2008 Brickyard 400

February 2025 CUST Race 20 of 36 in the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season Allstate 400 at the Brickyard Weather information for the 2008 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard at The Old Farmers' Almanac 2008 07 27 2008 20 36 2008_Brickyard_400_program_cover_and_logo.png 2008 Brickyard 400 program cover Allstate 400 at the Brickyard Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana 2.5 4.023 160 400 643.737 Hot with temperatures approaching 88 F C; wind speeds up to 9.9 mph km/h 115.117 mi/h 240,000 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports 49.515 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports 71 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports ESPN Jerry Punch, Andy Petree and Dale Jarrett The 2008 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, the 15th running of the event, was the twentieth race of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season and the fifteenth NASCAR race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS). It was also the first race under the ESPN/ABC section of the TV coverage for the 2008 season. The 160-lap, 400 mi km event was raced on July 27 at the 2.5 mi km Indianapolis Motor Speedway located in Speedway, Indiana (a separate town surrounded by Indiana's state capital). Along with ESPN, the IMS Radio Network, working with Performance Racing Network, provided radio coverage (along with Sirius Satellite Radio) with both broadcasts starting at 1 PM US EDT. The race was deemed a "disaster" for NASCAR, Goodyear, and Indianapolis. Due to the new Car of Tomorrow, the surface at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and problems with Goodyear tires, NASCAR was forced to throw competition cautions every 10–12 laps; an average of just 9 green flag laps were run during the race.http://racing-reference.info/race/2008_Allstate_400_At_The_Brickyard/W 2008 Allstate 400 At The Brickyard Racing-Reference March 26, 2014 Tires started to explode if the race was allowed to continue past that distance. Even at that distance, tires were down to the cords/nylon base. At the end of the race, every tire that Goodyear had brought to the track for the weekend had been used and were no longer usable. The race was starting to rival the Daytona 500 in terms of the biggest race of the NASCAR season before the tire problems at this race. Since this race, attendance has dropped from a 257,000+ sell out to an estimated 100,000 at the 2010 race. By the 2013 race, the last year NASCAR tracked attendance, it dropped to 70,000.Horrall Zach Tire debacle at 2008 Brickyard 400: 'Oh no, we're in trouble' https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/motor/2018/09/07/tire-debacle-2008-brickyard-400-jimmie-johnson-oh-no-were-trouble/1193014002/ 2020-09-22 The Indianapolis Star en-US Entry list (W) denotes past Brickyard 400 winner. (R) denotes rookie driver. No. Car number Driver Team Manufacturer 00 Michael McDowell (R) Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 01 Regan Smith (R) Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet 1 Martin Truex Jr. Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet 2 Kurt Busch Penske Racing South Dodge 5 Casey Mears Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 6 David Ragan Roush Fenway Racing Ford 07 Clint Bowyer Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 7 Robby Gordon Robby Gordon Motorsports Dodge 08 Johnny Sauter E&M Motorsports Dodge 8 Mark Martin Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet 9 Kasey Kahne Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge 10 Patrick Carpentier (R) Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 12 Ryan Newman Penske Racing South Dodge 15 Paul Menard Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 17 Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Racing Ford 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19 Elliott Sadler Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge 20 Tony Stewart (W) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Bill Elliott (W) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22 Dave Blaney Bill Davis Racing Toyota 24 Jeff Gordon (W) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 26 Jamie McMurray Roush Fenway Racing Ford 28 Travis Kvapil Yates Racing Ford 29 Kevin Harvick (W) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 