2007 Firestone Indy 400

2007 Firestone Indy 400

Race details
Race 13 of 17 in the 2007 IndyCar Series season ← Previous race Next race →
2007 Firestone Indy 400 program cover
Date	August 5, 2007
Official name	Firestone Indy 400
Location	Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, Michigan
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.000 mi / 3.219 km
Distance	200 laps 400.000 mi / 643.738 km
Weather	Cloudy
Pole position
Driver	Dario Franchitti (Andretti Green Racing)
Time	32.9810
Fastest lap
Driver	Danica Patrick (Andretti Green Racing)
Time	32.9067[1] (on lap 4 of 200)
Podium
First	Tony Kanaan (Andretti Green Racing)
Second	Marco Andretti (Andretti Green Racing)
Third	Scott Sharp (Rahal Letterman Racing)

The 2007 Firestone Indy 400 was an IRL IndyCar Series motor race held on August 5, 2007, in Brooklyn, Michigan at Michigan International Speedway. It was the thirteenth round of the 2007 IRL IndyCar Series and the 38th and final running of the event (sixth under Indy Racing League (IRL) sanctioning). 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.

Background

Main article: 2007 IndyCar Series § Teams and drivers

Michigan International Speedway (pictured in 2010), where the race was held.

The Firestone Indy 400 was the thirteenth of 17 scheduled open-wheel races for the 2007 IRL IndyCar Series and the 38th annual edition of the event, counting the periods in 1968 and from 1970 to 1978 when it was sanctioned by the United States Auto Club and in 1979–2001 when it was sanctioned by Championship Auto Racing Teams.^[2][3] It was held on August 5, 2007, in Brooklyn, Michigan, United States, at Michigan International Speedway, a four-turn 2 mi (3.2 km) 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 400 miles (640 km).^[4][5] The race was the last to be included in the 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' debut event at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.^[6]

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.^[7] 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.^[8] Defending race winner Hélio Castroneves opined that Franchitti had the advantage of his three teammates who were capable of stealing points from Dixon.^[8] 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.^[9]

Twenty cars were entered for the race at Michigan, up from 18 in the previous round at Mid-Ohio,^[2] all of which utilized the Dallara IR-03 chassis, tires supplied by Firestone, and Honda Indy V8 engines powered with ethanol fuel.^[5] Rookie driver Milka Duno planned to compete in the two preceding races at Nashville Superspeedway and Mid-Ohio,^[10] but injuries sustained in a testing crash at Nashville forced her to miss both races.^[11] 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.^[12] Jon Herb, who hadn't 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.^[12] 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.^[12]

It had already been determined that this would be the IRL's final event at Michigan International Speedway, as was confirmed by track officials in July 2007.^[13] 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 Sprint Cup Series, which he felt would create issues regarding the promotion of both races.^[14] 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.^[15]

Practice and qualifying

There were two 120-minute practice sessions on Saturday that preceded the race on Sunday, both of which were split into two groups of drivers that each received 60 minutes of track time per session.^[5] 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.^[16] The session was briefly paused after Duno slid into the inside line while exiting the fourth turn.^[17] Tomas Scheckter—the 2002 winner of the event—lapped quickest in the second practice session later that day with a time of 32.9999 seconds;^[18] Franchitti was second, Castroneves third, Patrick fourth, and Wheldon fifth.^[19] Herb caused the only stoppage of the session when he crashed into the SAFER barrier in the fourth corner.^[17]

The qualifying session was held 75 minutes after the second practice session ended.^[5] 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.^[17] With a time of 32.9810 seconds, Franchitti earned his fourth IndyCar Series pole position and his 16th pole in American open-wheel racing, and was joined on the grid's front row by Hornish Jr., whose lap time trailed Franchitti by four hundredths of a second.^[20][21][22] Castroneves, Scott Sharp, and Wheldon rounded out the top five, and Scheckter and Dixon took the next two positions.^[23] Kanaan qualified eighth; he was only permitted to complete one lap after suffering an issue with his dashboard during his first qualifying attempt.^[17] 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.^[17] Ed Carpenter started 10th,^[21] ahead of eleventh-placed Vítor Meira, who failed technical inspection and only ran one lap.^[17] 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,^[21] the latter of whom did not participate in qualifications due to his crash earlier that day.^[24]

