2008 Gainsco Auto Insurance Indy 300
# 2008 Gainsco Auto Insurance Indy 300

The 2008 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Indy 300 was the opening round of the 2008 IndyCar Series season and took place on March 29, 2008 at the 1.485-mile (2.390 km) Homestead-Miami Speedway. For the first time in series history, the reigning champion was not on the grid to defend his title, as Dario Franchitti had moved to the No. 40 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car for Chip Ganassi Racing. Graham Rahal was supposed to make his debut in this race, however due to a crash in testing his team could not get his car repaired in time for the race. 2003 champion Scott Dixon kicked off the season with the victory, on his way to the series championship.

## Qualifying

* All cars run four laps and the car which completes the laps in the quickest time, wins the pole.

| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Time | Speed (mph) |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 9 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:40.2341 | 213.341 |
| 2 | 20 | Ed Carpenter | Vision Racing | 1:40.2482 | 213.311 |
| 3 | 2 | A. J. Foyt IV | Vision Racing | 1:40.7676 | 212.211 |
| 4 | 7 | Danica Patrick | Andretti Green Racing | 1:40.8066 | 212.129 |
| 5 | 6 | Ryan Briscoe | Penske Racing | 1:40.8166 | 212.108 |
| 6 | 26 | Marco Andretti | Andretti Green Racing | 1:40.9452 | 211.838 |
| 7 | 3 | Hélio Castroneves | Penske Racing | 1:41.0675 | 211.581 |
| 8 | 11 | Tony Kanaan | Andretti Green Racing | 1:41.0683 | 211.580 |
| 9 | 27 | Hideki Mutoh (R) | Andretti Green Racing | 1:41.1024 | 211.508 |
| 10 | 25 | Marty Roth | Roth Racing | 1:41.1264 | 211.458 |
| 11 | 17 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Rahal Letterman Racing | 1:41.4689 | 210.744 |
| 12 | 4 | Vítor Meira | Panther Racing | 1:41.6762 | 210.315 |
| 13 | 15 | Buddy Rice | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | 1:42.0784 | 209.486 |
| 14 | 14 | Darren Manning | A. J. Foyt Enterprises | 1:42.1598 | 209.319 |
| 15 | 34 | Franck Perera (R) | Conquest Racing | 1:42.2034 | 209.230 |
| 16 | 5 | Oriol Servià (R) | KV Racing | 1:42.3056 | 209.021 |
| 17 | 02 | Justin Wilson (R) | Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing | 1:42.4349 | 208.757 |
| 18 | 23 | Milka Duno | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | 1:42.6559 | 208.308 |
| 19 | 36 | Enrique Bernoldi (R) | Conquest Racing | 1:42.7433 | 208.130 |
| 20 | 33 | E. J. Viso (R) | HVM Racing | 1:42.7577 | 208.101 |
| 21 | 8 | Will Power (R) | KV Racing | 1:42.7935 | 208.029 |
| 22 | 18 | Bruno Junqueira | Dale Coyne Racing | 1:43.0882 | 207.434 |
| 23 | 19 | Mario Moraes (R) | Dale Coyne Racing | 1:43.2707 | 207.067 |
| 24 | 10 | Dan Wheldon | Chip Ganassi Racing | Disallowed | Disallowed |
| 25 | 24 | Jay Howard (R) | Roth Racing | Disallowed | Disallowed |

* Before the race, the cars of Ed Carpenter and A. J. Foyt IV failed technical inspection, their times were disallowed, and were dropped to 24th and 25th on the grid respectively. All drivers behind them moved up two places from their original grid positions.

## Race

| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Laps Led | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 9 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | 200 | 1:44:03.5914 | 1 | 67 | 50 |
| 2 | 26 | Marco Andretti | Andretti Green Racing | 200 | +0.5828 | 4 | 85 | 43 |
| 3 | 10 | Dan Wheldon | Chip Ganassi Racing | 200 | +1.4728 | 22 | 9 | 35 |
| 4 | 3 | Hélio Castroneves | Penske Racing | 200 | +8.0340 | 5 | 4 | 32 |
| 5 | 20 | Ed Carpenter | Vision Racing | 199 | +1 Lap | 24 | 0 | 30 |
| 6 | 7 | Danica Patrick | Andretti Green Racing | 199 | +1 Lap | 2 | 0 | 28 |
| 7 | 17 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Rahal Letterman Racing | 199 | +1 Lap | 9 | 0 | 26 |
| 8 | 11 | Tony Kanaan | Andretti Green Racing | 198 | +2 Laps | 6 | 35 | 24 |
| 9 | 2 | A. J. Foyt IV | Vision Racing | 198 | +2 Laps | 25 | 0 | 22 |
| 10 | 4 | Vítor Meira | Panther Racing | 197 | +3 Laps | 10 | 0 | 20 |
| 11 | 15 | Buddy Rice | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | 196 | +4 Laps | 11 | 0 | 19 |
| 12 | 5 | Oriol Servià (R) | KV Racing | 195 | +5 Laps | 14 | 0 | 18 |
| 13 | 14 | Darren Manning | A. J. Foyt Enterprises | 194 | +6 Laps | 12 | 0 | 17 |
| 14 | 34 | Franck Perera (R) | Conquest Racing | 194 | +6 Laps | 13 | 0 | 16 |
| 15 | 02 | Justin Wilson (R) | Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing | 193 | +7 Laps | 15 | 0 | 15 |
| 16 | 19 | Mario Moraes (R) | Dale Coyne Racing | 187 | +13 laps | 21 | 0 | 14 |
| 17 | 33 | E. J. Viso (R) | HVM Racing | 183 | Accident | 18 | 0 | 13 |
| 18 | 36 | Enrique Bernoldi (R) | Conquest Racing | 149 | Handling | 17 | 0 | 12 |
| 19 | 6 | Ryan Briscoe | Penske Racing | 126 | Collision | 3 | 0 | 12 |
| 20 | 23 | Milka Duno | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | 122 | Collision | 16 | 0 | 12 |
| 21 | 25 | Marty Roth | Roth Racing | 53 | Handling | 8 | 0 | 12 |
| 22 | 24 | Jay Howard (R) | Roth Racing | 50 | Handling | 23 | 0 | 12 |
| 23 | 18 | Bruno Junqueira | Dale Coyne Racing | 40 | Handling | 20 | 0 | 12 |
| 24 | 27 | Hideki Mutoh (R) | Andretti Green Racing | 32 | Mechanical | 7 | 0 | 12 |
| 25 | 8 | Will Power (R) | KV Racing | 24 | Mechanical | 19 | 0 | 10 |

Average race speed: 171.248 mph Cautions: 3 for 24 laps Lead changes: 12

## Broadcasting

### Television

The race was televised in high definition in the United States on ESPN 2, the telecast utilized the Side-by-Side format for commercial breaks.

### Radio

The race was broadcast on radio by the IMS Radio Network. Mike King served as anchor. Davey Hamilton was the driver analyst.

