2010 Indianapolis 500


The 94th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 30, 2010. It was the 15th Indy 500 sanctioned by the Indy Racing League, and was the premier event of the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season. The race was won by Dario Franchitti, ahead of Dan Wheldon and Marco Andretti. Tony Kanaan, who had started in the final position, ran as high as second during the race before finishing eleventh.
The race came down to fuel mileage strategy. A caution on laps 161–165 left at least 35 laps for the final fuel stint for most of the leaders. Four drivers did not pit during that yellow flag, gambling on another caution, and possibly making it to the finish without another pit stop. Their strategies failed to pay off, and each of the four had to pit for fuel. Dario Franchitti, himself desperately conserving fuel, cycled to the front on lap 192. A terrible crash involving Mike Conway, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and others, occurred in the north shortchute as the leaders were taking the white flag. Conway's car launched into the catchfence, and he suffered a broken leg and a compression fracture, but he would later recover. Franchitti took the checkered flag, with Dan Wheldon finishing second for the second year in a row.
The race was the second of the three-year-long Centennial era, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the opening of the track and the 100th anniversary of the inaugural race in 1911. It was the 53rd time the race had been held on a May 30. This year marked the first race with four female drivers, and Simona de Silvestro was awarded Rookie of the Year. The race is also remembered for a dramatic Bump Day where rookie Sebastian Saavedra made the race while laying in a hospital bed, while veteran driver Paul Tracy missed the field after a last-minute qualifying gamble gone awry.

Event news

  • Qualifying for the event reverted to a two-day schedule similar to the system used from 1998 to 2000. Time trials was permanently reduced from two weekends down to one weekend. Prior to 1998, and again from 2001 to 2008, time trials were held over two weekends.
  • The pole position was decided under the new "Fast Nine Shootout", loosely based on the qualifying format used during IndyCar Series road course events. On the first day of time trials, from to, the first round of qualifying filled positions 1–24. Bumping began as soon as the field was filled to 24 cars. During the final 90 minutes, the top nine cars advanced to a special "shootout" session. The Fast Nine cars erased their earlier times, and were permitted to make up to three attempts each during the special session to determine starting positions 1–9 including the pole position. Cash prizes for the front row were increased from previous years: pole position, second place, and third place.
  • The second day of time trials filled positions 24–33. Once the field was filled to 33 cars, bumping began. The slowest overall car in the field, regardless of the day it qualified, was on the "bubble" and could be bumped out. Fast Nine Shootout participants, however, were locked-in and could not be bumped.
  • Prior to the start of the race, Michael Andretti drove Mark Wahlberg in a custom-built, two-seat Indy car billed as the "Izod Fastest Seat in Sports". The 1969 Indianapolis 500 winner Mario Andretti coached the two by radio from the IZOD Performance Pit. Andretti and Wahlberg followed four parade cars and led the official pace car and the 33-car starting field on three parade laps. Once the parade cars exited the circuit, the two-seat race car sped around the track at nearly to catch the field from behind as the field took the green flag. This marked the first time in modern history that a driver and passenger joined the field of the Indianapolis 500. It was the first two-man race car on the track since the days of the riding mechanic ended after 1937.
  • Five women attempted the Indy 500; four qualified for the event.

    Rule changes

  • For the first time, the Honda overtake assist system was utilized. Each car was permitted 15 presses with a 10-second recharge time.
  • Championship points towards the IndyCar Series championship were awarded to all qualifiers, based on their qualifying position. The pole winner received 15 points, second place 13, third place 12, on down to 3 points for 25th–33rd place. Previously, only the pole position winner received championship bonus point.

    Schedule

The 2010 schedule was a two-week condensed schedule, but featured only one fewer day of on-track activity compared to 2009.

Entry list

  • See Team and driver chart for further information.

