The Indy Richmond 300 (formally known as the ''SunTrust Indy Challenge'') is an

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

race held at

Richmond Raceway Richmond Raceway (RR) is a , ''D''-shaped, asphalt race track located just outside Richmond, Virginia in unincorporated Henrico County, Virginia, Henrico County. It currently hosts one NASCAR Cup Series race weekend and the NASCAR Craftsman Tr ...

near

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

from 2001 to 2009,. From 2001–2007, the race was scheduled for 250 laps (187.5 miles); from 2008 to 2009, the race distance was extended to 300 laps. The event debuted as a Saturday night race in 2001. The event became one of the more popular races on the schedule, and was arguably the most successful IndyCar race held in traditional "

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

Country". The race hearkened back to the classic short track "bull ring" style of racing known for during the

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * AAA (video game industry) - a category of high budget video games *'' TripleA'', an open source wargame Mu ...

and USAC eras of

Indy car racing American open-wheel car racing, generally and commonly known as Indy car racing, is a category of professional automobile racing in the United States. As of 2025, the top-level American open-wheel racing championship is sanctioned by IndyCar a ...

ISC ISC may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Imperial Space Command, a fictional organization in the books by Catherine Asaro * Indian Society of Cinematographers, a non-profit cultural and educational organisation * International Sculpture Center, ...

traditionally paired the race with other open-wheeled racing. The

Whelen Modified Tour The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (NWMT) (previously the NASCAR Winston Modified Tour and NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series from 1985 until 2005) is a modified stock car racing series owned and operated by NASCAR in the Modified Division. The Mod ...

once accompanied the race, but in later years USAC open-wheel short track racing had been on the

undercard In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

held two National Championship sprint car races at the track when it was still a half-mile dirt track under the name Strawberry Hill Speedway. Later,

sanctioned two Championship Car events at nearby

Martinsville Speedway Martinsville Speedway is a oval Oval track racing#Short track, short track in Ridgeway, Virginia, United States, a community of Martinsville, Virginia. The track has held a variety of events since its opening in 1947, primarily events sanctione ...

in 1952 and 1953. On July 30, 2009, RIR track President Doug Fritz announced that the SunTrust Indy Challenge would not be on the 2010 IndyCar Series schedule. The costs to put on the event and possible loss of sponsorship was cited as the reason for the IRL and RIR to not come to an agreement on the event. On August 28, 2019, it was announced that the IndyCar Series would be returning to Richmond in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, replacing the

ABC Supply 500 The Pocono 500 was an IndyCar Series race held at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, located in the Pocono Mountains. The first Indy car race at Pocono was held in 1971. It was the first major event held at the track, shortly after its co ...

Pocono Raceway Pocono Raceway (formerly known as the Pocono International Raceway in early years) is a tri-oval track in Blakeslee, Pennsylvania. The track has held a variety of events since its opening in 1969, including NASCAR, IndyCar Series, and IMSA GT ...

. However, due to schedule changes brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic and "local restrictions", IndyCar announced on May 21 that the race had been canceled.

Past winners

*2003: Race shortened due to rain.

Support race winners

References

External links

IndyCar.com race page
{{IndyCar Series races SunTrust Indy Challenge Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2009 Recurring sporting events established in 2020