Kanaan Keeps Andretti Autosport On Upswing

Indianapolis, June 21, 2010: It wasn't a rain-shortened race. It wasn't a fuel-strategy race. It was Tony Kanaan driving to the front from the 15th starting spot, which put the Team 7-Eleven car in position to win the Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer.

That he did (becoming the seventh different driver to win in the eight races), and spectators and IZOD IndyCar Series drivers alike exited the tidy facility buzzing about the entertaining race punctuated by an event-record 16 lead changes among seven drivers.

"Wow, what a wild race," said Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe, who followed up his Texas victory with a fourth place.

Kanaan awoke on the first day of summer with a more positive mind-set than on race day. His first victory since June 28, 2008, at Richmond International Raceway, moving up two spots to sixth in the championship standings and seeing the continued resurgence of Andretti Autosport would brighten one's day.

During the four oval race package that concluded at the .875-mile Iowa Speedway, the four Andretti Autosport drivers combined posted 11 top-10 finishes, and three improved their position in the standings.

"It's a long way to go, but when I said all along this year that we were better than last year a lot of people twisted their noses and didn't believe it but we are," said Kanaan, who won for the 14th time in the series. "We got to keep working on it and we have now a few road and street courses coming up, which we were really strong in, and we're there."

Five road/street/airport circuits are up next, commencing with the Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen on July 2-4, before for the closing set of 1.5-mile ovals. Andretti Autosport recorded a victory at Long Beach (Ryan Hunter-Reay) and Kanaan posted a top 10 in each of the four street/road course events early in the season. The team is scheduled to add Adam Carroll to the lineup for the Watkins Glen International race weekend.

"I think we got to keep digging, and we still not up there yet, we're still not at the place that I want us to be as far as a team," Kanaan said. "But all we can do is get our heads together and keep working on it."