The 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series was the 15th season of the IndyCar Series, and the 99th recognized season of top-level American open wheel racing. It was the series' first of six planned seasons under Izod title sponsorship, a multimillion-dollar deal which was announced on November 5, 2009. Its premier event was the 94th Indianapolis 500, held on Sunday, May 30.
This season is notable for having the most women to compete in a season: Ana Beatriz, Milka Duno, Sarah Fisher, Danica Patrick, and Simona de Silvestro. They all competed in the Peak Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy 300 and the Cafés do Brasil Indy 300.
Chip Ganassi Racing's Dario Franchitti retained his title, to win his third in four seasons after defeating Team Penske driver Will Power in a championship battle that went to the final race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Power had led the championship for most of the season, and led Franchitti by twelve into Homestead, but after hitting the wall during the race and finishing in 25th place, Franchitti's eighth-place finish with maximum bonus points gave him the championship by five points. Franchitti and Power each won one of the new-for-2010 sub-championships for oval tracks, and road courses. Franchitti won the oval championship with six top-five finishes from eight races, including victories at the Indianapolis 500 and Chicagoland, and also won the road course event at Mid-Ohio. Power was even more dominant in the road course championship, finishing each of the nine races in the top three, with five wins in São Paulo, St. Petersburg, Watkins Glen, Toronto and Sonoma.
After battling Franchitti for the title in 2009, Scott Dixon and Ryan Briscoe finished third and fifth in the championship standings with the third Penske car, piloted by Hélio Castroneves finished between the pair. Dixon won on the ovals at Kansas and Homestead-Miami, as well as a victory in Edmonton after Castroneves was penalised for blocking on a late-race restart. Dixon's victory in Florida helped him overhaul Castroneves for third place in the championship standings. Castroneves also took three victories during the season, winning the inaugural race at Barber Motorsports Park as well as back-to-back victories at Kentucky and Twin Ring Motegi, as he finished sixteen points behind Dixon. Briscoe finished over 100 points behind Franchitti, with a solitary victory at Texas. Andretti Autosport drivers Tony Kanaan and Ryan Hunter-Reay were the only other drivers to win a race, as they finished sixth and seventh respectively. Rookie of the Year went to Dale Coyne Racing driver Alex Lloyd who competed in his first full season, after three races over the previous two seasons. He finished 24 points ahead of Simona de Silvestro.
This was the last season that the winner of the Indianapolis 500 went on to also win the championship in the same season until Álex Palou achieved the feat in 2025.
Series news Announced in a press conference at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on November 5, 2009, clothier Izod signed on as the series' new title sponsor from 2010 to 2015, with an option for two additional years. According to Robin Miller, the deal was worth $10 million per year with at least $5 million toward promotions and marketing. It would additionally include a payout of $100,000 per car, per year to teams eligible for the TEAM revenue-sharing program, and possible partial funding for a full-time car for Ryan Hunter-Reay, whom received sponsorship backing from the brand in 2009. This was the third title sponsorship in the IndyCar Series' history; previous sponsorships were provided by Pep Boys (1998–1999) and Northern Light (2000–2001). On September 23, 2009, it was confirmed that Honda would extended their role as a series's standard single engine supplier contract for another two years that in place until the end of 2011 season. On November 25, 2009, a season opening race in São Paulo, Brazil was confirmed by city authorities and an Indy Racing League press release. The race, the São Paulo Indy 300, took place on a temporary street course. Despite the long travel distance for the teams, the event was lucrative with Terry Angstadt claiming each participating team would receive a six-figure sum from the event promoters in addition to all expenses paid. The possibility was left open for a race at Milwaukee, however, ongoing issues involving unpaid sanctioning fees from the management put the race, and the future of the facility, at risk. In November, Historic Mile, LLC. announced they were going out of business. It was announced on December 16 that no national racing series would race at the Milwaukee Mile in 2010 due to the inability for Wisconsin State Fair Park officials to find a replacement promoter for the season. The July 25 race in Edmonton went ahead, despite event organizers losing $9.2 million on the race over the previous two seasons. 2010 rule changes were announced on January 12, 2010. The 4-position fuel mixture switch was removed so that cars were only able to run on "full rich" or "yellow" fuel settings. The Honda Overtake assist returned with an approximate doubling of bhp increase from last year's 5–20 bhp upon pressing the button. All cars had a reverse gear on the road and street courses and thus reintroduced in 2010. IRL founder and IMS board member, Tony George, resigned from the IMS effective immediately on January 19, 2010. Former chief executive officer of the Professional Bull Riders, Randy Bernard, was announced as the new IRL CEO on February 2, 2010. A carriage dispute between the Comcast Corporation and its Versus channel, and DirecTV that had been in place since August was resolved on March 15, 2010. This meant that Versus was restored to nearly sixteen million customers; returning to coverage that the channel offered before the dispute. Indianapolis 500 qualifying in 2010 awarded points to each of the 33 qualifying drivers. The polesitter received fifteen points, with the other drivers on the front row receiving 13 and 12 respectively. Each qualifying driver earned at least three points. Two additional titles were awarded starting with the 2010 season, with an oval champion and a road/street course champion being crowned. A trophy and prize money was awarded to the highest points finisher on the 9 road/street courses and 7 oval races (excluding Homestead). After a fan vote, the names of the championships were announced as the A. J. Foyt Oval Championship and the Mario Andretti Road Course Championship. The development freeze introduced for the 2009 season remains in place for the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Sunoco would become the official fuel of the series starting in mid-2010 and running through 2018. Sunoco would work with APEX–Brasil and UNICA to provide ethanol for the series.