Qualifying classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Time	Speed	Grid
1	27	Dario Franchitti	Andretti Green Racing	32.9810	218.308	1
2	6	Sam Hornish Jr.	Team Penske	33.0239	218.024	2
3	3	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	33.0436	217.894	3
4	8	Scott Sharp	Rahal Letterman Racing	33.0835	217.631	4
5	10	Dan Wheldon	Chip Ganassi Racing	33.1113	217.448	5
6	2	Tomas Scheckter	Vision Racing	33.1135	217.434	6
7	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	33.1234	217.369	7
8	11	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Green Racing	33.1504	217.192	8
9	7	Danica Patrick	Andretti Green Racing	33.1848	216.967	9
10	20	Ed Carpenter	Vision Racing	33.2879	216.295	10
11	4	Vítor Meira	Panther Racing	33.3399	215.957	11
12	17	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Rahal Letterman Racing	33.3521	215.878	12
13	26	Marco Andretti	Andretti Green Racing	33.3629	215.809	13
14	55	Kosuke Matsuura	Panther Racing	33.4307	215.371	14
15	22	A. J. Foyt IV	Vision Racing	33.4363	215.335	15
16	5	Sarah Fisher	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	33.4422	215.297	16
17	15	Buddy Rice	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	33.5103	214.859	17
18	14	Darren Manning	A. J. Foyt Racing	33.6174	214.175	18
19	23	Milka Duno	SAMAX Motorsport	33.8185	212.901	19
20	19	Jon Herb	Racing Professionals	—	—	20
Sources:[21][25]

Race

Although the race was scheduled to start around 12:00 PM EDT (UTC−04:00), heavy rainfall that began the night prior forced IRL officials to push the start of the race back nearly five hours.^[26] When the rain finally subsided, the skies remained cloudy around the track with air temperatures measured at 73 °F (23 °C) and track temperatures at 80 °F (27 °C).^[27] Live television coverage of the race in the United States was moved from ESPN2 to ESPN Classic as a result of the delay,^[28] with Marty Reid and Scott Goodyear providing commentary.^[29]

Race classification

Fin. Pos	Car No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Laps Led	Points
1	11	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Green Racing	200	2:49:38.0509	8	29	50
2	26	Marco Andretti	Andretti Green Racing	200	+0.0595	13	12	40
3	8	Scott Sharp	Rahal Letterman Racing	200	+0.3867	4	11	35
4	55	Kosuke Matsuura	Panther Racing	200	+0.4703	14	0	32
5	15	Buddy Rice	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	200	+4.9097	17	0	30
6	17	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Rahal Letterman Racing	200	+10.0114	12	0	28
7	7	Danica Patrick	Andretti Green Racing	199	+1 Lap	9	5	26
8	22	A. J. Foyt IV	Vision Racing	167	Mechanical	15	0	24
9	6	Sam Hornish Jr.	Team Penske	148	Mechanical	2	1	22
10	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	145	Handling	7	14	20
11	2	Tomas Scheckter	Vision Racing	144	Collision	6	2	19
12	10	Dan Wheldon	Chip Ganassi Racing	143	Collision	5	24	18
13	27	Dario Franchitti	Andretti Green Racing	143	Collision	1	102	17+3
14	20	Ed Carpenter	Vision Racing	143	Collision	10	0	16
15	14	Darren Manning	A.J. Foyt Racing	113	Accident	18	0	15
16	5	Sarah Fisher	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	83	Accident	16	0	14
17	3	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	58	Collision	3	0	13
18	4	Vítor Meira	Panther Racing	58	Collision	11	0	12
19	23	Milka Duno (R)	SAMAX Motorsport	43	Mechanical	19	0	12
20	19	Jon Herb	Racing Professionals	26	Accident	20	0	12
Sources:[4][26]

