Dario Franchitti passed Patrick Carpentier on lap 194 and held on for the victory in the Firestone Indy 200 at Nashville Superspeedway. Sam Hornish Jr., who started 13th, passed Carpentier on the final lap to grab second. Carpentier was third, followed by Scott Sharp and Helio Castroneves. Danica Patrick, who led midway through the race, finished seventh.

Tony Kanaan led at the halfway point, but 16 laps later his No. 11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone veered to the right entering Turn 1 and made contact with the No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car driven by Darren Manning. Kanaan said "something broke" on the right front of the car. Both drivers were uninjured.

Kanaan, who started seventh, jumped to the point on a Lap 38 restart after a caution period because of contact of the No. 2 RockStar Panther Racing Chevrolet-powered Dallara driven by Tomas Enge with the Turn 1 SAFER Barrier. Enge was transported to University Hospital in Lebanon for an MRI on his back.

IndyCar Series points leader Dan Wheldon, who had 15 consecutive top-10 finishes dating to last season, retired on Lap 96 because of a suspension problem on the No. 26 Klein Tools/Jim Beam Dallara/Honda/Firestone. 

Franchitti passed pole sitter Tomas Scheckter for the lead on Lap 5 and led by 0.5875 of a seconds after 25 laps. Scheckter exited the race on Lap 160 when smoke was spotted from the rear of his car.

Scheckter's quick lap of 203.117 mph (23.0409 seconds) topped the combined practice sessions speed chart that was used to determine the starting grid after showers and the forecast of thunderstorms conspired to cancel Marlboro Pole Qualifying on July 15.

Patrick (203.088 mph; 23.0442) was making her fourth top-4 start in the past six races, including winning the pole at Kansas Speedway on July 3. Lazier, making his second of at least five IndyCar Series starts of the season, joined Franchitti (202.892 mph) on Row 2.

Scheckter was wary of the 1.33-mile concrete tri-oval, mainly because he had finished 19th, 10th and 13th (running at the end in only one) in his previous three IndyCar Series races at the facility opened in 2001.

"To be honest, I didn't like this track too much until a couple of minutes ago when they said I was on pole," he said. "It's a funny sort of track, and it gives you a funny feeling."