RICHMOND, VA. -- Nobody has led more laps and nobody is more frustrated. That's the tale of the tape on Tomas Scheckter's 2003 Indy Racing League season.

"I'm getting tired of dominating races and not winning," said Scheckter, whose 266 laps are tops in the IRL and 24 better than two-time winner and teammate Scott Dixon. "We've had dominant cars over the last few races and, for one reason or another, we just haven't had the results.

"If we can shake this string of bad luck, we're going to start winning races soon."

The 22-year-old South African crashed while running first at Japan, led more laps (63) than anybody at Indianapolis but had to settle for fourth and showed is heels to the field for 145 laps at Texas before a pit-stop disaster dropped him out of contention.

"It's encouraging to know that we've got a car that will run at the front each week, and we've proven that by leading the most laps," said Scheckter, who led 443 laps in 2002 (third highest) and scored his lone victory at Michigan. "We just need to lead the important one, the last one.

"Scott (Dixon) and I had great cars at the test down in Richmond, and we're due for some breaks to go our way."

After six races, Dixon is the lone repeat winner as Tony Kanaan, Gil de Ferran, Scott Sharp and Al Unser Jr. all have triumphed and Kanaan's consistency has left him with a 49-point lead heading into the 250-lap grind around the .75 of a mile Richmond International Raceway.

It will be Dixon and Kanaan's debut on the bullring.

"We had a great test down in Richmond a few weeks ago, and it's a cool track. I've never raced on an oval that small before, but it's going to be exciting, that's for sure," said the 22-year-old Kiwi.

"When I first pulled up to the track, I thought it was a go-kart track or something. But when you take your first laps, you quickly realize that it's a tough and demanding track."

Kanaan accidentally launched Helio Castroneves during that Richmond test last month and then helped extinguish the subsequent fire after his Brazilian buddy's car flipped. They both quickly learned about the close confines of a track that sees the Indy cars lap in 16 seconds.

"I think it's going to be a tough racetrack. It's very demanding, very physical. I would say that Richmond will be the most difficult race of the year," said Kanaan, who shows no side effects from his broken left arm suffered in Japan.

"I know you've got to be on your toes at that place. I've never seen anything like it."

Castroneves is winless in '03 but tied with teammate de Ferran and Unser for third place, only one point behind Dixon.

"It's a tough, unforgiving track, and it's also fairly bumpy which makes it challenging for the drivers and engineers," said the two-time Indy winner. "Everything happens very fast here because it is such a small track and it's difficult to find even an extra one-tenth of a second anywhere.

"It's almost like a road course because we're always shifting."

Sam Hornish Jr. overtook de Ferran late in last year's race for the win and, despite his under-powered Chevrolet, ran strong in the last IRL show at Pikes Peak. A handling short track like Richmond should play into the two-time IRL champ's favor.

Bryan Herta, who substituted for Dario Franchitti earlier this month at Texas and finished fifth in his IRL debut, has been named Franchitti's replacement at Andretti-Green Racing for the remainder of 2003. Franchitti opted to have surgery on his back rather than risking permanent injury.