2007 XM Satellite Radio Indy 300

Background

Main article: 2007 IndyCar Series#Teams and drivers

The XM Satellite Radio Indy 300 was the first of 17 scheduled open-wheel races for the 2007 IndyCar Series and the 12th annual edition of the event, counting the period from 1996 to 2000 when it was sanctioned by Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART). It was held on March 24, 2007, in Homestead, Florida, United States, at Homestead–Miami Speedway, a four-turn 1.5 mi asphalt oval track with 18-degree banking in the turns and 4-degree banking on the front stretch and back stretch. It was announced in September 2006 that the race would be held at night, making the IndyCar Series the first open-wheel series in history to open a season with a nighttime race.

Ahead of the 2007 season, many of the drivers opted to swap teams. One of the most publicized changes was Danica Patrick's move to Andretti Green Racing, replacing the now-retired Bryan Herta. Patrick was one of two female drivers planning to compete full-time in 2007, the other being series veteran Sarah Fisher, who joined Dreyer & Reinbold Racing alongside Buddy Rice after partnering with the team for the final two oval races of the 2006 season. As Fernández Racing focused their efforts on the American Le Mans Series, Scott Sharp teamed with Jeff Simmons at Rahal Letterman Racing and Kosuke Matsuura moved to Panther Racing with Vítor Meira. All entries used Dallara-built chassis, Honda Indy V8 engines powered by 100-percent ethanol, and tires supplied by Firestone.

To prepare for the race, the Indy Racing League (IRL) conducted the second of its two preseason tests on February 21–22 at Homestead–Miami Speedway. Both testing sessions began at 4:00 PM EST (UTC−05:00) and ended at 10:00 PM. Dan Wheldon lapped the quickest time of the 19 participants on the first day at 214.858 mph, but crashed in turn two with an hour left. Wheldon continued to set the pace on the second day, which went without incident, with a top speed of 214.350 mph. All 19 drivers in the session were separated by about half a second.

Practice and qualifying

Two practice sessions preceded the race on Saturday, both of which were held on Friday and lasted for two hours. The drivers were separated into two groups for the sessions and each allowed an hour of track time. The first practice session was led by Wheldon with a time of 25.0970 seconds, six hundredths of a second quicker than Sam Hornish Jr.; Tony Kanaan took third, Scott Dixon fourth, and Meira fifth. In the second practice session, Wheldon's time of 24.9899 seconds proved to be the quickest lap of the day thus far, with Hornish Jr., Kanaan, Fisher, and Dixon rounding out the top-five. The session was stopped twice for rain precipitating over the track, and once for Fisher running out of fuel and stopping her car on the back stretch.

During the qualifying session, held on Saturday evening, each driver was permitted to complete a maximum of two timed laps, with the fastest of their two laps determining their starting position. Wheldon earned his fifth career pole position with a time of 24.9438 seconds and was joined on the grid's front row by Hornish Jr., who was 0.0028 seconds slower ahead of his 100th start in the IndyCar Series. The Andretti Green Racing teammates Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan, and Marco Andretti occupied the next three positions. Dixon struggled with understeer during his qualifying attempt and took sixth, ahead of Sharp in seventh, Castroneves in eighth, Fisher in ninth, and A. J. Foyt IV in tenth. The starting lineup was completed by Meira, Tomas Scheckter, Rice, Patrick, Ed Carpenter, Simmons, Darren Manning, Matsuura, Marty Roth, and Alex Barron. The lap times of Sharp and Simmons, both of Rahal Letterman Racing, were disallowed after they failed technical inspection after qualifying and they were forced to start in the 19th and 20th positions, respectively.

Qualifying classification

; Notes

• – Scott Sharp and Jeff Simmons both failed post-qualifying technical inspection and were sent to the rear of the grid.

Race

Weather conditions at the track were cloudy, with air temperatures at 71 F and track temperatures at 74 F, and rainfall forced IRL officials to delay the start of the race 50 minutes from its scheduled time of 8:00 PM. Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A. J. Foyt, who was celebrating his 50th anniversary in American open-wheel car racing, commanded the drivers to start their engines and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Johnny Rutherford drove the pace car. Wheldon maintained his pole position advantage and pulled ahead of Hornish Jr. on the first lap. Kanaan struggled with the handling of his car and fell to seventh place in the first five laps. The first caution flag of the race was issued on lap 8 when Barron's car lost fuel pressure and came to a stop at the first turn. Kanaan, Andretti, Rice, Simmons, and Sharp made pit stops for fuel, tires, and adjustments under the caution period.

