2008 Indianapolis 500

The 92nd Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday May 25, 2008. Scott Dixon of New Zealand won the race from the pole position.
It was the thirteenth Indy 500 sanctioned by the Indy Racing League, and served as the showcase event of the 2008 IndyCar Series in DIRECTV HD season. It was the fifth round of the 2008 IndyCar Series season. It was the first Indy 500 after the open wheel "unification" took place, and it featured a full complement of entries of IndyCar Series regulars, as well as former Champ Car teams.
It was the first Indy 500 where all entries utilized the Dallara IR5 chassis after Phil Giebler failed to qualify with Panoz chassis - effectively ushering in a four-year "spec" era. In addition, all full-time entries began utilizing semi-automatic paddle shifters in 2008. Paddle shifters for part-time Indy 500-only entries were optional due to cost reasons.
IndyCar Series practice began May 4. Time trials took place over the two weekends prior to the race (May 10–11 and May 17–18). The final practice was held Friday May 23.
Entertainment.
Julianne Hough, who partnered with two-time Indy 500 winner Hélio Castroneves to win "Dancing with the Stars", sang the national anthem. Jim Nabors returned to sing "Back Home Again in Indiana" after an illness prevented him from doing so in 2007. 1992 Winter Olympics women's figure skating gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi, the season six winner of "Dancing with the Stars", served as the honorary starter and wave the green flag.
Stone Temple Pilots performed during the annual Carb Day Concert. Other bands performing during the month included Healing Sixes, DJ Orion, Chevelle, Ludo, Yellowcard, The Bravery, Psychodots, Forever the Sickest Kids, OK Go, Sum 41, Jon McLaughlin, and Jack's Mannequin.
Starting grid.
Failed to qualify
Race summary.
Start.
At 1:03 p.m., Mari Hulman George gave the command to start engines. All cars except Sarah Fisher pulled away, but Fisher quickly caught up to the field. Emerson Fittipaldi pulled the pace car off the track after the third pace lap, and a well-aligned field took the green flag. Polesitter Scott Dixon took the lead into turn one, and led the first two laps. His teammate Dan Wheldon took the lead on lap three. On the 8th lap, Bruno Junqueira lost a mirror, and the first of many caution periods slowed the field.
First half.
Nearly the entire field pitted on the first caution, with Buddy Rice staying out to lead. Sarah Fisher also stayed out, and moved to third. Moments later, she spun in the north chute while warming her tires, and lost 3 laps. When the green resumed, Dan Wheldon quickly regained the lead. He held it until lap 36, when Dixon passed him. At the same time, rookie Graham Rahal drifted high and hit the wall exiting turn four.
Marty Roth and Jaime Camara each brought out the yellow in the first half, suffering single-car crashes. Wheldon and Dixon continued to trade the lead.
On lap 94, Tony Kanaan charged into the lead. He set a new all-time record by leading a lap in seven consecutive Indy 500 races. He broke Rick Mears' record of six straight races led (1979–1984). His continuing bad luck at Indy returned however 11 laps later. Scott Dixon took the lead back on lap 105. Marco Andretti, Kanaan's AGR teammate, dove low in turn three to overtake, which was followed by Kanaan going high and into the marbles. Kanaan lost control of his car, brushing the wall, then collecting the lapped car of Sarah Fisher. Both cars were heavily damaged. The caution was then extended when Jeff Simmons car suddenly veered and hit the inside wall on the frontstretch.
Second half.
Marco Andretti gained the lead on lap 122. Dixon ran second, while Wheldon began to slip deep in the standings with handling problems. Justin Wilson brought out the yellow in turn 2 on lap 133 with yet another single-car crash. His crash was followed 20 laps later by Alex Lloyd, who brushed the wall in turn 4, and spun wildly into the pit area. Tomas Scheckter, who had been running amongst the leaders all afternoon, dropped out with a broken driveshaft.
On the lap 159 restart, Vítor Meira went three-wide and stormed into the lead. With Dixon second and Andretti third, the stage was set to decide the race between those three drivers. Other contenders, Hélio Castroneves, Ed Carpenter, Danica Patrick, Ryan Briscoe, Oriol Servia and rookie Ryan Hunter-Reay, were battling for the balance of the top ten.
Patrick/Briscoe pit incident.
On lap 169, Milka Duno dove below Buddy Lazier in turn three. The two cars touched slightly, and Duno spun to the warm-up lane. She suffered a flat tire, but was able to continue. The leaders all headed to the pits on lap 171 for what would be the final sequence of pit stops. At pit exit, Ryan Briscoe swung wide and clipped the right rear of Danica Patrick's car. Patrick spun around, and Briscoe hit the pit wall. Both cars were eliminated. Patrick climbed out of the car, and started walking down towards the Team Penske pits, presumably to confront Briscoe. A security guard intervened, and she later walked back to her pit stall. Patrick and Briscoe were called to the Indycar hauler after the race. Patrick and Briscoe were fined $100,000 and were placed on probation at the end of the 2008 season for an aggressive pit incident.
Finish.
With 24 laps to go, Scott Dixon led the field back to green. Vítor Meira ran second, and Marco Andretti third. The race went green the remainder of the distance, and Dixon held on by 1.7498 seconds to win his first Indianapolis 500. He became the 19th pole winner to win the race, and the first winner from New Zealand.
Full race results.
All cars utilized Dallara chassis, Honda engines, and Firestone Firehawk tires.
Broadcasting.
Television.
The race was televised in high definition in the United States on ABC, the 44th consecutive year on that network. Time trials were shown live in high definition on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 at various timeslots and was available via broadband at MediaZone.com.
1998 Indianapolis 500 winner Eddie Cheever joined the announcing crew for the first time. For the first time, two hours of pre-race was aired, one hour on ESPN2, followed by one hour on ABC. For the third year in a row, the telecast utilized the Side-by-Side format for commercial breaks.
Radio.
The race was broadcast on radio by the IMS Radio Network for the 56th consecutive year. Mike King served as anchor. For the second year in a row, Davey Hamilton offered live in-car reporting during caution periods. Chris Economaki offered pre-race and post-race commentary for the final time. This was also the last time that former 'voice' of the 500 Bob Jenkins served as a turn announcer. 
For the fourth year in a row, Kevin Olson conducted his annual pre-race interview with David Letterman.