Castroneves will be looking to add a maiden championship to his two Indy 500 crowns - hoping to be 'in the right place at the right time' - while Briscoe returns to full-time IndyCar competition for the first time since 2005, having last year turned in fifth place at Indy with Pesnke-affiliated Luczo Dragon Racing while racing for 'The Captain's' American Le Mans Series team. Briscoe carries momentum into the season-opener, having topped the two days of testing at Sebring, but may be at his best on the road and street courses, while Castroneves shines on the ovals.
Behind the sport's 'big three', Rahal Letterman Racing, Vision Racing and Panther Racing look set to head the midfield, with AJ Foyt Enterprises and Dreyer & Reinbold on the fringes. Roth Racing makes the step up to a full-time, two-car, operation in 2008, but will probably find itself mixing it with the Champ Car converts.
RLR becomes a one-car team this year, running just the Ethanol entry for Ryan Hunter-Reay, who could prove to be something of a dark horse after putting in some promising performances in his part-season in 2007.
“This is a very special season-opener for me," R-HR insists, "Homestead is my home track, but I have never raced on the oval. Racing in front of the hometown fans, under the lights, in the Ethanol IndyCar will be surreal to say the least. “I am ready to get this 2008 race season underway - it's time to go racing, and we're all ready to get to work.”
Vision Racing remains under the control of IRL CEO George, but also shrinks by one entry, with Ed Carpenter and AJ Foyt IV leading the attack
"We think our drivers are seasoned enough now to understand how it all works," team manager Larry Curry says, "We think that we've done our homework over the winter and, certainly on road courses, we feel like we're going to be much more respectable - to the point where we can go out and compete for some top ten finishes. On the ovals, the expectations are to win a race."
![Dan Wheldon - Target Chip Ganassi Racing and Marco Andretti - Andretti Green Racing, Homestead Open Testing [Pic credit: IndyCar Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/410802.jpg)
