The step was fairly simple: closer cooperation between the drivers. As the "senior" driver on the team - having been with AGR for six years now - Tony Kanaan knew that the interaction between the drivers this year was not what it had been previously.

The other AGR drivers, Marco Andretti (in his 3rd year at AGR), Danica Patrick (in her 2nd year at AGR) & Hideki Mutoh (an IndyCar Series rookie) were not as used to the give & take that Kanaan had in years past with former teammates Dario Franchitti & Bryan Herta. "We always helped each other, but they're all very young and I think we got caught into bad momentum and we didn't sit down and talk." 

So, prior to last week's race at Iowa Speedway, the four of them got togeather in a "drivers only" meeting and made a commitment to help each other more directly. 

The new attitude paid immediate dividends. Kanaan was a threat to win a Iowa until a late accident took him out: Mutoh finished a career-high second, with Andretti comming home 3rd & Patrick 6th. During qualifications for this evening's race at Richmond, Kanaan & Andretti shut out the Ganassi & Penske duos to capture the front row.

Here is the starting grid for Richmond:

http://www.indycar.com/grid/

Kanaan hopes to keep the new spirit of openness going throughout the rest of the season.  "It's like a family. You have to sit around the table and say I don't like this or that, we're doing this right, doing that wrong. It's our careers that are on the line. Plenty of people want us to … fall apart, so it's up to us to choose and we all agreed and it's paying off."

At 8pm ET tonight we will see if AGR's new approach continues to yield results. 

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