HOMESTEAD, Fla. (March 29, 2008)
Tony Kanaan piloted the #11 Team 7-Eleven machine to a disappointing eighth-place finish at Saturday night’s running of the GAINSCO Auto Insurance Indy 300 from Homestead-Miami Speedway, the first race of the 2008 IndyCar Series season.

Kanaan, who never ran lower than fifth until the final few laps, took the overall race lead on lap 161 when he passed teammate Marco Andretti. When the car driven by Ernesto Viso spun on lap 192, it clipped the Team 7-Eleven car and broke the right-front suspension. Kanaan was able to nurse the car for the next few laps under yellow-flag conditions but was forced to pit in the final laps and finished eighth.

Scott Dixon won the race and was followed by Andretti and Dan Wheldon, respectively.

The next race on the IndyCar Series schedule is the fourth-annual Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Sunday, April 6. ESPN will provide live broadcast coverage of the event beginning at 2:30 p.m. (EDT).

Tony Kanaan

“I’ve been around a long time and the race is not finished until the checkered flag. This was a misfortune – yes. But, how many times have I won races because some other guy was unlucky? With 10 laps to go I was looking around and I was thinking, ‘This looks too easy.’
“When somebody spins and he’s doing 230 miles an hour, you’re like, ‘Where should I go?’ I slowed down, he was on the bottom, so I went to the top. Then, all of a sudden he started to go to the top and I was trying to go to the bottom, so there was nothing I could do about it.
“The way I look at it, this is right where I finished here in 2004 in the Team 7-Eleven car and we know the way that year turned out (by winning the IndyCar Series championship).”