The 2007 Firestone Indy 400 was an IRL IndyCar Series open-wheel race that was held on August 5, 2007, in Brooklyn, Michigan at Michigan International Speedway. It was the 13th round of the 2007 IRL IndyCar Series and the final American open-wheel car race at the track. Andretti Green Racing driver Tony Kanaan won the 200-lap race from the eighth starting position. Kanaan's teammate Marco Andretti finished second and Scott Sharp of Rahal Letterman Racing finished third.
Dario Franchitti, the points leader heading into the race, started on the pole position after posting the fastest lap during qualifications. The race was delayed by over four and a half hours due to rainfall. Franchitti led most of the race's first 50 laps before stalling his engine during a pit stop, forcing him to drop to the rear of the field. By lap 63, he made his way back to the front, but was heavily challenged by Dan Wheldon. The two drivers battled alongside each other for the lead until their wheels touched on lap 144, which sparked a multi-car pileup in which Franchitti pirouetted in the air; none of the drivers involved were injured. Soon after the race's final restart on the 171st lap, Kanaan, Andretti, and Danica Patrick got by Sharp, though Patrick's chances of earning her first win were ruined when she pitted for a blown tire on lap 186. Kanaan successfully fended off Andretti's attempts to overtake him on the outside line and earned the victory.
Six cautions slowed the event and the lead was traded 23 times between nine drivers. The win was Kanaan's third of the season and tenth in the IndyCar Series. Despite Franchitti's poor finish, he maintained his 24-point gap over Scott Dixon in the Drivers' Championship standings, with four races left in the season.
Background
The Firestone Indy 400 was the 13th of 17 scheduled open-wheel races for the 2007 IRL IndyCar Series and the 56th American open-wheel car race at the track, counting the races sanctioned by the United States Auto Club (1968, 1970–1978) and Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART; 1979–2001). It was held on August 5, 2007, in Brooklyn, Michigan, United States, at Michigan International Speedway, a four-turn asphalt tri-oval track with 18-degree banking in the corners, 12-degree banking in the front stretch, and 5-degree banking in the back stretch, and was contested over 200 laps and . The race was the last to be included in the IndyCar Series' 2007 schedule, and was initially planned to be held on July 22 before being moved back to August 5 in order to accommodate for the series' inaugural event at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Heading into the race, Dario Franchitti earned 474 points and held a 24-point lead over Scott Dixon in the Drivers' Championship standings. Tony Kanaan was third on 363 points, six points ahead of fourth-placed Dan Wheldon and 18 more than Sam Hornish Jr. in fifth. Dixon had won the three preceding IndyCar Series races leading up to the Firestone Indy 400, but he admitted that Franchitti's consistency throughout the season made it tougher for him to close the gap on his points lead. Defending race winner Hélio Castroneves opined that Franchitti had the advantage of his three teammates who were capable of stealing points from Dixon. Franchitti looked forward to returning to the track after a week off and aimed to win the race at Michigan. Kanaan, a fellow Andretti Green Racing driver, reminisced of his prior successes at the track and hoped to battle with Franchitti and Dixon for the title.
Twenty cars were entered for the race at Michigan, up from 18 in the previous round at Mid-Ohio, all of which utilized the Dallara IR-05 chassis, tires supplied by Firestone, and Honda Indy V8 engines powered with ethanol fuel. Rookie driver Milka Duno planned to compete in the two preceding races at Nashville Superspeedway and Mid-Ohio, but injuries sustained in a testing crash at Nashville forced her to miss both races. She was medically cleared to race at Michigan and received assistance from former IndyCar Series driver Tomáš Enge in preparing the setup of her car. Jon Herb, who had not raced in the IndyCar Series since the Bombardier Learjet 550 in June, gained enough sponsorship to compete in the event and hoped to race in the season-ending Peak Antifreeze Indy 300. The two drivers completed a rookie orientation session at Michigan ahead of the race weekend alongside Ryan Hunter-Reay, who made his abrupt series debut with Rahal Letterman Racing in the previous round, replacing Jeff Simmons.
It had already been determined that this would be the Indy Racing League (IRL)'s final event at Michigan International Speedway, as was confirmed by track officials in July 2007. Track president Roger Curtis explained that IRL officials planned to host their annual race at the track two weeks prior to one of the track's events for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, which he felt would create issues regarding the promotion of both races. Curtis expressed sorrow for the event's removal from the IndyCar Series calendar because of the track's long history with American open-wheel car racing and discussed the possibility of adding a road course to the track in order to attract other motorsport series besides NASCAR.
Practice and qualifying There were two 120-minute practice sessions on Saturday that preceded the raceon Sunday, both of which were split into two groups of drivers that each received 60 minutes of track time per session. The first practice session, held on Saturday morning, was led by Kanaan with a time of 33.0803 seconds, one hundredth of a second quicker than Dixon, with Hornish Jr., Franchitti, and Danica Patrick rounding out the top-five. The session was briefly paused after Duno slid into the inside line while exiting the fourth turn. Tomas Scheckter—the winner of the 2002 Michigan race—lapped quickest in the second practice session later that day with a time of 32.9999 seconds; Franchitti was second, Castroneves third, Patrick fourth, and Wheldon fifth. Herb caused the only stoppage of the session when he crashed into the SAFER barrier in the fourth corner.
