His win, beating IRL stalwart Tony Stewart after leading 74 laps, went down as one of the biggest upsets in the history of Indy car racing.

[2][3] Shortly after the race at Walt Disney World Speedway, the significant injuries sustained by both Davy Jones and Eliseo Salazar in rear-first crashes raised some safety concerns.

The Indy Racing League addressed them by mandating a seven-pound attenuator fixed behind the gearbox, to act as a 'crash-box' and better dissipate the energy in that area.

[6] On February 18, Texas Motor Speedway held its first ever IRL test with Tony Stewart and Buddy Lazier, although the three-day program devised by Firestone was cut in half because of windy conditions and the threat of rain.

[10] His teammate Davey Hamilton finished third overall, a distant 3.5 mph behind, but just in front of the surprising Jim Guthrie, while early favourite Arie Luyendyk and championship leader Mike Groff lagged behind.

Infiniti also had problems with its scarce contingent, as Buddy Lazier, Groff and Jack Miller had engine issues throughout the week because of a faulty bearing application.

[8] Team Menard, on the other hand, had unofficially parted ways with Mark Dismore, and evaluated Billy Boat and Dave Blaney as contenders for their second seat.

EuroInternational, with the legendary George Bignotti as chief mechanic, also filled an entry for Phoenix resident Billy Roe, who had attempted to race the previous year.

Further tire testing was conducted on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway the following week, as Fermín Vélez drove for Goodyear,[12] while Tony Stewart, who topped out at 216.080 mph, and John Paul Jr. did it for Firestone.

[13] During this period, Stan Wattles confirmed that Metro Racing Systems would become the second team to take on the Riley & Scott chassis, with a delivery date expected for July.

[14] On race week, Chitwood Motorsports replaced Danny Ongais with Affonso Giaffone, originally in a one-race deal with the support of General Motors do Brasil.

[17] Jim Guthrie doubled down on his testing results and emerged as Stewart's main contender, being second in the morning and third in the afternoon behind Arie Luyendyk.

Treadway Racing swept the second row with Scott Goodyear and Luyendyk, in front of Buzz Calkins and Robbie Buhl, the early leaders before Stewart's run.

In a similar note, Scott Sharp was in second place during the morning practice when his engine caught fire, and a spare was not ready in time for qualifying.

During afternoon's final practice, Buzz Calkins had an oil leak and crashed in Turn 4, forfeiting his 5th place on the grid as he needed a back-up car.

During his stop, John Paul Jr. suffered an electrical issue and lost several laps, leaving Scott Goodyear and Robbie Buhl as Stewart's main contenders.

Davey Hamilton had been greatly benefitted by the attrition rate and got past Greco for third, but both were passed by Bräck, who emerged as a serious contender in his debut Indy car race, although he had lost 10 seconds to Stewart and Guthrie by then.

Stewart pitted for a splash of fuel and some tyre pressure changes just before the Lap 155 restart, and quickly passed Greco, but he faced a crowded traffic situation afterwards.

20 laps from the end, Sam Schmidt was trying to hunt down Stéphan Grégoire for fifth place when he lost the right-rear tyre entering Turn 3, right in front of Davey Hamilton.

The rear-first crash pounded a significant hole in the concrete wall that had to be fixed with a metal plate, while Schmidt was transported by ambulance with mid-back pain, although uninjured.

[26] Having complained of handling issues in the previous laps, and aiming to run down Guthrie after the restart, Stewart pitted twice under the caution, the first one for drastic changes in his rear wing, and the second one for fuel and 'option' tires for better grip, briefly stalling the engine afterwards.

With a very basic setup in his back-up car, Buzz Calkins was not a factor during the race and lost several laps, but managed to see the checkered flag in 8th place.