2008 Iowa Corn Indy 250

  2008 Iowa

Race details
8th round of the 2008 IndyCar Series season
Date	June 22, 2008
Official name	Iowa Corn Indy 250
Location	Iowa Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 0.894 mi / 1.439 km
Distance	250 laps, 223.500 mi / 359.688 km
Weather	80°F, Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing
Time	set by driver points[1]
Fastest lap
Driver	Ryan Briscoe	Penske Racing
Time	17.4908 (on lap 233 of 250)
Podium
First	Dan Wheldon	Chip Ganassi Racing
Second	Hideki Mutoh	Andretti Green Racing
Third	Marco Andretti	Andretti Green Racing

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 0.894-mile (1.439 km) 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	Car No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Laps Led	Points
1	10	Dan Wheldon	Target Chip Ganassi	250	1:38:35.8923	3	61	50
2	27	Hideki Mutoh (R)	Andretti Green Racing	250	+0.1430	7	0	40
3	26	Marco Andretti	Andretti Green Racing	250	+0.9028	8	26	35
4	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi	250	+1.2726	1	0	32
5	2	A. J. Foyt IV	Vision Racing	250	+1.3564	18	0	30
6	7	Danica Patrick	Andretti Green Racing	250	+1.9115	6	0	28
7	6	Ryan Briscoe	Penske Racing	250	+3.9780	5	0	26
8	17	Ryan Hunter-Reay (R)	Rahal Letterman Racing	250	+4.4488	14	0	24
9	8	Will Power (R)	KV Racing	250	+5.6158	11	0	22
10	06	Graham Rahal	Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing	250	+7.7886	16	0	20
11	24	John Andretti	Roth Racing	250	+8.4639	23	0	19
12	02	Justin Wilson (R)	Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing	250	+8.7225	20	0	18
13	33	E. J. Viso (R)	HVM Racing	250	+12.5775	13	0	17
14	3	Hélio Castroneves	Penske Racing	248	+2 Laps	2	92	19
15	4	Vitor Meira	Panther Racing	248	+2 Laps	12	0	15
16	5	Oriol Servià (R)	KV Racing	247	+3 Laps	10	0	14
17	36	Enrique Bernoldi	Conquest Racing	242	+ 8 Laps	17	0	13
18	11	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Green Racing	211	Contact	4	71	12
19	19	Mario Moraes (R)	Dale Coyne Racing	192	Contact	24	0	12
20	34	Jaime Camara (R)	Conquest Racing	133	Handling	21	0	12
21	14	Darren Manning	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	94	Handling	19	0	12
22	15	Buddy Rice	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	78	Handling	15	0	12
23	20	Ed Carpenter	Vision Racing	38	Contact	9	0	12
24	23	Milka Duno	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	26	Handling	22	0	12
25	18	Bruno Junqueira	Dale Coyne Racing	0	DNS	25	0	5
26	25	Marty Roth	Roth Racing	0	DNS	26	0	5
Race average speed: 136.007 mph (218.882 km/h)
Lead changes: 9 between 4 drivers
Cautions: 6 for 57 laps

References

1. Olson, Jeff (2008-06-21). "Iowa rain hands pole to Dixon". autosport.com (Haymarket Publications). Archived from the original on 2009-05-21. Retrieved 2009-04-18.

• IndyCar Series (Archived 2009-05-21)