Wheldon remained on the track and led the field back up to speed at the restart on lap 14, followed by Hornish Jr. Over the next 31 laps, Wheldon's gap ahead of Hornish Jr. grew to 2.4 seconds. The first cycle of green-flag pit stops commenced with Franchitti on lap 47. Wheldon made his stop five laps later and gave up the lead to Kanaan. Matsuura passed Kanaan for the lead on the 55th lap as Kanaan made a pit stop. As Andretti retired from the race, Wheldon reclaimed the lead on lap 58 after Matsuura entered pit road. Nine laps later, moisture was seen on the track surface, prompting the second caution flag. All the leaders made stops during the caution, with Wheldon exiting pit road first and continuing to hold the lead.

Green-flag racing resumed on lap 77. Barron returned to the track five laps later as his team had alleviated his car's mechanical issue. The caution was thrown for the third time on the 92nd lap when Simmons spun backwards into the fourth-turn SAFER barrier and collected Matsuura and Foyt IV. During the leaders' pit stops under the caution, Wheldon's stop was prolonged after an air hose was caught under his car as Hornish Jr. stalled his engine; the two drivers rejoined the race in ninth and seventh, respectively. Patrick was also mandated to fall to the rear of the line of drivers by the IRL for hitting one of Franchitti's tires on pit road. Dixon benefitted from Wheldon and Hornish Jr.'s misfortunes and took the first position at the lap-109 restart, ahead of Carpenter and Meira.

As Meira overtook Carpenter for the second position, Wheldon began climbing up through the field. By lap 115, he improved to fifth, and five laps later, he moved ahead of Dixon to retake the lead. Dixon gradually fell half a second behind Wheldon by the 150th lap before the second round of green-flag pit stops commenced a lap later. On lap 155, Patrick's brakes locked as she entered pit road, causing her car to spin into the inside wall. The caution was not necessitated for the incident, although Patrick retired from the race. Wheldon and Dixon made their final stops of the race for fuel and tires a lap later, and Wheldon's quick pit stop allowed him to keep the lead. Over the final 40 laps of the race, Kanaan climbed to fifth, while Wheldon maintained the lead and earned his 12th career win and third consecutive win at Homestead, becoming the first driver in series history to win three successive races at a single track. He finished 6.4993 seconds ahead of Dixon, with Hornish Jr., Meira, and Kanaan rounding out the top-five finishers. The remaining classified finishers were Carpenter, Franchitti, Scheckter, Castroneves, Rice, Fisher, and Sharp.

Post-race

Wheldon drove into victory lane to celebrate the win with his team; he earned $129,800 for the victory. Wheldon thanked his team and described the adversities he endured throughout the race: "I think with (Chip) Ganassi Racing—this is not a sales pitch, this is the truth—we've worked very hard over the winter to try to perfect what we started last year. It's great to be at Homestead and win three in a row. I'm not sure how we've done it, because I've done it with two different teams. The win looked dominant, but anytime you have Dixon and Hornish (Jr.) around, you know it's going to be tough. Hopefully, this bodes well for the rest of the season." Second-place finisher Dixon admitted his car wasn't up to par with Wheldon's, stating: "We just didn't have enough speed. Dan (Wheldon) was very good over the long runs. We'd get 10 laps from the end of a stint and we'd just get a bit loose and a bit low on grip, so it was a bit of a handful. But it's great to see the team with another one-two." Hornish Jr., who finished third, had a similar sentiment to Dixon, saying: "I could stay with Dan, but as soon we got that gap I couldn't quite get there in time. It's unfortunate for the Team Penske crew."

Meira was pleased with his fourth-place result and commented: "Another great finish. This was a hard day for us, but we made the best of it. That's what we always do at Panther Racing. I knew today the Delphi car wasn't going to be good enough to win the race, but finishing fourth is a great start to the season." Carpenter also expressed contentment after finishing sixth: "I was really happy with how we finished last season, so to start up this season the way we did tonight, with running up front and inside the top ten makes me very happy. I'm thrilled for the Vision Racing team who did a great job for me." All four Andretti Green Racing drivers fought handling issues throughout the race and were left with underwhelming finishes, with Franchitti and Patrick revealing that they both felt very disappointed. The final result gave Wheldon the lead in the Drivers' Championship with 53 points. Dixon took second on 40 points, five more than Hornish Jr. in third and eight more than Meira in fourth. Kanaan, with 30 points, rounded out the top five as 16 races remained in the season.

Race classification

; Notes

• – Includes three bonus points for leading the most laps.

Standings after the race

• Note: Only the top five positions are included.

References

References

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