By Andrew Cutler
May 31 2010

In my hurry to post a story about Dario Franchitti's victory & then hit the road for my drive back home, I forgot to do two things; post a link to the 'box score' showing the complete finishing order, and make mention of a few drivers and teams who, while not winning, showed impressive form yesterday.

Here is the link to the complete race results:

http://www.indycar.com/var/assets/2010Indianapolis500BoxScore.pdf

Top on the list of drivers/teams deserving a 'tip of the hat' is Alex Lloyd form Dale Coyne Racing. While the littlest of the full-time IndyCar squads has proven in the past  that they can be 'giant killers' on the road/street circuts (Justin Wilson won for them at Watkins Glen last year), their oval results to date have never been much to brag about. Yesterday, however, a near-perfect fuel strategy paid off with a fourth place finish: Lloyd was originally classified in third, but it was later decided that he had passed Marco Andretti under yellow flag conditions prior to the last restart, so their spots were switched.

As I mentioned in the prior story, Dryer & Rheinbold Racing's regular drivers, Mike Conway and Justin Wilson, found themselves in contention for the win in the closing laps. Fuel would prove to be their undoing, but it was still an impressive day for what is now clearly the best squad in the circut besides the big three. Even their two Indy 'one-off' efforts, Tomas Scheckter and Ana Beatriz, put in stellar runs: Scheckter would be a fixture in the top ten for nearly the whole race, even leading at one point.

Then there was Tony Kanaan, a perennial crowd favorite. After starting in the last row (he has never previously started worse then sixth), TK made one of his customary quick charges towards the front. As with several other drivers, fuel proved to be his undoing, but he took it all in stride, heaping praise on his crew for their efforts in a post-race interview. As he walked back to the garage area from his pit stall, TK recieved a standing ovation from nearly all of the fans who had not yet begun to file out of their seats.

Finally, I have to due credit to Danica Patrick, who's unfortunate choice of words in her post-qualy interview last weekend left a bad taste in alot of fan's mouths - including mine. Starting way back (for her) on Row Eight, Danica drove a nearly flawless race to finish in fifth, keeping her streak of always placing in the top-ten at Indy intact. I didn't get to hear it personally, but I am told that she made sure to 'hit all of the right notes' in her post-race interview!