    Practice

Saturday May 15

  • Weather: Partly cloudy,, intermittent rain showers
  • Practice summary: Opening day practice featured veteran practice from noon to, and rookie orientation from 2 to Hélio Castroneves became the first car out on the track for the month, and set the fastest speed of the day at. Seven rookies participated in rookie orientation, and five veterans took part in refresher tests. Jay Howard was the fastest rookie of the day.

    Sunday May 16

  • Weather: Cloudy,, intermittent rain showers
  • Practice summary: The second day of practice featured rookie orientation from to, and veteran practice from 3 to Six rookies passed their four-phase rookie tests. During veteran practice, two incidents were reported. Ryan Hunter-Reay spun in the warm up lane in turn one, but did not make contact. At Dan Wheldon lost control in turn four and hit the outside wall at the exit of turn four. he was uninjured. Hélio Castroneves led the speed chart for the second day in a row.

    Monday May 17

  • Weather: Rain,
  • Practice summary: Practice was cancelled due to rain.

    Tuesday May 18

  • Weather: Cloudy,, intermittent rain showers
  • Practice summary: Five different teams comprised the top five positions on the speed chart. Late in the day E. J. Viso crashed in turn one, and was transported to the hospital with back pain.

    Wednesday May 19

  • Weather: Cloudy,
  • Practice summary: Thirty-four drivers took practice laps, with many working on race set-ups. The field completed 2,282 laps with no major incidents reported.

    Thursday May 20

  • Weather: Partly cloudy,
  • Practice summary: A total of 44 cars are currently at the Speedway, and 44 have passed technical inspection. Thirty-seven drivers have been on the track to date and turned 1,445 laps today and 7,289 laps this month. Alex Lloyd turned 81 laps today, more than any other driver. There were two cautions for a total of two hours, 35 minutes.

    Friday May 21 – Fast Friday

  • Weather: Cloudy,
  • Practice summary: All 36 drivers today were separated by.7745 of a second. Fifteen drivers turned laps of or faster today.

    Qualifying

Saturday May 22 – Pole Day

  • Weather: Partly cloudy,
  • Pole Day summary: Pole Day 2010 opened up with A. J. Foyt IV and many others through the early part of the day. Andretti Autosport struggled through the most part of the day with Marco Andretti finishing in the middle part of the qualifiers and Danica Patrick who finished 23rd of all 24 drivers qualified. John Andretti failed to qualify, while Tony Kanaan crashed during his qualifying run splitting his engine in two. The new system was put into place that year with 24 drivers qualified, while still vulnerable to being bumped. The top nine drivers, in this case Hélio Castroneves, Will Power, Dario Franchitti, Ryan Briscoe, Alex Tagliani, Scott Dixon, Graham Rahal, Ed Carpenter, Hideki Mutoh, were all involved in a shootout for the pole position. The drivers' times were wiped out and each made one or more four-lap qualification attempts. The shootout lasted from to allowing the drivers to make as many qualification attempts as they wanted in the time available. Unlike the main portion of qualifying, during the shootout segment drivers did not have to withdraw previous qualification times to make another attempt; the fastest time for each driver during the shootout segment was used to order the drivers. Hélio Castroneves not only won the first session of qualifying, but also the shootout and the 2010 Indianapolis 500 pole position.