34 Tony Raines Front Row Motorsports Chevrolet 38 David Gilliland Yates Racing Ford 41 Reed Sorenson Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge 43 Bobby Labonte (W) Petty Enterprises Dodge 44 David Reutimann Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 45 Terry Labonte Petty Enterprises Dodge 47 Marcos Ambrose JTG Racing Ford 48 Jimmie Johnson (W) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 50 Stanton Barrett SKI Motorsports Chevrolet 55 Michael Waltrip Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 66 Scott Riggs Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet 70 Jason Leffler Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet 77 Sam Hornish Jr. (R) Penske Racing South Dodge 78 Joe Nemechek Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 83 Brian Vickers Team Red Bull Toyota 84 A. J. Allmendinger Team Red Bull Toyota 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 96 J. J. Yeley Hall of Fame Racing Toyota 99 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford Qualifying Jimmie Johnson held off Mark Martin to win the pole position. Bill Elliott, after starting the first 14 races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, failed in his final run to do so, as he retired following the season. RANKRace Results https://www.racing-reference.info/race-results/ 2021-06-01 Racing-Reference en-USDRIVERNBRCARTIMESPEED1 Jimmie Johnson48Chevrolet49.515  181.763  2 Mark Martin8Chevrolet49.616  181.393  3 Ryan Newman12Dodge49.732  180.970  4 Kasey Kahne9Dodge49.776  180.810  5 Jeff Gordon24Chevrolet49.849  180.545  6 Elliott Sadler19Dodge49.890  180.397  7 Kurt Busch2Dodge49.905  180.343  8 Jamie McMurray26Ford49.911  180.321  9 Carl Edwards99Ford49.942  180.209  10 Matt Kenseth17Ford50.023  179.917  11 Dale Earnhardt Jr.88Chevrolet50.038  179.863  12 Greg Biffle16Ford50.067  179.759  13 Juan Pablo Montoya42Dodge50.084  179.698  14 Tony Stewart20Toyota50.145  179.480  15 Patrick Carpentier10Dodge50.146  179.476  *16 David Ragan6Ford50.261  179.065  17 Brian Vickers83Toyota50.303  178.916  18 Kevin Harvick29Chevrolet50.319  178.859  19 Kyle Busch18Toyota50.345  178.767  20 David Gilliland38Ford50.447  178.405  21 Jason Leffler70Chevrolet50.467  178.334  *22 Reed Sorenson41Dodge50.511  178.179  23 Denny Hamlin11Toyota50.514  178.168  24 Marcos Ambrose47Ford50.524  178.133  *25 Martin Truex Jr.1Chevrolet50.568  177.978  26 A.J. Allmendinger84Toyota50.581  177.932  *27 Bobby Labonte43Dodge50.594  177.887  28 Travis Kvapil28Ford50.622  177.788  29 Robby Gordon7Dodge50.676  177.599  30 Michael McDowell00Toyota50.678  177.592  31 Casey Mears5Chevrolet50.698  177.522  32 Jeff Burton31Chevrolet50.724  177.431  33 David Reutimann44Toyota50.749  177.343  34 Michael Waltrip55Toyota50.770  177.270  35 Scott Riggs66Chevrolet50.796  177.179  *36 Joe Nemechek78Chevrolet50.823  177.085  *37 Paul Menard15Chevrolet50.848  176.998  38 Sam Hornish Jr.77Dodge50.911  176.779  39 J.J. Yeley96Toyota50.923  176.737  *40 Terry Labonte45Dodge51.000  176.471  PC41 Bill Elliott21Ford51.267  175.552  *42 Clint Bowyer07Chevrolet51.471  174.856  43 Dave Blaney22Toyota51.728  173.987  OP44 Johnny Sauter08Dodge51.803  173.735  *45 Tony Raines34Chevrolet51.996  173.090  *46 Stanton Barrett50Chevrolet52.258  172.222  *47 Regan Smith01ChevroletOP OP: qualified via owners points PC: qualified as past champion PR: provisional QR: via qualifying race * - had to qualify on time Failed to qualify: Bill Elliott (#21), Stanton Barrett (#50), Johnny Sauter (#08), Tony Raines (#34). Race thumb|180px|left|Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the race track where the race was held. In pre-race practice, teams realized that the tires provided for the race wore down quickly, due to the abrasive course at Indianapolis and the different characteristics of the fifth-generation car that was being used for the first time at Indianapolis. Concerns led NASCAR to implement caution periods after ten laps for tire wear, a procedure NASCAR debuted at 1969 Talladega 500, which had a driver boycott over tire wear issues, and NASCAR called cautions after a specific time in order to allow teams to pit and change tires. Competition cautions were called between 10 and 12 laps. Because of an accident involving Michael Waltrip on Lap 4, the first competition yellow would not wave until Lap 14 for a crash when Kurt