TOUGH NIGHT; Dan Wheldon survives to win Richmond.(Motorsports)

Byline: CURT CAVIN

There is a lesson to be learned from last weekend's bruising Indy Racing League event at Richmond International Raceway: Sometimes it's best to give up, sometimes it's not.

Series sophomore Dan Wheldon won for the second time in the past four races with a car that was third to last among 22 in qualifying for the SunTrust Indy Challenge, and not that much better in the 250-lap race. Wheldon, 26, also won at Japan's Twin Ring Motegi circuit in April and, with a third-place finish in the Indianapolis 500, is second in the point standings after six of 16 races.

The Richmond win probably should have gone to Sam Hornish Jr., but Hornish found himself scrapping with the man who replaced him at Panther Racing, Tomas Scheckter, and finished four laps off the pace in 13th.

Hornish also figures to find himself in the crosshairs of the IRL's police before this week's race at Kansas Speedway. Chief steward Brian Barnhart said he planned to review Hornish's aggressiveness after banging wheels with Scheckter and spinning on lap 189. Once his car refired and he pitted for fresh tires, Hornish battled several of the lead-lap cars in the final circuits around the 0.75-mile bullring, drawing the ire of Scheckter, Tony Kanaan and Bryan Herta. At one point, Hornish forced Scheckter out of the second turn with a move Barnhart saw and didn't appreciate.

"I'm a little disappointed with his aggressiveness,'' said Barnhart, who has fined drivers for similar acts in the past. "I wished he would have shown better judgment and a little more restraint.''

"He had a better car,'' Kanaan said of Hornish, who drives for Team Penske. "Why did he put himself in the middle of fights with only five laps to go? But what goes around comes around.''