    Sunday May 23 – Bump Day

  • Weather: Sunny,
  • Bump Day summary: With 24 drivers qualified the previous day, the field started the day with nine spots open. In the morning practice session, Tony Kanaan suffered his second crash in two days. He suffered a nearly identical crash as Saturday in turn one, this time wrecking his back up car. Kanaan was uninjured, and the team was forced to repair the backup car, or Kanaan could possibly miss the race.
Time trials opened at 12:00 p.m., with several cars ready in the qualifying line. In the first hour, early runs filled the field to 33 cars. Several drivers put in safe speeds, including John Andretti, Sarah Fisher, Vítor Meira, Alex Lloyd and Bruno Junqueira. Junqueira was the fastest of the day, and his speed of 225.662 mph ranked 7th-fastest overall in the field. A. J. Foyt IV parted ways with his grandfather's team and Jaques Lazier was drafted as his replacement. As of 1 p.m., the Bump Day qualifiers were as follows:
At about 1:10 p.m., a break in the qualifying line occurred, and the track was opened up for general practice. The temperature was rising into the low 90s °F, and the track temperature was measured at about 118 °F. Most drivers stayed off of the track during the hottest period of the afternoon, awaiting better conditions. At 4:50 p.m., during a practice run, Sebastián Saavedra wrecked his already-qualified car. Saavedra was sent to the hospital, and if he were to be bumped, he would not be able to re-qualify.
At 5:23 p.m., Tony Kanaan took to the track in his repaired back-up car. Kanaan bumped his way into the field with a speed of 224.072 mph. Kanaan bumped Sebastián Saavedra of Bryan Herta Autosport from the field. Saavedra experienced trouble of his own, as he wrecked his car during a practice run about at 4:50 p.m. Sunday afternoon. Saavedra was sent to the hospital, and would be unable to re-qualify. As of 5:30 p.m., Romancini was now on the bubble. As of approximately 5:30 p.m., the Bump Day qualifiers were as follows:
At 5:33 p.m. Mario Romancini's team withdrew his speed, which momentarily re-instated Sebastián Saavedra to 33rd position. Romancini's new speed of 224.641 mph was an improvement, and he was safe in the 27th position. Saavedra was bumped from the lineup once again. With 22 minutes remaining, Jay Howard was now on the bubble. Milka Duno was the next car out, but after two slow laps, she was waved off. Takuma Sato was the next car out. Sato's speed of 224.178 mph bumped Howard from the field. Paul Tracy was now on the bubble. At 5:45 p.m., the Bump Day qualifiers were as follows:
Jay Howard attempted to bump his way back into the field, but his speed of 223.610 mph was too slow. Since Howard had made his second attempt without formally withdrawing his original speed, he reverted to his 223.824 mph speed from the first attempt. For the moment, he was still 34th-fastest. Paul Tracy still clung to the 33rd position. Some confusion arose with online timing and scoring and on the Versus television broadcast as to who was on the bubble, and what speed Howard was being credited with. However, officials on pit lane had the situation under control. In a surprising move, Tracy's team withdrew his speed at 5:50 p.m. Tracy hoped to put in a safer speed, and at the same time, run out the clock to prevent Howard from getting another chance to qualify.
Tracy's withdraw tentatively re-instated Jay Howard to the 33rd position. Tracy, however, got very loose in the hot conditions, and his speed ended up being slower. He waved off after only two laps, and hurriedly got back into the qualifying line. After quick wave-offs by Jaques Lazier and Milka Duno, time was running out. Sensing they were finally safe, Tony Kanaan's crew pulled their car out of line. Howard was now at the front of the qualifying line with Tracy second in line. With three minutes left in the session, the last row of the field consisted of the following drivers:
With less than two minutes to go, Jay Howard's team formally withdrew his speed and he pulled away for his third and final attempt. Howard was trying to use up time and keep Tracy off the track, but at the same time, was now tasked with bumping his way back into the lineup. The move re-instated Sebastián Saavedra's car to 33rd position. Howard's effort, however, was too slow. The 6 o'clock gun fired with Tracy still waiting in line. Sebastián Saavedra shockingly made the field while he was lying in a hospital bed. For the shoestring budget Bryan Herta Autosport team, the day, was remembered as the "Bump Day Miracle".
Milka Duno made three attempts during the afternoon, and none were run to completion. Jaques Lazier, who was a last-minute replacement at the Foyt team, failed to reach the necessary speed in his three attempts. On his last attempt, Lazier's car was so loose, he nearly crashed in turn three on his warm-up lap. Howard and Tracy, however, were the heartbreak stories of the day. After qualifying closed, Andretti Autosport decided to replace Tony Kanaan's qualified back-up car with the primary machine. The decision forced Kanaan to move to the 33rd position, but since he had qualified 32nd, it was a drop of only one spot on the grid.