Smoother race was less interesting than last year

As omens go, the start of the SunTrust Indy Challenge seemed to have a very bad one.

Jacques Lazier ran into the wall before completing the first lap, bringing out a caution flag.

During his interview soon after that -- a guy who doesn't finish a lap gets interviewed? -- Lazier managed to say how sorry he was to let down the Novicomm LED Lighting Technology team.

It might have been the first case in motor sports history where the team didn't want to hear its name mentioned.

But as omens go, Lazier's faux pas turned out to be not so bad. Unlike last year, when the caution flag came out nine times at Richmond International Raceway, last night's race overcame that first stumble.

Things went so smoothly only three other cautions were called. The race finished in slightly less than two hours, not bad for covering 225 miles.

Last year's race was a debacle. Last night's race was much smoother and, to some of the drivers, far less interesting and entertaining.

Scott Dixon, who won, was less bothered by that than Dario Franchitti, who finished second.

"It was tough to pass," Dixon said. "It got to be a bit of a procession unfortunately. We've slipped into a car that is not enabling a whole lot of passing."

Franchitti's frustration was apparent. "I apologize to the fans," he said. "What a dreadful race. They pay to come out to watch good racing, but tonight was a track-position race.

"Nobody could pass. I was pushing as hard as I could to pass him [Dixon]. "Everybody's pushing, but we can't get close enough to make those passes. We need to look at that and fix it."

The race came down to several caution periods, and for Dixon, Franchitti and Graham Rahal, who finished third, that was good news. For Hideki Mutoh and Danica Patrick, that was bad news.

The timing of the cautions, enabling the three leaders to pit under yellow instead of green, meant everything.

Had the last caution not come out on Lap 248, Mutoh and Patrick, running with fuel to spare, could have moved to the front, then battled for the victory.

Instead, Mutoh finished fourth, Patrick fifth.

"It's always very interesting to hear what could have been," Patrick said.

Dixon, Franchitti and Rahal talked about what was.

Dixon needed less fuel than Franchitti on their last pit stop, under the final caution of the night, enabling Dixon to beat his teammate out of the pits. That was the race.

For much of the evening, the drivers had little change in position.

Dixon zipped around the three-quarter-mile track in around 18 seconds per lap. Franchitti was less than a second behind, but that might as well have been a mile. The cars were as close to equal as possible, and whoever gained the early advantage was in prime position to win. That's what Dixon did.

"I'm disappointed not to have won," Franchitti said. "It came down to a track-position race. The cars were equal in the pits, and it was very difficult to find an advantage."

As far as excitement goes, the call Ashley Judd, the actress also known as Mrs. Dario Franchitti, made to the Car Talk radio guys several years ago was more interesting than last night's racing.

Judd was at the track last night, and when she was stopped by two National Guardsmen and asked to pose for pictures, she did so graciously and patiently.

Judd wore a long white dress, moved gracefully around the track and brought to mind the Lady of the Lake of the King Arthur legend. That lady presented Arthur with Excalibur, the sword that helped Arthur tame his kingdom.

Franchitti could have used something like that last night, but it was Dixon whose car moved more sharply.