|
|
|
|
July 12, 2008
Firestone Indy 200
Circuit: Nashville Superspeedway (1.33-mile oval) Lebanon, TN
2007 Winner: Scott Dixon (Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) 164.030 mph average
Weather: Hot & humid, showers, 89 degrees F
Race Results:
Fn. St. Driver Team Chassis Laps Average Speed/Notes
1. 5. Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi Honda Dallara 171 148.072 mph average, led 53 laps
2. 6. Dan Wheldon Target Chip Ganassi Honda Dallara 171 -1.0680 seconds (under caution)
3. 1. Helio Castroneves Team Penske Honda Dallara 171 -5.6679 seconds, led 54 laps
4. 7. Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing Honda Dallara 171 -6.4612 seconds, led 59 laps
5. 2. Danica Patrick Andretti Green Racing Honda Dallara 171 -7.8301 seconds
6. 15. Vitor Meira Panther Racing Honda Dallara 171 -9.5615 seconds
7. 12. Buddy Rice Dreyer & Reinbold Honda Dallara 171 -13.2509 seconds
8. 8. Ed Carpenter Vision Racing Honda Dallara 171 -16.0567 seconds
9. 18. Darren Manning A.J. Foyt Racing Honda Dallara 171 -24.9236 seconds
10. 20. Mario Moraes-R Dale Coyne Racing Honda Dallara 170 Running
11. 14. Will Power-R KV Racing Technologies Honda Dallara 170 Running
12. 10. Graham Rahal-R Newman Haas Lanigan Honda Dallara 170 Running
13. 21. Marty Roth Roth Racing Honda Dallara 170 Running
14. 3. Hideki Mutoh-R Andretti Green Racing Honda Dallara 169 Running
15. 23. Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne Racing Honda Dallara 169 Running
16. 17. Oriol Servia KV Racing Technologies Honda Dallara 169 Running, led 5 laps
17. 16. Milka Duno Dreyer & Reinbold Honda Dallara 168 Running
18. 13. Justin Wilson-R Newman Haas Lanigan Honda Dallara 143 Running, delayed ? transmission
19. 4. Ryan Hunter-Reay Rahal Letterman Racing Honda Dallara 99 Did not finish ? crash
20. 19. Enrique Bernoldi-R Conquest Racing Honda Dallara 66 Did not finish ? handling
21. 24. Jaime Camara-R Conquest Racing Honda Dallara 50 Did not finish ? handling
22. 22. A.J. Foyt IV Vision Racing Honda Dallara 45 Did not finish ? steering
23. 9. Ryan Briscoe Team Penske Honda Dallara 3 Did not finish ? contact
24. 11. Marco Andretti Andretti Green Racing Honda Dallara 2 Did not finish ? crash
(R ? Series Rookie)
When you?re hot, you?re hot. Scott Dixon and his Target Chip Ganassi Racing team can apparently do no wrong at the moment, in the IndyCar Series, as a late-race miscommunication paid off in spades for driver and team when rain brought an early end to Saturday night?s Firestone Indy 200 at Nashville Superspeedway.
Dixon and teammate Dan Wheldon were running second and seventh, respectively, when the yellow caution flag flew on Lap 138 as a sprinkle of rain rolled over the track. At the time, Tony Kanaan held a 3.5-second lead over Dixon and appeared headed for his second victory of the season.
Still under caution on Lap 140 and Kanaan led virtually the entire field into pit lane for a final fuel and tire stop. But the call from his team came too late for Dixon, who was past the pit lane entry point and had to stay on track, with Wheldon following suit.
The light rain quickly disappeared, and racing resumed on Lap 152. It looked as if the Ganassi drivers would be forced to pit under green flag conditions, when a much heavier rain shower arrived on the scene on Lap 166, and the race was red-flagged to a halt on Lap 171, 39 short of the scheduled 200-lap distance. The rain preserved the win for Dixon, his third in a row here at Nashville and a series-leading fourth this season, extending his lead in the championship standings to 63 points after 12 of 18 races.
It was another typically successful weekend for Honda, engine supplier for the full IndyCar Series, in the fourth of six consecutive race weekends. A total of 24 Honda-powered drivers ran 8,854 miles of practice, qualifying and racing this weekend without a major failure. So far in 2008, IndyCar drivers have run 161,125 miles with just one recorded failure ? on the Vision Racing car of Davey Hamilton during practice leading up to the Indianapolis 500.
If Dixon was the big winner tonight, Kanaan was the biggest loser. The Andretti Green Racing driver led a race-high 59 laps and appeared in control of the contest under green flag conditions. But the shuffle during the final pit stops and an opportunistic pass by Helio Castroneves to snatch third on the restart dropped Kanaan to a fourth-place finish.
Vitor Meira was another to suffer at the hand of fate, as a problem with fuel coupling in last stop dropped the Panther Racing driver from a strong third to a disappointed sixth, just behind Danica Patrick. Buddy Rice posted his second-consecutive top-10 finish in seventh, followed by Vision Racing?s Ed Carpenter. Darren Manning also posted a second top-10 result for A.J. Foyt Racing in ninth. Rookie Mario Moraes followed up his career-high seventh last week at Watkins Glen with 10th tonight.
Next week, the IndyCar Series heads back to road racing for the July 20 Honda Indy 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.
IndyCar Series Drivers? Championship Standings (after 12 of 18 races):
1. Scott Dixon 420 points (4 wins)
2. Helio Castroneves 357
3. Dan Wheldon 351 (2 wins)
4. Tony Kanaan 339 (1 win)
5. Danica Patrick 266 (1 win)
6. Hideki Mutoh-R 254
7. Marco Andretti 253 points
8. Ryan Briscoe 243 (1 win)
9. Ryan Hunter-Reay 232 (1 win)
10. Ed Carpenter 222
11. Oriol Servia 214
12. Buddy Rice 213
Scott Dixon (#9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) Started 5th, finished 1st, 3rd consecutive Nashvile victory, 4th IndyCar win of 2008, 14th career win; 100th major race victory for Chip Ganassi Racing: ?This is three guitars [the first place trophy is a commemorative Gibson guitar]. Man, I?m pretty impressed. Tonight I don?t think we had the best car but the luck is going our way, and I feel for Tony [Kanaan]. We were fast by ourselves, but ?TK? was definitely stronger in traffic. On the last caution, it was actually a bit of miscommunication. By the time they called me in [to pit], I was already way past the pit entry. It wasn?t looking pretty for us until the rains came back. It wasn?t pretty, but we?ll take it.?
Tony Kanaan (#11 Andretti Green Racing Honda) Started 7th, finished 4th: "I support my team 100 percent.? It was the right call to come in on lap 148, and a lot of people followed our lead [into the pits].? Who can predict the rain?? Unfortunately, the rain and I don't get along too well.? But we have great momentum and the guys at the front know we are coming.? I'll take fourth place today.? When it is your year, it is your year.? You have to get a little lucky to win the championship and I had my share of the luck in 2004."
Roger Griffiths (Race Team Technical Leader, Honda Performance Development) on tonight?s race: ?That?s four down and two to go in this string of consecutive race weekends. It?s a shame for the fans that the rain ended tonight?s race early, but it certainly played to the advantage of Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon. Congratulations to Chip Ganassi, Mike Hull, and the entire Target Ganassi organization on 100 race wins, the majority of them with Honda power, I believe. They have built up one of the top teams in motorsports over the years, and the results speak for themselves.? |
|
