(RacingWire) – Just because Dario Franchitti dominted most of the 2010 Indianapolis 500 doesn't mean the Scotsman's second victory at the Brickyard was easy.
Franchitti was slowing down the last 20 laps to conserve fuel while Dan Weldon was closing the gap pressuring Franchitti.
A spectacular crash on lap 198 brought out the yellow flag assuring Franchitti the victory.
Mike Conway came together with Ryan Hunter-Reay between turns 3 and 4 sending Conway flying into the catch fence. Coway slid on his role bar for several hundred yards before finally coming to rest. Conway was airlifted to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis for treatment of leg injuries.
Franchitti led 155 of 200 laps on way to victory. Weldon finished second for the second consecutive year.
"I was just thinking this tastes just as good second time,” said Franchitti. “Up until 10 laps to go, I was pretty relaxed. Then all hell broke loose with fuel savings and all. I just needed to know what the other guys were doing. If they were saving more than me, they were doing something special here. This means so much. To come back after going away for a year, win a championship and win the Indy 500. Thank you. Thank you to everyone on Team Target."
The race was marred by several uncharacteristic pit road gaffes by the series' most experienced teams. Scott Dixon's team failed to secure the right front wheel on a late race pit stop taking him from contention for the win.
Penske Racing's Helio Castroneves and Will Power both had problems on pit stops as well.
Four women started the race... and Indy 500 record. Sarah fisher fell out on lap 125 but Danica Patrick finished an impressive sixth place despite a dismal month of May. Rookies Simona di Silvestra and Ana Beatriz finished 14th and 21st respectively.
Graham Rahal finsished 12th after coming back from a lap down following a drive-thru penalty for blocking. Rahal paced the leaders for several laps trying to keep from losing a lap.
“We went backward, forward, backward, forward again, that was our day. That 30 laps we ran in front of Dario to avoid being lapped, we were flying,” Rahal said.
By virtue of Franchitti's win car owner Chip Ganassi became the first owner to win the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500 in the same year.
1. (3) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
2. (18) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
3. (16) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
4. (26) Alex Lloyd, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
5. (6) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
6. (23) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
7. (11) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
8. (2) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
9. (1) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
10. (5) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
11. (33) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
12. (7) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
13. (27) Mario Romancini, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
14. (22) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
15. (20) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running
16. (10) Townsend Bell, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running
17. (8) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running
18. (17) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 198, Contact
19. (15) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 198, Contact
20. (31) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 198, Running
21. (21) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 196, Contact
22. (24) Bertrand Baguette, Dallara-Honda, 183, Running
23. (32) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Honda, 159, Contact
24. (4) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 147, Contact
25. (19) E.J. Viso, Dallara-Honda, 139, Contact
26. (29) Sarah Fisher, Dallara-Honda, 125, Contact
27. (30) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 105, Contact
28. (9) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 76, Handling
29. (12) Raphael Matos, Dallara-Honda, 72, Contact
30. (28) John Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 62, Contact
31. (13) Mario Moraes, Dallara-Honda, 17, Contact
32. (25) Bruno Junqueira, Dallara-Honda, 7, Contact
33. (14) Davey Hamilton, Dallara-Honda, 0, Contact
Race Statistics
Winners average speed: 161.623
Time of Race: 03:05:37.0131
Margin of victory: Under caution
Cautions: 9 for 44 laps
Lead changes: 13 among 8 drivers
Lap Leaders: Franchitti 1-30, Power 31-35, Franchitti 36, Briscoe 37-38, Franchitti 39-108, Scheckter 109-113, Franchitti 114-142, M. Andretti 143, Briscoe 144-146, Franchitti 147-162, Conway 163-177, Wilson 178-188, Castroneves 189-191, Franchitti 192-200.
Point Standings: Power 227, Franchitti 216, Dixon 203, Castroneves 199, Hunter-Reay 175, Wilson 167, Briscoe 155, Kanaan 151, Wheldon 142, M. Andretti 134.