References

1. "Official Box Score – IndyCar Series – Firestone Indy 400 at Michigan International Speedway – Sunday, August 5, 2007" (PDF). Indy Racing League. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 18, 2011. Retrieved February 5, 2026.
2. "2007 IndyCar Series Season Stats, Race Results". Racing-Reference.info. NASCAR Digital Media. Archived from the original on April 28, 2021. Retrieved February 13, 2026.
3. "Michigan International Speedway". ChampCarStats.com. Archived from the original on May 30, 2015. Retrieved February 17, 2026.
4. "2007 Firestone Indy 400". Racing-Reference.info. NASCAR Digital Media. Archived from the original on August 2, 2023. Retrieved February 5, 2026.
5. "IRL: Michigan: Round 13 preview". motorsport.com. Archived from the original on February 5, 2026. Retrieved February 5, 2026.
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7. "IRL: Standings after Mid-Ohio". Motorsport.com. Archived from the original on February 7, 2026. Retrieved February 7, 2026.
8. Lewandowski, Dave (July 23, 2007). "'No weak spots for anybody'". Indy Racing League. Archived from the original on November 14, 2007. Retrieved February 7, 2026.
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10. Lewandowski, Dave (March 23, 2007). "Duno makes her move". Indy Racing League. Archived from the original on November 14, 2007. Retrieved February 13, 2026.
11. "Duno to miss race because of crash". Indy Racing League. July 12, 2007. Archived from the original on November 14, 2007. Retrieved February 13, 2026.
12. Lewandowski, Dave (July 31, 2007). "Back on the track". Indy Racing League. Archived from the original on November 14, 2007. Retrieved February 13, 2026.
13. "IndyCars will skip MIS in 2008". The Argus-Press. July 15, 2007. p. 27. Retrieved February 21, 2026.
14. "MIS". Toledo Blade. July 26, 2007. p. 19. Retrieved February 21, 2026.
15. "Michigan International Speedway Loses IRL Race For 2008". Autoweek. July 17, 2007. Archived from the original on February 21, 2026. Retrieved February 21, 2026.
16. "IRL: Michigan: Practice 1 times". motorsport.com. August 4, 2007. Archived from the original on February 14, 2026. Retrieved February 14, 2026.
17. "Firestone Indy 400 Daily Trackside Report -- Aug. 4". Indy Racing League. August 4, 2007. Archived from the original on November 14, 2007. Retrieved February 14, 2026.
18. Lewandowski, Dave (August 4, 2007). "Wide and tight". Indy Racing League. Archived from the original on November 14, 2007. Retrieved February 14, 2026.
19. "IRL: Michigan: Practice 2 times". Motorsport.com. August 4, 2007. Archived from the original on February 14, 2026. Retrieved February 14, 2026.
20. Lewandowski, Dave (August 4, 2007). "Points leader on pole". Indy Racing League. Archived from the original on November 14, 2007. Retrieved February 21, 2026.
21. "IRL: Michigan: Starting lineup". Motorsport.com. August 4, 2007. Archived from the original on February 14, 2026. Retrieved February 14, 2026.
22. "Dario Franchitti". ChampCarStats.com. Archived from the original on November 18, 2025. Retrieved February 24, 2026.
23. "IRL: Michigan: Series qualifying report". Motorsport.com. August 4, 2007. Archived from the original on February 24, 2026. Retrieved February 24, 2026.
24. Lewandowski, Dave (August 4, 2007). "Wide and tight". Indy Racing League. Archived from the original on November 14, 2007. Retrieved February 24, 2026.
25. Olson, Jeff (August 4, 2007). "Franchitti takes Michigan pole". Autosport. Archived from the original on February 5, 2026. Retrieved February 14, 2026.
26. "Firestone Indy 400 Race Report". Honda. August 6, 2007. Archived from the original on February 24, 2026. Retrieved February 24, 2026.
27. "Firestone Indy 400 Daily Trackside Report -- Aug. 5". Indy Racing League. August 5, 2007. Archived from the original on November 14, 2007. Retrieved February 24, 2026.
28. Torres, Luis (April 9, 2020). "Throwback Thursday Theater: A Crazy Day at Michigan for the Andretti Camp". MotorsportsTribune.com. Archived from the original on October 6, 2025. Retrieved February 24, 2026.
29. IndyCar Series on ABC (Television production). Brooklyn, Michigan: ESPN Inc. August 5, 2007.

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