The 2008 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, the 15th running of the event, was the twentieth race of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season and the fifteenth NASCAR race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS). It was also the first race under the ESPN/ABC section of the TV coverage for the 2008 season. The 160-lap, event was raced on July 27 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway located in Speedway, Indiana (a separate town surrounded by Indiana's state capital). Along with ESPN, the IMS Radio Network, working with Performance Racing Network, provided radio coverage (along with Sirius Satellite Radio) with both broadcasts starting at 1 PM US EDT.
The race was deemed a "disaster" for NASCAR, Goodyear, and Indianapolis. Due to the new Car of Tomorrow, the surface at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and problems with Goodyear tires, NASCAR was forced to throw competition cautions every 10–12 laps; an average of just 9 green flag laps were run during the race. Tires started to explode if the race was allowed to continue past that distance. Even at that distance, tires were down to the cords/nylon base. At the end of the race, every tire that Goodyear had brought to the track for the weekend had been used and were no longer usable.
The race was starting to rival the Daytona 500 in terms of the biggest race of the NASCAR season before the tire problems at this race. Since this race, attendance has dropped from a 257,000+ sell out to an estimated 100,000 at the 2010 race. By the 2013 race, the last year NASCAR tracked attendance, it dropped to 70,000.
Entry list (W) denotes past Brickyard 400 winner. (R) denotes rookie driver.
Driver Team Manufacturer 00 Michael McDowell (R) Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 01 Regan Smith (R) Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet 1 Martin Truex Jr. Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet 2 Kurt Busch Penske Racing South Dodge 5 Casey Mears Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 6 David Ragan Roush Fenway Racing Ford 07 Clint Bowyer Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 7 Robby Gordon Robby Gordon Motorsports Dodge 08 Johnny Sauter E&M Motorsports Dodge 8 Mark Martin Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet 9 Kasey Kahne Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge 10 Patrick Carpentier (R) Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 12 Ryan Newman Penske Racing South Dodge 15 Paul Menard Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 17 Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Racing Ford 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19 Elliott Sadler Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge 20 Tony Stewart (W) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Bill Elliott (W) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22 Dave Blaney Bill Davis Racing Toyota 24 Jeff Gordon (W) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 26 Jamie McMurray Roush Fenway Racing Ford 28 Travis Kvapil Yates Racing Ford 29 Kevin Harvick (W) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 34 Tony Raines Front Row Motorsports Chevrolet 38 David Gilliland Yates Racing Ford 41 Reed Sorenson Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge 43 Bobby Labonte (W) Petty Enterprises Dodge 44 David Reutimann Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 45 Terry Labonte Petty Enterprises Dodge 47 Marcos Ambrose JTG Racing Ford 48 Jimmie Johnson (W) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 50 Stanton Barrett SKI Motorsports Chevrolet 55 Michael Waltrip Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 66 Scott Riggs Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet 70 Jason Leffler Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet 77 Sam Hornish Jr. (R) Penske Racing South Dodge 78 Joe Nemechek Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 83 Brian Vickers Team Red Bull Toyota 84 A. J. Allmendinger Team Red Bull Toyota 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 96 J. J. Yeley Hall of Fame Racing Toyota 99 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford
