2006 Firestone Indy 200
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1.330 mi / 2.140 km
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Race 9 of 14 in the 2006 IndyCar season
| |||
 Layout of the Nashville Superspeedway circuit | |||
| Date | July 15, 2006 | ||
| Official name | Firestone Indy 200 | ||
| Location | Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tennessee | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 1.330 mi / 2.140 km | ||
| Distance | 200 laps 266.000 mi / 428.086 km | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver |  Dan Wheldon (Target Chip Ganassi Racing) | ||
| Time | 23.0210 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver | Dan Wheldon (Target Chip Ganassi Racing) | ||
| Time | 23.1401 (on lap 186 of 200) | ||
| Podium | |||
| First |  Scott Dixon (Target Chip Ganassi Racing) | ||
| Second | Dan Wheldon (Target Chip Ganassi Racing) | ||
| Third |  Vítor Meira (Panther Racing) | ||
The 2006 Firestone Indy 200 was an IndyCar Series motor race held on July 15, 2006, in Lebanon, Tennessee at Nashville Superspeedway. It was the ninth round of the 2006 IndyCar Series and the sixth running of the event. Scott Dixon won the 200-lap race for Target Chip Ganassi Racing from the third position. Dixon's teammate Dan Wheldon finished second and Vítor Meira of Panther Racing finished third.
Sam Hornish Jr. led the Drivers' Championship by twenty points over teammate Hélio Castroneves heading into the race. Wheldon won the pole position by setting the fastest timed lap in qualifying. He led the first 57 laps before making a pit stop, giving the lead to Hornish Jr. for three laps. Wheldon regained the lead a lap later and continued leading until Hornish Jr. passed him on lap 89; he overtook Hornish Jr. five laps later. After a cycle of green-flag pit stops concluded with 67 laps remaining, Dixon moved into the lead and held it to win the race. There were three cautions and nine lead changes among five different drivers during the race.
The victory was Dixon's second of the season and sixth of his IndyCar career. After the race, Hornish Jr.'s lead in the Drivers' Championship was diminished to a measly five points over Dixon in the second position. Castroneves fell to third, while Wheldon and Meira remained fourth and fifth with five races left in the season.
The Firestone Indy 200 was the ninth of 14 scheduled open-wheel races for the 2006 IndyCar Series and the sixth edition of the event dating back to 2001.[1][2] It was held on July 15, 2006, in Lebanon, Tennessee, United States, at Nashville Superspeedway, a four-turn 1.33 mi (2.14 km) concrete tri-oval circuit which features 14-degree banking in the turns, 9-degree banking in the front stretch, and 6-degree banking in the back stretch, and contested over 200 laps and 266 miles (428 km).[3] Before the race, Marlboro Team Penske driver Sam Hornish Jr. led the Drivers' Championship with 300 points, followed by teammate Hélio Castroneves with 280 and Scott Dixon with 261. Dan Wheldon was third with 257 points, thirty ahead of Vítor Meira in fifth.[4] Dario Franchitti was the race's defending champion.[5]
Following the previous race at Kansas Speedway, Marlboro Team Penske was forced to relocate their operations to Exeter, Pennsylvania because of the Mid-Atlantic United States flood which devastated their old race shop in Reading, Pennsylvania.[6] In spite of this, their drivers Hornish Jr. and Castroneves both looked forward to the race at Nashville and hoped to earn their first win at the track.[7] They, along with many other drivers, regarded Nashville Superspeedway as a "challenging" circuit due to its concrete surface, which wore tires more quickly than asphalt.[8] Bryan Herta conversely opined that the concrete surface provided more grip, especially on a hot day, because it does not heat up as much as asphalt.[9]
Eighteen drivers entered the race, marking the smallest field of the season thus far.[10][11] Cheever Racing withdrew from IndyCar Series competition because of a lack of sponsorship. Team owner and driver Eddie Cheever was appreciative of his employees who helped him throughout the season: "We may have not had the best equipment, due to our limited budget, but we did the best with what we had. I am sorry to see these guys go, and I hope that we can be reunited again in the future."[12] Two teams opted to swap their drivers. On July 10, A. J. Foyt Racing announced the departure of their driver Felipe Giaffone because of communication issues between Giaffone and team owner A. J. Foyt.[13] Jeff Bucknum was later revealed to be Giaffone's replacement for the remainder of the season.[14] Dreyer & Reinbold Racing also replaced Buddy Lazier with Ryan Briscoe, who finished third with the team earlier that season at Watkins Glen International, in three of the final six races of the season, beginning at Nashville.[15] Team co-owner Dennis Reinbold admitted Lazier's future with the team was uncertain because they wanted to prepare for the 2007 season.[16]
Practice and qualifying
Three practice sessions were held prior to the race on Saturday, all on Friday. The first two sessions lasted 90 minutes and were divided into two groups, both of which received 45 minutes of track time, while the third session lasted 30 minutes.[3][17] Tony Kanaan led the first practice session on Friday morning with a time of 23.2020 seconds, besting Wheldon, Marco Andretti, Hornish Jr., and Kosuke Matsuura.[18] Later that afternoon, Wheldon was fastest in the second practice session with a time of 23.1114 seconds; positions second through fifth were held by Hornish Jr., Castroneves, Franchitti, and Meira.[19] After Dixon's gearbox failed early in the session, his team managed to repair it.[20]
Qualifying was held ninety minutes after the second practice session concluded.[3] Each driver was required to complete two timed laps, with the quicker of the two determining their starting position.[20] Wheldon clinched his second pole position of the season and the fourth of his career with a time of 23.0210 seconds.[21] He was trailed by Hornish Jr., whose lap was 0.1059 seconds slower.[22] Dixon experienced more gearbox issues during his first warm-up lap, which were quickly alleviated by his team;[20][23] he qualified third, ahead of Castroneves in fourth and Franchitti in fifth. Kanaan, Meira, Scott Sharp, Tomas Scheckter, and Danica Patrick took the remaining positions inside the top ten, and Buddy Rice, Matsuura, Briscoe, Ed Carpenter, Jeff Simmons, Herta, Bucknum, and Andretti completed the starting grid.[22] On Saturday evening, the final practice session was paced by Wheldon with a time of 23.1769 seconds; Hornish Jr., Castroneves, Kanaan, and Scheckter occupied positions second through fifth.[24]
