The race took place on March 29, on the 1.800-mile (2.897 km) temporary street circuit in St. Petersburg, Florida, and was telecast by ESPN2 in the United States.

Further down the field, both Mike Conway and Dario Franchitti ran on to the damp patches and spun in different areas of the race track, bringing out the caution.

The second caution of the race came out at one-quarter distance when Takuma Sato, running in ninth place, outbraked himself into turn 3 and buried himself in the tyres, and negated the 7 second lead which Scott Dixon had built over his pursuers.

When the track went green, Meira comfortably held on to the lead, with most of the action occurring mid-pack as the drivers who had pitted under the caution sought to make their way up the field on new tyres.

On lap 47, Dan Wheldon, who was running just outside the top ten suffered a suspension failure at turn 1 which sent his car straight into that of Mario Moraesin front of him.

The only exception was Vitor Meira, as he had yet to use the red-walled soft compound tires, and the A. J. Foyt team believed that the tyres would not last for a long stint.

Viso took the lead but immediately slowed with the gearbox problem and dropped way back, eventually having to pit for repairs and rejoining three laps down.

Danica Patrick, despite being on the red tires in the last stint finished seventh ahead of Matos, Graham Rahal and Tony Kanaan.