RICHMOND, Va. (June 30, 2007) - Dario Franchitti won his third race of the season, his second in-a-row, and extended his lead in the IndyCar Series championship at Saturday's running of the SunTrust Indy Challenge from Richmond International Raceway. With eight races remaining, Franchitti holds a 65-point lead over second-place driver Scott Dixon.

Starting from the pole position, Franchitti wasted no time proving the Canadian Club car was the class-of-the-field Saturday. Franchitti pulled away from the field, leading the first 63 laps of the race until a mishap in the pits sent him out in second-place behind teammate Tony Kanaan. On the ensuing restart, Franchitti would take the lead back and lead the final 179 laps of the race to secure his 17th career open wheel racing victory and his seventh IndyCar Series win. Five of Franchitti's seven IndyCar Series wins have come on tracks that are 1.33-miles or shorter. Franchitti led a total of 242 laps setting IndyCar Series and Richmond International Raceway records for the most laps led in a single race.

Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon finished second and third, respectively. Kanaan finished fourth and Buddy Rice rounded out the top five.

The next race on the 17-race IndyCar Series schedule is the Camping World Watkins Glen Grand Prix from Watkins Glen International. ABC will provide live broadcast coverage of the race on Sunday, July 8, at 3:30 p.m. (EDT). The race can also be heard live on XM Satellite Radio, channel 145.

Dario Franchitti, #27 Canadian Club Dallara/Honda/Firestone
"I enjoy driving Richmond a lot. I think it suits my style because you have to feel what the car is doing. The Canadian Club guys have given me really good cars here so it makes my job a little bit easier. I have to say big thank you to the engineering staff at AGR. We took some big gambles last night. Allen McDonald, my engineer, took an educated guess and it really worked out today."