Busch lost the car off of Turn 1, hitting Kevin Harvick in the process. The only other non-competition yellow came halfway through the race when Brian Vickers' Toyota had its engine fail. Some drivers compared the racing to the roots of NASCAR with ten-lap heat races, as nine competition cautions and the two incidents combined effectively led to ten "heat races" were thrown with the final sprint being a "feature" race. Jimmie Johnson won the race after a battle with Carl Edwards after various teams attempted a two-tire stop in what effectively had become the caution leading to the final shootout, similar to the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. Numerous drivers suffered tire failures during the race. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the first on lap 26, blowing a right rear tire while leading the race. Just 3 laps later, Juan Pablo Montoya blew a tire coming off of turn 2. ESPN reported major tire cording on Jeff Gordon. On lap 47, Carl Edwards reported on the radio that he had a right rear tire problem. Just seconds later on the same lap, Matt Kenseth spun on the backstretch with a right rear tire failure, causing major damage to the right side of the car. ESPN reported Kyle Busch had some tire problems on lap 65. After that, tires showed a slight improvement, even though the tires still showed major cording. Throughout the race, drivers expressed their disappointment at the events that had occurred prior and during the event, with Matt Kenseth saying in the garage "It's a really, really disappointing situation. You know, this is one of the biggest races in the year, to never have this car here, before or not come into an open test and then working on this things working the tires, it's pretty darn disappointing... I feel bad for the fans and everything, when we're running three quarters speed because we're worried the tires are going to fall off and we got them blowing every 8 laps. I'm pretty disappointed." NASCAR president Mike Helton announced that NASCAR threw out more competition cautions than expected. Many NASCAR fans compare it to the 2005 United States Grand Prix tire debacle, when tires blowing out became a major concern for drivers. Some also say that this race was another incident that caused the decline of NASCAR's popularity.Nascar Blows it at Indy 4 September 2008 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZKFc4T-tTY https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/GZKFc4T-tTY 2021-12-21 live en 2021-05-03 Results thumb|Jimmie Johnson won his second Brickyard 400. POSRace Results https://www.racing-reference.info/race-results/ 2021-06-01 Racing-Reference en-USST#DRIVERSPONSOR / OWNERCARLAPSMONEYSTATUSLEDPTS1148  Jimmie JohnsonLowe's   (Rick Hendrick)Chevrolet160509236running711952999  Carl EdwardsAflac   (Jack Roush)Ford160366700running417532311  Denny HamlinFedEx Office   (Joe Gibbs)Toyota160331516running261704619  Elliott SadlerStanley   (Gillett Evernham Motorsports)Dodge160290745running51655524  Jeff GordonDuPont   (Rick Hendrick)Chevrolet160275111running71606826  Jamie McMurrayCrown Royal   (Jack Roush)Ford160206850running0150749  Kasey KahneBudweiser / LifeLock   (Gillett Evernham Motorsports)Dodge160225491running014681216  Greg BiffleDish Network / Dish DVRs   (Jack Roush)Ford160196225running014293231  Jeff BurtonPrilosec OTC   (Richard Childress)Chevrolet160233783running10143102684  A.J. AllmendingerRed Bull   (Dietrich Mateschitz)Toyota160178775running41391128  Mark MartinU.S. Army   (Dale Earnhardt, Inc.)Chevrolet160210383running0130121188  Dale Earnhardt Jr.National Guard / AMP Energy   (Rick Hendrick)Chevrolet160180950running813213312  Ryan NewmanAlltel   (Roger Penske)Dodge160207975running012414166  David RaganAAA Insurance   (Jack Roush)Ford160170000running0121151918  Kyle BuschM&M's   (Joe Gibbs)Toyota160180700running14123162743  Bobby LabonteCheerios / Totino's Pizza Rolls   (Petty Enterprises)Dodge160195536running0115172241  Reed SorensonTarget   (Chip Ganassi)Dodge160184689running0112181510  Patrick CarpentierSears Auto Center / Valvoline   (Gillett Evernham Motorsports)Dodge160154375running0109194007  Clint BowyerJack Daniel's   (Richard Childress)Chevrolet160169875running0106202038  David GillilandFreeCreditReport.com   (Yates Racing)Ford160175183running0103213877  Sam Hornish Jr.Mobil 1   (Roger Penske)Dodge160195400running0100222447  Marcos