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.
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 1979âÂÂ2001 when it was sanctioned by Championship Auto Racing Teams. 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 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.
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-03 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 TomÃ¡à ¡ Enge in preparing the setup of her car. 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. 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.
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. 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. 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.
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. 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 ScheckterâÂÂthe 2002 winner of the eventâÂÂlapped 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 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 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. 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 VÃÂtor 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.
Although the race was scheduled to start around 12:00 PM EDT (), 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.
Kanaan and Wheldon overtook Manning and Sharp for the fourth and fifth positions, respectively, on the 71st lap. Franchitti, meanwhile, extended his gap over Scheckter to 0.2 seconds before the fourth caution was flown on lap 84 when Fisher backed into the turn-two wall.