Fifty laps were added to the SunTrust Indy Challenge this year, and it seemed every one of them was run behind the pace car. The IndyCar Series’ streak of generally clean oval races in 2008 came to a resounding end Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway. There were nine caution periods totaling 102 laps, more than one-third of the expanded 300-lap total, and only 13 of the 26 starters were running at the finish.

Ironically, the driver who has endured more bad luck than anyone else in the series this year managed to steer clear of misfortune on a night when carnage ruled. Tony Kanaan won his first race of the season, leading 166 laps and crossing the line for the final time with a comfortable 4.77-second margin over runner-up Helio Castroneves.

A third-place finish served as damage control for championship leader Scott Dixon on a weekend when the New Zealander was not the ultimate pacesetter. Dixon gained a position on the last lap when his Ganassi Racing teammate Dan Wheldon apparently ran out of fuel; his championship lead now stands at 43 points ahead of Castroneves and 52 points ahead of Wheldon.

Sunday was Dan Wheldon’s 30th birthday. His rivals provided plenty of gifts.

Under glorious sunny skies at Iowa Speedway, Scott Dixon had a rare off day (he finished fourth), Tony Kanaan crashed, and Helio Castroneves faded.

And the rest of the IndyCar field, led by rookie Hideki Mutoh, simply didn’t have the speed to beat Wheldon. It all added up to victory in the second running of the Iowa Corn Indy 250, Wheldon’s second win of the season and the fifth for Target Chip Ganassi Racing in 2008.

Scott Dixon, the calm and cool Kiwi, won again Saturday night. He is the studious master of his domain, a brilliant surgeon in a race car and possibly the best IndyCar driver in more than two decades. Only one problem. Dixon doesn’t sell tickets. With all due respect to his lovely new bride, Dixon is missing a racing version of sex appeal.

For the smallest moment Ryan Briscoe thought it was going to be another one of the bad luck days that have dogged him this season. The 23-year-old Australian was working hard late in Sunday’s IndyCar race at the Milwaukee Mile to hold off Indianapolis 500 winner Scott Dixon and, all of sudden, the track ahead was enveloped in smoke and all he could do was hit the brakes hard and hope.

Sunday was an Indianapolis 500 the way we all remember it. Well, those of us old enough to remember when so many things made this event special. A giant crowd, clearly the biggest in a decade. Tempers flaring, almost A.J. Foyt style, among several contending drivers, including Danica. Unexpected moments and wild crashes, but thankfully, no one hurt. Tears of disappointment from one driver. And the race favorite holding off the little-team underdog in the final laps.New Zealand’s Scott Dixon will go in the books as the first Indy 500 winner of the new era, the return of one unified series for American open-wheel racing.

A Indianapolis trionfa il neozelandese del team Ganassi, Scott Dixon, che dopo essere partito dalla pole ha battuto il brasiliano Vitor Meira e Marco Andretti. Ritirati Tony Kanaan e Danica Patrick.

The only real surprise in Sunday’s Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway was which Target/Ganassi Racing driver won.

Scott Dixon dominated the first three-quarters of the 200-lap IndyCar Series event, but unlucky timing on his final pit stop cost the New Zealand native. That allowed Dan Wheldon to cruise to an easy win over Andretti Green Racing’s Tony Kanaan, with Dixon recovering from seventh to third over the final 27 laps.

Dixon led 145 of the first 152 laps before pitting for his final scheduled stop. While he was in the pits, the yellow flag flew for Buddy Rice’s Turn 2 accident, costing Dixon the lead to Wheldon.

The final weekend in which American open-wheel racing is split into two entities certainly started with a bang.

With a third of the IndyCar field watching from Long Beach, where the Champ Car World Series is gathered for its grand finale, Danica Patrick scored her long-awaited first IndyCar Series victory. She claimed the rain-delayed Japan Indy 300 by 5.86 seconds over Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon.

Patrick led only three of 200 laps, and she certainly didn’t have the fastest car on the Twin Ring Motegi oval nestled in the mountains northwest of Tokyo. Her win was the product of a disciplined final stint that allowed her to stretch a 22-gallon tank of ethanol further than anyone else.

Graham Rahal, in his first IndyCar Series start, takes the checkered flag at the rainy, Honda Grand Prix of St. Peteresburg. The large crowds on all three days at St. Petersburg brought a smile to George, who saw series newcomer Graham Rahal become the youngest (at 19) to win a major American open-wheel race Sunday. Friday’s crowd alone appeared larger than the combined total for the two-day IndyCar opening weekend at Homestead, which was estimated as the largest ever for an IRL race at the South Florida oval.

A Target Chip Ganassi Racing entry, this one driven by former series champion Scott Dixon, won the season-opener for the third straight year. He took the lead late in the 200-lap race when Tony Kanaan, another former champion, ran out of luck.

And, while none of the newcomers making the transition from the Champ Car World Series to the newly unified IndyCar series were able to compete with the leaders, forecasts of disaster proved wrong and the newcomers generally stayed out of the way of the faster cars and out of trouble.

Dixon, the New Zealand driver who lost the IRL IndyCar Series championship to Dario Franchitti when he ran out of fuel on the last lap of the 2007 season, got off to a great start with the victory in the Gainsco Auto Insurance Indy 300.