The 2008 Iowa Corn Indy 250 was the eighth round of the 2008 IndyCar Series season. The race was held on June 22, 2008 at the Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. At the green flag, Hélio Castroneves took the lead in turn 1 from polesitter Scott Dixon. Tony Kanaan quickly moved up to second position. Over the next 10-15 laps, Castroneves and Kanaan battled back-and-forth for the lead, side-by-side on many laps. Kanaan finally muscled the lead away on lap 16, and gained a lead of roughly one second. On lap 39, Ed Carpenter brushed the outside wall in turn 2. The leaders pit, and Kanaan exited the pits as the leader. On lap 51, the green came back out, and a lap later, Castroneves got by Kanaan for the lead. Jaime Camara brought out the yellow on lap 106 when his car lost power and stopped on the course. After another sequence of pit stops, Kanaan led Dan Wheldon and Marco Andretti. On the restart, Wheldon lost control and slid up the track, falling to 8th place.
On lap 157 Mario Moraes spun into the pit apron, bringing out a caution, and the leaders pitted. John Andretti's pitcrew had trouble engaging the fuel hose, and he dropped back the end of the running order. Prior to this he had been running in 7th place, one of the highest positions ever for a Roth Racing car. Castroneves regained the lead on lap 170, and held it until another yellow came out on lap 188 for a spin by Enrique Bernoldi. Most of the leaders pitted, but Wheldon, Hideki Mutoh, and Danica Patrick stayed out to lead the field. On the restart Moraes spun for the second time of the day, and prolonged the yellow until lap 202. On lap 212, Kanaan (running third) suddenly lost control and crashed in turn 1.
On the lap 227 restart, Marco Andretti and Dixon passed Patrick to take third and fourth place respectively. Over the final 15 laps, Mutoh and Marco Andretti battled for second, with Mutoh holding off Andretti's challenge. Wheldon went on to win, and Chip Ganassi Racing donated their race winnings from both cars to Iowa flood relief. After getting by Patrick late in the race, A. J. Foyt IV finished in the top 5, while John Andretti just missed the top 10, working his way back to 11th.
Result Finish CarNo. Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid LapsLed Points 110 Dan WheldonChip Ganassi Racing2501:38:35.892336150 227 Hideki Mutoh (R)Andretti Green Racing250+0.14307040 326 Marco AndrettiAndretti Green Racing250+0.902882635 49 Scott DixonChip Ganassi Racing250+1.27261032 52 A. J. Foyt IVVision Racing250+1.356418030 67 Danica PatrickAndretti Green Racing250+1.91156028 76 Ryan BriscoePenske Racing250+3.97805026 817 Ryan Hunter-Reay (R)Rahal Letterman Racing250+4.448814024 98 Will Power (R)KV Racing250+5.615811022 1006 Graham RahalNewman/Haas/Lanigan Racing250+7.788616020 1124 John AndrettiRoth Racing250+8.463923019 1202 Justin Wilson (R)Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing250+8.722520018 1333 E. J. Viso (R)HVM Racing250+12.577513017 143 Hélio CastronevesPenske Racing248+2 Laps29219 154 Vítor MeiraPanther Racing248+2 Laps12015 165 Oriol Servià (R)KV Racing247+3 Laps10014 1736 Enrique BernoldiConquest Racing242+ 8 Laps17013 1811 Tony KanaanAndretti Green Racing211Contact47112 1919 Mario Moraes (R)Dale Coyne Racing192Contact24012 2034 Jaime Camara (R)Conquest Racing133Handling21012 2114 Darren ManningA. J. Foyt Enterprises94Handling19012 2215 Buddy RiceDreyer & Reinbold Racing78Handling15012 2320 Ed CarpenterVision Racing38Contact9012 2423 Milka DunoDreyer & Reinbold Racing26Handling22012 2518 Bruno JunqueiraDale Coyne Racing0DNS2505 2625 Marty RothRoth Racing0DNS2605Race average speed: Lead changes: 9 between 4 driversCautions: 6 for 57 laps
References
IndyCar Series (Archived 2009-05-21)