AmbroseLittle Debbie Snacks   (Tad Geschickter)Ford160148825running097231420  Tony StewartHome Depot   (Joe Gibbs)Toyota160197461running09424251  Martin Truex Jr.Bass Pro Shops / Cub Cadet   (Dale Earnhardt, Inc.)Chevrolet160182408running396253566  Scott RiggsState Water Heaters   (Gene Haas)Chevrolet160166133running19326315  Casey MearsKellogg's / Carquest   (Rick Hendrick)Chevrolet160162725running085274345  Terry LabonteMarathon American Spirit Motor Oil   (Petty Enterprises)Dodge160161083running082283996  J.J. YeleyDLP HDTV   (Jeff Moorad)Toyota160153825running079293678  Joe NemechekFurniture Row / DenverMattress.com   (Barney Visser)Chevrolet160142225running076303344  David ReutimannUPS   (Michael Waltrip)Toyota160145200running073314201  Regan SmithPrincipal Financial Group   (Dale Earnhardt, Inc.)Chevrolet160152600running175322170  Jason LefflerHunt Brothers Pizza   (Gene Haas)Chevrolet160140700running06733297  Robby GordonMenards / Johns Manville   (Robby Gordon)Dodge160163558running064343000  Michael McDowellChampion Mortgage   (Michael Waltrip)Toyota160150097running166354122  Dave BlaneyCaterpillar   (Bill Davis)Toyota160140300running163362828  Travis KvapilHitachi Power Tools   (Yates Racing)Ford160168214running360371829  Kevin HarvickShell / Pennzoil   (Richard Childress)Chevrolet148186661running052381017  Matt KensethDeWalt   (Jack Roush)Ford144187241running049391342  Juan Pablo MontoyaWrigley's Big Red Slim Pack   (Chip Ganassi)Dodge124167408crash0464072  Kurt BuschMiller Lite   (Roger Penske)Dodge119139425running043413715  Paul MenardMenards / Johns Manville   (Dale Earnhardt, Inc.)Chevrolet118147300running040421783  Brian VickersRed Bull   (Dietrich Mateschitz)Toyota93147600engine142433455  Michael WaltripNAPA Auto Parts   (Michael Waltrip)Toyota91139494running034Failed to qualify, withdrew, or driver changes:POSNAMENBRSPONSOROWNERCAR44Bill Elliott21MotorcraftWood BrothersFord45Johnny Sauter08getFUBAR.comJohn CarterDodge46Tony Raines34doorstopnation.comBob JenkinsChevrolet47Stanton Barrett50NOS Energy DrinkChris LencheskiChevrolet Post-race Two days following the running of the race, NASCAR VP of competition Robin Pemberton formally apologized for the problems, saying that it did not go to IMS with the correct car-tire combination. To rectify those problems, Goodyear staged two additional tire tests at Indy in the fall, the first with only three teams as per the tiremaker's policy September 22 and 23; the other with as many as 12 teams on October 7 and 8 to detect what might have gone wrong and test a new tire to be used for the 2009 race. A total of 7 tests were conducted in preparation for the 2009 race. The results of these tests indicated an increased amount of load and slip on the right rear tire caused the particle debris to be smaller than anticipated. This prevented rubber from adhering to the track and prevented tire wear from improving as the race progressed.Indianapolismotorspeedway.com https://web.archive.org/web/20090226031954/http://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/news/12672/Goodyear__NASCAR_Stars_Pleased_With_Progress_At_Indy_Tire_Test 2009-02-26 "Goodyear, NASCAR Stars Pleased With Progress At Indy Tire Test" Retrieved February 1, 2009 Legacy Many fans have pointed to this race to the overall decline of the Brickyard 400 in general.2019-09-08 The Brickyard 400 Doesn't Matter Anymore http://www.apexoff.com/2019/09/08/the-brickyard-400-doesnt-matter-anymore/ 2020-09-22 Apex Off en-USBrick wall: Why Indy has lost its allure for NASCAR fans https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nascar/news/indy-brickyard-2014-crown-royal-400-attendance-ticket-sales-decline-2008-tire-problems-economy/747nna1nlfuk188t7wu849d6y 2020-09-22 www.sportingnews.com 26 July 2014 en By 2021, NASCAR eventually moved the race to the Speedway's road course, although they returned to the oval in 2024. See also 2005 United States Grand Prix – a similar situation at the same track during the 2005 Formula One race 1969 Talladega 500 – the first race at Talladega, which suffered a similar situation References External links 2008 Allstate 400 At The Brickyard on racing reference Sprint Cup Series 2008 2008 LifeLock.com 400 2008 Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard Allstate 400 at the Brickyard Category:NASCAR races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Category:NASCAR controversies