Scott Dixon came from third on the grid to win the ninth round of the 2006 IndyCar Series and give Target Chip Ganassi Racing a one-two finish.
The 2006 Firestone Indy 200 was the ninth round of the 2006 IndyCar Series, held on 15 July 2006 at Nashville Superspeedway in Tennessee. Scott Dixon won the 200-lap race from third on the grid for Target Chip Ganassi Racing, with Dan Wheldon second and Vitor Meira third.
The 2006 Firestone Indy 200 handed Scott Dixon a narrow win after a race shaped by pit strategy, cautions and a late battle for second. Starting third, he took control after the final restart and finished ahead of teammate Dan Wheldon. The result left Sam Hornish Jr. only five points clear of Dixon in the title race.
Where was the 2006 Firestone Indy 200 held?
It was held at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee, on 15 July 2006. The concrete tri-oval is 2.14 km (1.33 mi) long, and the 200 laps covered 428 km (266 mi). Banking ranges from 6 to 14 degrees depending on the section of the track.
The banking is steepest in the turns, at 14 degrees, and eases to 9 degrees on the front stretch and 6 degrees on the back stretch. Drivers said the surface was demanding, because concrete wears tyres faster than asphalt. Bryan Herta disagreed, arguing that concrete stays cooler on a hot afternoon and therefore offers more grip.
It was the sixth running of the event, which first took place in 2001. The race was the ninth of 14 scheduled open-wheel rounds in 2006, which left five races to run once the chequered flag fell.
A patient drive from third on the grid turned a close title fight on its head.
Who led the championship before Nashville?
Sam Hornish Jr. of Marlboro Team Penske led the Drivers' Championship with 300 points before the race. His teammate Helio Castroneves was second on 280, Scott Dixon had 261 and Dan Wheldon sat on 257. Vitor Meira was fifth, 30 points behind Wheldon.
Both Penske drivers were hoping for a first win at Nashville. The team had only recently moved its operation to Exeter, Pennsylvania, after a flood devastated its race shop in Reading, Pennsylvania. Dario Franchitti was the defending race winner, and he was not among the leaders on points.
Which teams changed drivers for the event?
The field was the smallest of the season, with eighteen entries. Cheever Racing withdrew from the series because of a lack of sponsorship, while A. J. Foyt Racing replaced Felipe Giaffone with Jeff Bucknum after communication problems. Dreyer and Reinbold also brought in Ryan Briscoe for three of the final six races.
Team owner Eddie Cheever thanked his staff for making the most of a limited budget. Dreyer and Reinbold said Buddy Lazier's future with the team was uncertain as they prepared for 2007, which made Briscoe's run at Nashville an important one for the team.
How did practice go before the race?
Three practice sessions were held on the Friday before the race. The first two lasted 90 minutes and the third lasted 30 minutes. Kanaan set the early pace at 23.2020 seconds, and Wheldon improved to 23.1114 seconds in the afternoon session, with Hornish Jr., Castroneves, Franchitti and Meira close behind.
Dixon's gearbox failed early in the second session, but his team managed to repair it. The first two sessions were each split into two groups, and both groups received 45 minutes of track time, so the drivers shared the track evenly.
How did qualifying set the grid?
Wheldon took pole with a time of 23.0210 seconds, his second pole of the season and fourth of his career. Hornish Jr. was 0.1059 seconds slower in second place. Dixon qualified third, ahead of Castroneves in fourth and Franchitti in fifth.
Qualifying began 90 minutes after the second practice session ended. Each driver completed two timed laps, and the quicker of the two set the starting place. Kanaan, Meira, Scott Sharp, Tomas Scheckter and Danica Patrick filled the next places in the top ten.
Buddy Rice, Kosuke Matsuura, Briscoe, Ed Carpenter, Jeff Simmons, Bryan Herta, Bucknum and Andretti completed the eighteen-car grid. Dixon had gearbox trouble during his first warm-up lap, but his team fixed it quickly, and Wheldon went quickest in the final practice at 23.1769 seconds.