The qualifying session, officially named the AAMCO Transmissions Pole Qualifying, was held 75 minutes after the second practice session ended. Each driver was required to complete up to two timed laps in their qualifying attempt, with the fastest of the two laps determining their starting position. With a time of 32.9810 seconds, Franchitti earned the fourth pole position of his IndyCar Series career, and was joined on the grid's front row by Hornish Jr., whose lap time trailed Franchitti by four hundredths of a second. Castroneves, Scott Sharp, and Wheldon rounded out the top five, and Scheckter and Dixon took the next two positions. Kanaan qualified eighth; he was only permitted to complete one lap after suffering an issue with his dashboard during his first qualifying attempt. Patrick's team was late to pre-qualifying technical inspection and was also forced to run a single lap, which earned her the ninth spot on the grid. Ed Carpenter started 10th, ahead of eleventh-placed Vítor Meira, who failed technical inspection and only ran one lap. The remaining positions on the grid were occupied by Hunter-Reay, Marco Andretti, Kosuke Matsuura, A. J. Foyt IV, Sarah Fisher, Buddy Rice, Darren Manning, Duno, and Herb, the latter of whom did not participate in qualifications due to his crash earlier that day.
Qualifying classification + Final qualifying results Driver Team 1 27 Dario Franchitti Andretti Green Racing 32.9810 218.3081 2 6 Sam Hornish Jr. Team Penske 33.0239 218.0242 33 Hélio Castroneves Team Penske 33.0436 217.8943 48 Scott Sharp Rahal Letterman Racing 33.0835 217.6314 510 Dan Wheldon Chip Ganassi Racing 33.1113 217.4485 6 2 Tomas Scheckter Vision Racing 33.1135 217.4346 79 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 33.1234 217.3697 811 Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing 33.1504 217.1928 97 Danica Patrick Andretti Green Racing 33.1848 216.9679 1020 Ed Carpenter Vision Racing 33.2879 216.29510 114 Vítor Meira Panther Racing 33.3399 215.95711 1217 Ryan Hunter-Reay Rahal Letterman Racing 33.3521 215.87812 1326 Marco Andretti Andretti Green Racing 33.3629 215.80913 1455 Kosuke Matsuura Panther Racing 33.4307 215.37114 1522 A. J. Foyt IV Vision Racing 33.4363 215.33515 165 Sarah Fisher Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 33.4422 215.29716 1715 Buddy Rice Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 33.5103 214.85917 1814 Darren Manning A. J. Foyt Racing 33.6174 214.17518 1923 Milka Duno SAMAX Motorsport 33.8185 212.90119 2019 Jon Herb Racing Professionals — —20 Sources:
Race Although the race was scheduled to start around 12:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−04:00), heavy rainfall that began the night prior forced IRL officials to push the start of the race back by four hours and 37 minutes. When the rain finally subsided, the skies remained cloudy around the track with air temperatures measured at and track temperatures at . Live television coverage of the race in the United States was moved from ESPN2 to ESPN Classic as a result of the delay, with Marty Reid and Scott Goodyear providing commentary. Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser commanded the drivers to start their engines and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Johnny Rutherford drove the pace car. An additional warm-up lap was permitted by the IRL in order to help drivers warm their tires, engines, and gearboxes.
Franchitti maintained his pole position advantage at the start of the race and pulled ahead of Hornish Jr. in the fourth turn by the end of lap one. Two laps later, Dixon had moved into the fifth position; he and his teammate Wheldon then overtook Sharp for fourth and fifth, respectively, on the fifth lap, while Herb entered pit road to alleviate his overheating engine. Hornish Jr. remained within no more than three tenths of a second behind Franchitti until the 29th lap, when the rear of Herb's car slammed the outside wall in the second turn, prompting the first caution flag of the race. All of the leaders made pit stops for new tires and fuel, along with front wing adjustments for several drivers. Franchitti exited pit road first and thus led the field back up to speed on lap 35, ahead of Hornish Jr., Dixon, Castroneves, and Kanaan. Patrick dove to the left-hand side of Wheldon and Scheckter in the third turn and overtook them both for sixth place, while Kanaan improved to the second position by the 38th lap. One lap later, Castroneves, Dixon, and Wheldon raced three-abreast for fourth; Dixon passed both drivers on lap 40.
The second caution was issued on the 46th lap for Duno, whose car slowed to a halt in the fourth turn due to a fuel pressure issue. All of the leaders entered pit road two laps later, and Franchitti's engine stalled as he attempted to drive away from pit road, allowing Dixon to assume the lead position; Franchitti, meanwhile, dropped to 18th. Dixon led the field on the lap-51 restart, followed by Kanaan, Wheldon, Castroneves, and Hornish Jr. Wheldon overtook Kanaan for second place on the 52nd lap and Franchitti made his way into the top ten positions two laps later. By lap 57, Franchitti had passed Wheldon for the second position. Castroneves and Meira's cars then collided into each other and slammed into the outside barrier on the front stretch, prompting the race's third caution. More pit stops were completed for the leaders; while Hornish Jr. was forced to enter pit road a second time for additional adjustments, Franchitti retained the lead ahead of the restart on lap 70, with Scheckter, Dixon, Manning, and Sharp rounding out the top five positions.