Unfortunately, one rookie driver for a former CCWS squad was the source of an incident that played a hand in determining the eventual winner: more on that later.

The first "shock" of the night came when the Vision Racing duo of Ed Carpenter and A.J. Foyt Iv were relegated to the back of the starting grid after qualifying 2nd and 3rd yesterday: both cars failed post-qualifying tech inspection, but the exact nature of the infringment was never revealed. 

Pole sitter Scott Dixon lead in the early going, with Marco Andretti and Tony Kanaan challenging. Meanwhile, Carpenter, Foyt IV & Dan Wheldon, who also started in the rear of the field, quickly picked their way through the backmarkers and climbed into the top ten. Wheldon would even make it all the way into the lead for a brief stint as the others cycled through their pit stops.

Andretti would lead the most laps, but Tony Kanaan looked to be in control for the closing stint when rookie driver Ernesto Viso spun out infront of him, clipping Tony's right front wheel and knocking the suspension out of allignment. Kanaan was able to limp along on three wheels behind the pace car under caution, but was pulled into the pits by race officials when green flag racing resumed with four laps to go. Dixon, who was second at the time, held off Andretti to claim to win.

Nearly to a man, the stated goal of the former CCWS drivers was to get experince, keep out of trouble & bring the car home intact. Oriol Servia proved to be the best at this, finishing one lap down in 12th.   

Earlier in the day, Dillon Battistini won the Miami 100, the season opener for the Firestone Indy Lights series.

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