Check out a short list of favorites for Saturday's Sun Trust Challenge at Richmond, Va.

Helio Castroneves
First trip to the short track of Richmond for the Brazilian driver and Marlboro Team Penske; only driver to have led in all seven races this season and to finish in the top-five in each; owns three career IRL wins, the most recent earned in the Indianapolis 500; the wins have come in his first seven series races, a league record; tops standings with 267 points.

Gil de Ferran
Close to matching his Team Penske teammate and countryman in performances this year; captured his first IRL victory at the Radisson 225; also has four other top-four finishes which puts him second in the standings, 32 points behind Castroneves.

Felipe Giaffone
A season almost as impressive as the main title contenders Castroneves, De Ferran and Sam Hornish Jr.; only a victory is missing, but has five straight top-six finishes; the results place him just four points behind Hornish with 202 points; had a good car last year at this track, but faded toward the end to an 11th place finish: "Richmond is one of my favorite tracks," he said. "This one of those races where you really don't know what to expect."

Sam Hornish Jr.
Started the year very strong with two wins and a third-place finish, then suffered a string of setbacks in three successive races; snapped that in the last event with a third-place finish in the Radisson 225 at Pikes Peak; was runner-up to Buddy Lazier in the inaugural event here last year, which could be a sign of things to come in Saturday night's race; sits fourth in the table with 202 points; also fourth in money earned and second in laps led (310); led a total of 1,112 laps in his IRL career to date, moving past Lazier into third place on the all-time IRL list (Tony Stewart 1,515: Greg Ray 1,149).

Buddy Lazier
The defending champion of this event, he set three Indy Racing League records taking the checkered flag last year; led 224 laps (the most in one race and the most by a race winner), also led a record 187 consecutive laps; made his move at the start of the race by taking over the top position from fourth on the opening lap; having a mediocre season by his standards; finished in the top-10 just three of seven races, with seventh being the top result.

Scott Sharp
His win at the Firestone 225 in April was the seventh of his IRL career; that moved him into second place on the all-time win list behind Buddy Lazier (8); Sharp won at least one race in a record six consecutive Indy Racing League seasons; 147 points puts him ninth in the standings; finished fifth in this race last year.

Jeff Ward
Led just the final lap of the race in Texas to take the checkered flag on June 8; that is the least amount of laps led by a race winner in Indy Racing League history; the victory was his second top-five finish of the year; sixth in the point standings.