Mechanical Problem Spells Early End for Kanaan at Richmond

a href="http://www.andrettigreen.com/">www.andrettigreen.com Mechanical Problem Spells Early End For Kanaan at Richmond

RICHMOND, Va. (June 24, 2006) - Team 7-Eleven driver Tony Kanaan suffered a broken gearshift cable, resulting in an 18th place finish Saturday night at the SunTrust Indy Challenge Presented by XM Satellite Radio at Richmond International Raceway.

Starting from the seventh position on the starting grid, Kanaan worked his way up into a top-five position 60 laps into the event and looked like he was going to be a contender throughout the night. At the 100-lap mark the Team 7-Eleven car was in the fourth position, but on lap 109 the car slowed and came to a stop in Turn 1, the result of the malfunctioning shift cable.

Sam Hornish Jr. took the victory with Vitor Meira second, Klein Tools/Canadian Club driver Dario Franchitti third, NYSE driver Marco Andretti fourth and Scott Sharp fifth. Through seven events this season, Kanaan stands sixth in the driver point standings, 75 points behind leader Helio Castroneves.

Next up for Kanaan and the entire IndyCar Series will be the Kansas Lottery 300 on Sunday, July 2 at Kansas Speedway. The event will be televised live by ABC Sports, beginning at 1 p.m. (EDT). It can also be heard live by XM Satellite Radio subscribers by tuning into XM channel 145.

Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone:

"It was a disappointing night for Team 7-Eleven. The shift cable broke and the car was stuck in sixth gear. The shift lever was just flopping around because the cable was broke. I might have been able to run a few more laps in sixth gear, but eventually we would have had to stop."

Kim Green, President, Andretti Green Racing:

"It was a disappointing night for Tony and Team 7-Eleven. The crew gave him great pit stops, he was running in fourth spot just looking out for his tires until we broke the gearshift cable, which was unfortunate. It's not like the preparation we put in from our team. We gave away a good result tonight and we'll just have to get 'em at Kansas."

2006 SunTrust Indy Challenge Results

Pos.    Name                             Laps         Pos.      Name                        Laps
1     Sam Hornish Jr.                   250           11      Helio Castroneves           249
2     Vitor Meira                       250           12      Kosuke Matsuura             247
3     Dario Franchitti                  250           13      Buddy Rice                  247
4     Marco Andretti                    250           14      Eddie Cheever Jr.           246
5     Scott Sharp                       250           15      Danica Patrick              246
6     Bryan Herta                       250           16      Buddy Lazier                245
7     Tomas Scheckter                   249           17      Felipe Giaffone             244
8     Ed Carpenter                      249           18      Tony Kanaan                 109
9     Dan Wheldon                       249           19      Jeff Simmons                 59
10     Scott Dixon                       249

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