a small team, he proved he has a lot of potential even though he ended up in the wall. I feel his pain, and I know the kid is talented."

Kanaan knows his young teammate has loads of talent, too. But even after 2½ years, Andretti hasn't learned all those lessons his dad and Zanardi taught Kanaan a decade ago.

If he had, Andretti would have been paying attention when Kanaan pitted for fuel and four tires under caution on Lap 136. Inexplicably, Andretti decided to stay on the track to protect his lead. It was another calculated risk that left the best car on the racetrack with a ninth-place finish.

Despite a record-tying nine cautions, Andretti opted to pit for fresh tires and fuel under green on Lap 206 with 94 laps remaining and with the odds favoring another caution, which came 12 laps later.

Andretti relinquished his lead to Kanaan and fell a lap behind, essentially conceding the checkered flag.

"I think we had a strong car. Marco did, too," Kanaan said. "We did split strategies just to try to cover both bases, and finally the luck was on my side."

No, patience was on his side -- something Andretti can learn from Kanaan, who was poised under pressure at RIR.