Rookie Tomas Scheckter led 85 laps, and appeared on his way to a possible victory, which would have marked the third consecutive Indy win for a first-year driver.

Indy Racing League officials ruled that the yellow came out before Tracy completed the pass, and Castroneves was declared the victor.

During the spring, the asphalt pavement at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway underwent a diamond grinding in an effort to smooth out several bumps.

The tire changers did not wear helmets, despite the fact that they were more exposed and vulnerable to injury from other cars entering and exiting the pit lane.

[13] Crashes involving P. J. Jones, Mark Dismore, Max Papis, and Alex Barron occurred during the first week.

During practice on the morning of pole day, Paul Tracy suffered a major accident in turn 2, demolishing his lone car.

Defending champion Hélio Castroneves managed only 13th starting position, while veteran Michael Andretti was the second slowest of the day at 226.780 mph (364.967 km/h).

With some cars practicing and preparing to enter the qualifying line, Team Green withdrew the slow time previously put in by Michael Andretti.

[13] Later in the afternoon, Penske Racing with driver Hélio Castroneves won the Coors Indy 500 Pit Stop Challenge.

[13] After a month plagued by constant rain, race day saw clear blue skies and temperatures in the mid 70s (°F).

Two sequences of green-flag pit stops shuffled the lead among Gil de Ferran, Scott Sharp, Felipe Giaffone, and Alex Barron.

[9] On the television broadcast, commentator Paul Page erroneously stated that Castroneves was the leader because the scoring "reverted back to the previous lap.

However, TV analyst Scott Goodyear was convinced that Helio won the race, referencing his loss of the 500 in 1995 where he figured out that post-race appeals were rarely accepted.

"[24] Donald Davidson echoed the same erroneous information that the scoring reverted to the previous lap (though it was last completed loop prior to caution), and added that the cars did not race back to the yellow, as was the policy in NASCAR at the time (the rule was changed in September 2003, when the practice was banned and scoring reverts to the last scoring loop crossed before the caution was called, except in the final lap or a caution that ends a race because of weather or darkness, when it reverts to video replays).

[24] A similar controversy took place at the 2019 INDYCAR Portland road course event at the start when a massive crash at the opening chicane caused 11 laps of caution as officials could not determine positions based on video evidence.

He told Tracy over the two-way radio that there was "a problem,"[20] and later chimed sarcastically that "they (presumably IRL officials) are not going to let one of us (one of the CART teams) win.

Officials determined that Castroneves was indisputably the leader under the following relevant times: In rejecting the protest, Barnhart stated that "Team Green did not present anything that was conclusive enough in any way, shape or form to change our mind.

They stated that at the commencement of a yellow caution period, the positioning of the cars is a judgement call made quickly by the officials.

In his decision, George stated that "Clearly Helio (Castroneves) was in front when the call (for the yellow) was made" and that several of the caution signals, including trackside and dashboard lights, a radio announcement and a flag closing the pits, were displayed before Tracy's pass.

"[27] The day after the race, he presented video footage on RPM 2Night, which he claimed showed evidence the pass was completed under green.

With Tracy officially relegated to second finishing position, he ultimately failed to break a 91-year-old record that dated back to the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911.

The all-time record was set by Ray Harroun in 1911 (and subsequently tied by Louis Meyer in 1936) by winning the Indianapolis 500 from the 28th starting position.

The system was tied to official race control, and was utilized to avoid confusion about yellow-light conditions, similar to the graphic that had been deployed by Fox, FX, NBC, and TNT for their NASCAR telecasts beginning in 2001.

During his acceptance speech, he thanked Tony George for helping him win the award, and added that the dispute strengthened his fanbase.

Under the profile section Tracy's official web site (PaulTracy.com) career highlights include "2002 Indy 500 Runner Up (yeah right).

"[30] Tracy continued in the Champ Car series, finally winning a season title in 2003, although it came after most of the top teams had already defected to the IRL.

In the wake of the 2008 open wheel unification, Tony George himself reportedly offered Tracy a ride with Vision Racing.

[32] He then made a highly publicized return at the 2009 Indianapolis 500, and was previously with NBC Sports as one of the network's INDYCAR broadcasters until he left at the end of the 2021 season.

Kim Morris and Adam Alexander returned as pit reporters, but Mike Lewis departed and newcomer Jim Murphy took his place.

Guests in the booth included Kurt Ritter (Chevrolet), John F. Fielder (BorgWarner), and pace car driver Jim Caviezel.