Confirmed entries
All drivers competed in identical Honda HI10R V8-powered, Firestone Firehawk-shod, Dallara IR-05 chassis. (R) reflects an IZOD IndyCar Series rookie.
Team Drivers Rounds A. J. Foyt Enterprises 14 Vítor Meira All 41 A. J. Foyt IV 6 Jaques Lazier Andretti Autosport 7 Danica Patrick All 11 Tony Kanaan All 26 Marco Andretti All 27 Adam Carroll 9, 12 37 Ryan Hunter-Reay All 43 John Andretti 5–6 Bryan Herta Autosport 29 Sebastián Saavedra 6 Chip Ganassi Racing 9 Scott Dixon All 10 Dario Franchitti All Conquest Racing 34 Mario Romancini 1–11 Francesco Dracone 12 Bertrand Baguette 13–17 36 3–12 Francesco Dracone 13 Tomas Scheckter 14–15 Roger Yasukawa 16 Sebastián Saavedra 17 Dale Coyne Racing 18 Milka Duno All 19 Alex Lloyd All de Ferran Dragon Racing 2 Raphael Matos All 21 Davey Hamilton 6, 14 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 22 Justin Wilson All 23 Ana Beatriz 1 Tomas Scheckter 6 24 Mike Conway 1–6 Graham Rahal 8 Tomas Scheckter 7, 10–11 Paul Tracy 9, 15–16 J. R. Hildebrand 12–13 Ana Beatriz 14, 17 25 6 FAZZT Race Team 33 Bruno Junqueira 6 77 Alex Tagliani All HVM Racing 78 Simona de Silvestro All KV Racing Technology 5 Takuma Sato All 8 E. J. Viso All 15 Paul Tracy 6, 10–11 32 Mario Moraes All Newman/Haas Racing Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing 02 Graham Rahal 10, 12–14, 16–17 06 Hideki Mutoh All Panther Racing 4 Dan Wheldon All 20 Ed Carpenter 6, 14–15, 17 Rahal Letterman Racing 30 Graham Rahal 6 Sam Schmidt Motorsports 99 Townsend Bell 6 Sarah Fisher Racing 66 Jay Howard 5–7, 12, 14 Graham Rahal 15 67 2–4 Sarah Fisher 5–8, 14–15, 17 Team Penske 3 Hélio Castroneves All 6 Ryan Briscoe All 12 Will Power All
Team and driver news Team Penske: Hélio Castroneves signed a multi-year contract extension with Penske Racing before the 2009 season. Penske ran three full-time teams in 2010, with Castroneves, Ryan Briscoe, and Will Power. Penske shut down their Grand-Am operation to make room for number #12 car. Two long-time Team Penske IndyCar Series team sponsors Philip Morris International including Marlboro brand and Hugo Boss including BOSS brand were ended their sponsorships after nineteen and twenty-three years respectively. Andretti Autosport: Before the 2010 season, the ownership of Andretti Green Racing split and began operating as Andretti Autosport. Co-owners Kim Green and Kevin Savoree owned the promotion side of AGR that stages the St. Pete and Toronto races, while the race team itself is fully owned by Michael Andretti. Tony Kanaan signed a multi-year deal before the 2009 season. Danica Patrick signed a three-year contract extension through 2012 with Go Daddy as primary sponsor. Venom Energy signed a multi-year deal to sponsor Marco Andretti. Ryan Hunter-Reay signed as the team's fourth driver, and drove the #37 machine, with primary sponsorship from series title sponsors, Izod. The team ran a fifth car at Kansas and the Indy 500, for John Andretti. Adam Carroll also contested a partial program with the team. beginning at Watkins Glen. Chip Ganassi Racing: Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti returned for 2010. Developmental driver Alex Lloyd left the team to pursue other opportunities. E. J. Viso was working on a deal to join the team in a third car, but joined KV Racing Technology instead. Robin Miller reported Ganassi was looking to field a third car for Graham Rahal, but it did not materialize. Luczo Dragon Racing: Raphael Matos signed a multi-year contract before the 2009 season. On February 16, 2010, de Ferran Motorsports merged with the Luczo Dragon team to form de Ferran Luczo Dragon Racing. Davey Hamilton joined the team for Indianapolis and had been expected to run at Texas, and one other oval, in the #21 car with a partnership with Kingdom Racing. However, due to accidents suffered by both Matos and Hamilton at Indianapolis, Hamilton sat out Texas. Hamilton returned at Chicagoland. Panther Racing: Dan Wheldon returns for 2010. The team considered adding a second car if funding became available. 2008 GP2 Series champion Giorgio Pantano was in talks with the team. A. J. Foyt Enterprises: Vítor Meira returned from injury in 2009 to the #14 car for the 2010 season. The team entered a second car at Indianapolis for A. J. Foyt IV, but he was eventually replaced by Jaques Lazier.