How did the race unfold?
Wheldon led the first 57 laps before the first round of green-flag pit stops handed the lead to Hornish Jr. A caution followed soon after, and repeated lead changes came with it. Dixon took the lead on the restart after the second caution, and he led at the lap 174 restart on his way to victory.
Castroneves made slight contact with Dixon in turn two on the opening lap and dropped to ninth. Kanaan passed three cars to reach third, then pitted on lap 45 with an electrical fault. After his team replaced several faulty components, he rejoined seventeen laps down.
The first caution came three laps after lap 61, when Rice lost power on the back straight. Nobody pitted under that yellow, so Wheldon led the restart on lap 73. Hornish Jr. passed him on lap 89, and Wheldon went back ahead in turn one on lap 94.
The second round of green-flag stops began on lap 116. Four laps after lap 120, Hornish Jr. had taken the lead from Wheldon during those stops. The second caution followed on lap 130, when Hornish Jr. slid up the track and struck both walls on the exit of turn two, ending his race.
The third caution followed soon afterwards, when Matsuura crashed into the turn four wall. Dixon led the lap 174 restart, with Wheldon and Meira behind him. Meira passed Wheldon for second on that lap and closed to 0.14 seconds of Dixon by lap 180, but Dixon rebuilt his advantage to 0.4 seconds over the following ten laps.
Wheldon retook second from Meira a lap later and chased Dixon hard for the closing laps. On the final lap he tried a pass on the high side of the track, but it did not work, and Dixon took the win.
Who finished where in the 2006 Firestone Indy 200?
Of the eighteen starters, Dixon won, Wheldon was second and Meira third. Danica Patrick finished fourth, matching her career best, and Helio Castroneves was fifth. Franchitti, Simmons, Marco Andretti, Briscoe and Carpenter completed the top ten, and Herta was the last classified finisher.
| Finish | Driver | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scott Dixon | Sixth career IndyCar win and his second of the season, from third on the grid |
| 2 | Dan Wheldon | Pole sitter who led 115 laps in three spells and earned three bonus points |
| 3 | Vitor Meira | Still searching for a first IndyCar win |
| 4 | Danica Patrick | Matched her career-best finish |
| 5 | Helio Castroneves | Dropped to ninth early, then recovered |
| 6 | Dario Franchitti | Criticised the lack of a black flag for a late block |
| 7 | Jeff Simmons | Best finish of his career |
| 8 | Marco Andretti | Recovered from the back of the grid |
| 9 | Ryan Briscoe | Stood in for Buddy Lazier during part of the season |
| 10 | Ed Carpenter | Last of the top-ten finishers |
Why did the Nashville result matter?
Nashville mattered because it kept the title fight tight. Hornish Jr. still led the standings, but by just five points. Dixon had climbed from third on the grid to second in the standings, and Castroneves had recovered from ninth to fifth after his early contact.
For Penske, the day was a mixed one. Castroneves recovered to fifth, but Hornish Jr. retired from the race and still kept the championship lead on the strength of results earned earlier in the season.
What did the result do to the title race?
Hornish Jr. finished the race in the lead of the Drivers' Championship with 316 points, five ahead of Dixon. Castroneves was third with 310, Wheldon fourth with 300 and Meira fifth with 262. Five races remained in the season after Nashville.
Dixon's win moved him up to second in the standings and gave Target Chip Ganassi Racing its first one-two finish since the team joined the series in 2003. Wheldon's second place kept him in the hunt, with the title still open heading into the rest of the season.
What did the drivers say afterwards?
Dixon said his car was not the fastest but was consistent in traffic, and that the pit crew and fuel mileage saved the day. Wheldon called the race entertaining and intense. Franchitti criticised officials for not enforcing the black-flag rule after Patrick's late block.
Hornish Jr. said his car was pushed into the marbles while he was chasing another car, and that nothing could be done at that point. Patrick praised the Argent crew for making the new Dallara chassis competitive. Simmons said his car became competitive once the understeer was sorted out.