Lazier: "The car ran perfectly."

Hemelgarn Racing's Buddy Lazier dominated Saturday nights SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond leading a massive 187 of 250-laps after being given a car he described as "perfect".

The bullring at Richmond International Raceway provided excitement under the lights as Hemelgarn Racing's Buddy Lazier led 224 of 250 laps to win the inaugural SunTrust Indy Challenge on Firestone Firehawk racing radials and in addition to a controlled yet aggressive effort from the driver, patience played an important part in the race as the caution flag came out nine times.

In addition to the winner's trophy, Lazier also takes home an extra $20,000 as the result of winning two exclusive bonuses during his time at the head of the field. He won $10,000 for leading the 75th lap of the race, which was the 10,000th lap in IRL history. The 1996 Indy 500 winner also took home the Firestone "Leader at Halfway" $10,000 award for being in the top spot at lap 125.

"The car ran perfectly all night long," beamed Lazier who followed up his recent win at Pikes Peak with his second in succession and sixth in IRNLS competition. "This was a really tough race and my guys gave me a great car. We're picking up momentum as we go through the season. This is a physically demanding place to run but I think these cars are really suited for a track like this. It was an awesome day and I had an awesome car and my tyres were awesome all night."

Team owner Ron Hemelgarn was equally pleased with the performance of his Dallara-Aurora and the Firestone tyres, which coped well with an especially slick track surface. "What a great race for us," said Hemelgarn. "Our tyres were great all night, phenomenal. In fact, the tyres were holding up so well, I think we could have skipped a tyre change on our last pit stop."

Firestone themselves were also grateful to have brought a good tyre compound to the three quarter mile Richmond International Raceway as they had no real prior experience of what to expect from the rubber under race conditions. "It's great to be here at the short track in Richmond," said Joe Barbieri, Bridgestone/Firestone Motorsports Project Supervisor.

"This track is very demanding on the drivers, the engines and the tyres," added Barbieri. "Tonight's race took tremendous concentration and I'd like to congratulate the drivers for putting on a great show for the fans. Many drivers commented on the consistency of their Firestone tyres throughout the ever-changing track conditions. Once again, a great testament to the Firestone engineering team."

Prior to the race, Firestone donated $2,500 to Children's Hospital of Richmond as a part of the Bridgestone/Firestone Trust Fund's overall donation to CARA Charities' Buckle Up Baby program.