Qualifying Jimmie Johnson held off Mark Martin to win the pole position. Bill Elliott, after starting the first 14 races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, failed in his final run to do so, as he retired following the season. RANKDRIVERNBRCARTIMESPEED1 Jimmie Johnson48Chevrolet49.515 181.763 2 Mark Martin8Chevrolet49.616 181.393 3 Ryan Newman12Dodge49.732 180.970 4 Kasey Kahne9Dodge49.776 180.810 5 Jeff Gordon24Chevrolet49.849 180.545 6 Elliott Sadler19Dodge49.890 180.397 7 Kurt Busch2Dodge49.905 180.343 8 Jamie McMurray26Ford49.911 180.321 9 Carl Edwards99Ford49.942 180.209 10 Matt Kenseth17Ford50.023 179.917 11 Dale Earnhardt Jr.88Chevrolet50.038 179.863 12 Greg Biffle16Ford50.067 179.759 13 Juan Pablo Montoya42Dodge50.084 179.698 14 Tony Stewart20Toyota50.145 179.480 15 Patrick Carpentier10Dodge50.146 179.476 *16 David Ragan6Ford50.261 179.065 17 Brian Vickers83Toyota50.303 178.916 18 Kevin Harvick29Chevrolet50.319 178.859 19 Kyle Busch18Toyota50.345 178.767 20 David Gilliland38Ford50.447 178.405 21 Jason Leffler70Chevrolet50.467 178.334 *22 Reed Sorenson41Dodge50.511 178.179 23 Denny Hamlin11Toyota50.514 178.168 24 Marcos Ambrose47Ford50.524 178.133 *25 Martin Truex Jr.1Chevrolet50.568 177.978 26 A.J. Allmendinger84Toyota50.581 177.932 *27 Bobby Labonte43Dodge50.594 177.887 28 Travis Kvapil28Ford50.622 177.788 29 Robby Gordon7Dodge50.676 177.599 30 Michael McDowell00Toyota50.678 177.592 31 Casey Mears5Chevrolet50.698 177.522 32 Jeff Burton31Chevrolet50.724 177.431 33 David Reutimann44Toyota50.749 177.343 34 Michael Waltrip55Toyota50.770 177.270 35 Scott Riggs66Chevrolet50.796 177.179 *36 Joe Nemechek78Chevrolet50.823 177.085 *37 Paul Menard15Chevrolet50.848 176.998 38 Sam Hornish Jr.77Dodge50.911 176.779 39 J.J. Yeley96Toyota50.923 176.737 *40 Terry Labonte45Dodge51.000 176.471 PC41 Bill Elliott21Ford51.267 175.552 *42 Clint Bowyer07Chevrolet51.471 174.856 43 Dave Blaney22Toyota51.728 173.987 OP44 Johnny Sauter08Dodge51.803 173.735 *45 Tony Raines34Chevrolet51.996 173.090 *46 Stanton Barrett50Chevrolet52.258 172.222 *47 Regan Smith01ChevroletOP OP: qualified via owners points
PC: qualified as past champion
PR: provisional
QR: via qualifying race
* - had to qualify on time
Failed to qualify: Bill Elliott (#21), Stanton Barrett (#50), Johnny Sauter (#08), Tony Raines (#34).
Race
In pre-race practice, teams realized that the tires provided for the race wore down quickly, due to the abrasive course at Indianapolis and the different characteristics of the fifth-generation car that was being used for the first time at Indianapolis. Concerns led NASCAR to implement caution periods after ten laps for tire wear, a procedure NASCAR debuted at 1969 Talladega 500, which had a driver boycott over tire wear issues, and NASCAR called cautions after a specific time in order to allow teams to pit and change tires.
Competition cautions were called between 10 and 12 laps. Because of an accident involving Michael Waltrip on Lap 4, the first competition yellow would not wave until Lap 14 for a crash when Kurt Busch lost the car off of Turn 1, hitting Kevin Harvick in the process. The only other non-competition yellow came halfway through the race when Brian Vickers' Toyota had its engine fail. Some drivers compared the racing to the roots of NASCAR with ten-lap heat races, as nine competition cautions and the two incidents combined effectively led to ten "heat races" were thrown with the final sprint being a "feature" race. Jimmie Johnson won the race after a battle with Carl Edwards after various teams attempted a two-tire stop in what effectively had become the caution leading to the final shootout, similar to the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.
Numerous drivers suffered tire failures during the race. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the first on lap 26, blowing a right rear tire while leading the race. Just 3 laps later, Juan Pablo Montoya blew a tire coming off of turn 2. ESPN reported major tire cording on Jeff Gordon. On lap 47, Carl Edwards reported on the radio that he had a right rear tire problem. Just seconds later on the same lap, Matt Kenseth spun on the backstretch with a right rear tire failure, causing major damage to the right side of the car. ESPN reported Kyle Busch had some tire problems on lap 65. After that, tires showed a slight improvement, even though the tires still showed major cording. Throughout the race, drivers expressed their disappointment at the events that had occurred prior and during the event, with Matt Kenseth saying in the garage "It's a really, really disappointing situation. You know, this is one of the biggest races in the year, to never have this car here, before or not come into an open test and then working on this things working the tires, it's pretty darn disappointing... I feel bad for the fans and everything, when we're running three quarters speed because we're worried the tires are going to fall off and we got them blowing every 8 laps. I'm pretty disappointed." NASCAR president Mike Helton announced that NASCAR threw out more competition cautions than expected. Many NASCAR fans compare it to the 2005 United States Grand Prix tire debacle, when tires blowing out became a major concern for drivers. Some also say that this race was another incident that caused the decline of NASCAR's popularity.
Results