WILSON WINS DETROIT INDY GRAND PRIX

DETROIT, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008 – Justin Wilson didn’t let a steering problem ruin his day. The IndyCar Series rookie turned only two laps in the morning warm-up due to the problem, but went on to lead the final 15 laps of the Detroit Indy Grand Prix presented by Firestone in the afternoon to claim his first IndyCar Series victory.

Wilson started fourth and moved into second on Lap 60. After a restart on Lap 69, Wilson put pressure on Helio Castroneves, who led a race-high 53 laps. Wilson made two attempts to pass on Lap 72, but was rebuffed by Castroneves who went low and then back high. Race officials penalized Castroneves one position for blocking, and Wilson took the lead on Lap 73.

Castroneves, who finished second for a record eighth time this season, gained 13 points on series points leader Scott Dixon to climb within 30 points of Dixon heading into the Sept. 7 championship season finale at Chicagoland Speedway.

Dixon led the first 18 laps after starting on the pole but shuffled back to 18th after his first pit stop and could never get back higher than his final position of fifth.

Tony Kanaan finished third and Oriol Servia finished fourth. Bruno Junqueira improved 17 positions from his 24th-place starting position to finish seventh.

Wilson, who won four times during his career in the Champ Car World Series, was the ninth different race winner in the IndyCar Series, tying a record set in four other seasons.

For the first time this season, the pits of Target Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon are split. Dixon is the in the pit stall closest to pit out while Wheldon is in the fourth pit. The two are separated by the pits for the two Team Penske cars.

MIKE HULL (Team managing director, Target Chip Ganassi Racing): “It’s the first time for us this year. The IRL has a rule about how the pits are selected. They’re selected based on owner’s points. You have the option on whether you want to average your positions or split your positions during the year. We chose to split at the beginning of the year. We did it because we knew if we had one guy in the championship at the end of the year we wanted to be as far downstream as we could be, whatever position that was. It’s OK because the people that we race with are all clean in the pits. We don’t have a problem with them. The only thing it probably affects is the communication between the two timing stands.”