Gladeville, Tenn. ? Home-track advantage finally paid for Dario Franchitti. Racing on the Nashville Superspeedway that he’s adopted as his own, Franchitti dipped inside Patrick Carpentier with seven laps to go and then drove away with the Firestone Indy 200 on Saturday night.

He celebrated his first IndyCar Series victory this year and third overall by spinning doughnuts in front of the grandstand, then headed to Victory Lane to grab his new trophy guitar.

“Finally,” said Franchitti, who can use a helicopter to make the short commute from his home to the track.

Danica Patrick looked as if she might make history with her first victory as she started second and even led nine laps. She got a much-needed caution to refuel and pick up fresh tires, but finished seventh for her fifth top-10 finish in her rookie season.

Sam Hornish Jr. finished second followed by Carpentier. Scott Sharp was fourth with Helio Castroneves fifth. But this is home turf for Franchitti who moved to Tennessee because of his wife, Ashley Judd. That has made this 1.33-mile, tri-oval track a favorite target since moving to the IRL in 2002.

Franchitti wound up as the only car from Andretti Green Racing still on the track after mechanical troubles knocked out his teammates. But he had Dan Wheldon, Tony Kanaan and Bryan Herta cheering him from the pits.