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 (Mike Conway, Justin Wilson, Helio Castroneves, and Graham Rahal) 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 (1909) 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 (repeated in 2011), 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 (Saturday), 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 (time permitting) 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 ($175,000), second place ($75,000), and third place ($50,000). The second day of time trials (Sunday) 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 ("Push-to-pass") was utilized. Each car was permitted 15 presses (18 seconds in duration) 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(s).
Schedule The 2010 schedule was a two-week condensed schedule, but featured only one fewer day of on-track activity compared to 2009.
Race schedule — May 2010SunMonTueWedThuFriSat 1Kansas 2 3 4 5 6 7 8Mini-Marathon 9 10 11 12 13 14 15ROP/Practice16ROP/Practice17Practice18Practice19Practice20Practice21Practice22Pole Day23Bump Day24 25 26Comm. Day27 28Carb Day29Parade30Indy 50031Memorial Day Color Notes Green Practice Dark Blue Time trials Silver Race day Red Rained out* Blank No track activity * Includes days where track activitywas significantly limited due to rain
ROP — denotes Rookie Orientation Program
Comm. Day — denotes 500 Festival Community Day
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.
May 15, 2010 – Top Practice Speeds Rank CarNo. Driver Team BestSpeed1 3T Hélio Castroneves Team Penske2 10T Dario Franchitti Chip Ganassi Racing3 9T Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi RacingOFFICIAL REPORT
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.
May 16, 2010 – Top Practice Speeds Rank CarNo. Driver Team BestSpeed1 3 Hélio Castroneves Team Penske2 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing3 10 Dario Franchitti Chip Ganassi RacingOFFICIAL REPORT
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.
May 18, 2010 – Top Practice Speeds Rank CarNo. Driver Team BestSpeed1 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 2 32 Mario Moraes KV Racing Technology 3 26 Marco Andretti Andretti AutosportOFFICIAL REPORT
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.
May 19, 2010 – Top Practice Speeds Rank CarNo. Driver Team BestSpeed1 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing2 6 Ryan Briscoe Team Penske3 77 Alex Tagliani FAZZT Race TeamOFFICIAL REPORT
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.
May 20, 2010 – Top Practice Speeds Rank CarNo. Driver Team BestSpeed1 11 Tony Kanaan Andretti Autosport2 15 Paul Tracy KV Racing Technology3 06 Hideki Mutoh Newman/Haas RacingOFFICIAL REPORT
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.
May 21, 2010 – Top Practice Speeds Rank CarNo. Driver Team BestSpeed1 3 Hélio Castroneves Team Penske2 12 Will Power Team Penske3 77 Alex Tagliani FAZZT Race TeamOFFICIAL REPORT
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.
Pole Day – Saturday, May 22, 2010 Rank CarNo. Driver Team QualifyingSpeed Points"Shootout" competitors (positions 1–9)1 3 Hélio Castroneves Team Penske 152 12 Will Power Team Penske 133 10 Dario Franchitti Chip Ganassi Racing 124 6 Ryan Briscoe Team Penske 115 77 Alex Tagliani FAZZT Race Team 106 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 97 30 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Racing 88 20 Ed Carpenter Panther Racing 79 06 Hideki Mutoh Newman/Haas Racing 6Positions 10–2410 99 Townsend Bell Sam Schmidt Motorsports 411 22 Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 412 2 Raphael Matos De Ferran Dragon Racing 413 32 Mario Moraes KV Racing Technology 414 21 Davey Hamilton De Ferran Dragon Racing 415 24 Mike Conway Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 416 26 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport 417 37 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport 418 4 Dan Wheldon Panther Racing 419 8 E. J. Viso KV Racing Technology 420 23 Tomas Scheckter Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 421 25 Ana Beatriz Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 422 78 Simona de Silvestro HVM Racing 4237 Danica Patrick Andretti Autosport 42436 Bertrand Baguette Conquest Racing 4OFFICIAL REPORT
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.