At the 150-lap mark, the race had been very competitive up to that point, but was destined to come down to the final round of pit stops to decide the winner.

At the same time, a handful of teams gambled by staying out, in hopes that they could stretch their fuel and be leading the race when the approaching rain arrived.

Despite desperate attempts to prevail over the approaching rain storm, all of the leaders ultimately were forced to cycle through their final round of pit stops.

A severe thunderstorm, which eventually produced an F2 tornado, formed in the area of the speedway, shutting the track down, and sending the spectators and competitors for cover.

* Includes days where track activitywas significantly limited due to rain ROP — denotes Rookie Orientation Program Rule changes were implemented before the start of the season, which reduced engine displacement from 3.5 L down to 3.0 L. In addition, on-board capacity of fuel was reduced from 35 gallons down to 30.

The changes were made in an effort to curtail speeds, which had crept up into the low 230 mph range in 2003, and in the wake of Chip Ganassi Racing No.

10 driver Tony Renna dying on October 22, 2003, the second day of a Firestone off-season tire test.

On a cool 50 degree morning, Renna spun in turn three, became airborne, and crashed into the outside wall and catch fence.

Newcomers Ed Carpenter, Kosuke Matsuura, Mark Taylor, and Luis Díaz passed all four phases of the rookie tests.

Larry Foyt participated, but due to previous high-speed oval experience, was exempted from needing to pass the four-phase test.

Shortly after, Robby Gordon qualified his car and immediately boarded a plane to Richmond to participate in the NASCAR event that evening.

Several wave offs and two wrecks (Bryan Herta and Felipe Giaffone) characterized the early attempts.

Rice held off late runs by Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan to secure his first Indy 500 pole.

After wrecking the day before, both Bryan Herta and Felipe Giaffone put their cars safely in the field.

A. J. Foyt IV spun in turn 3 and brushed the inside wall, suffering minor damage.

At 1:45 p.m., Greg Ray filled the field to 33 cars with a run of 216.641 mph; the fastest attempt of the afternoon.

With little else going on during the afternoon, the rumors quickly buzzed around the track and throngs of media surrounded Stewart to cover the breaking story.

Stewart's contracts with Joe Gibbs Racing, Home Depot, and Chevrolet precluded him from driving Foyt's Toyota Indy car.

Rahal Letterman Racing with driver Buddy Rice and chief mechanic Ricardo Nault won the Checkers/Rally's Pit Stop Challenge Rain fell early in the morning between 6:00-6:20 a.m.

Rain resumed at 9:18 a.m. and continued intermittently until about 10:30 a.m. Track drying efforts began and the start of the race was delayed by a little over two hours.

Mari Hulman George gave the traditional command to start engines at 1:02 p.m. At 1:07 p.m., the field pulled away for the pace laps, roughly two hours behind schedule.

The rain stopped and after a delay of 1 hour and 47 minutes, the track was dry and the race was ready to resume.

Robby Gordon, who was attempting to race in both the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600, departed the grounds and flew to Charlotte.

With Buddy Rice, Tony Kanaan second, and Dan Wheldon third, rain started falling on lap 174.

The victory celebrations were moved indoors inside the master control tower ("Pagoda"), the first time the race conducted its events away from the circuit, and the grandstands were quickly emptied.

An F2 tornado missed the Speedway and its quarter-million spectators by six miles as it raked across the south central portion of Indianapolis.

Bräck sat out the 2004 IndyCar season due to a major crash suffered at Texas in October 2003.

Donald Davidson celebrated his 40th year as a member of the crew, while Jerry Baker reached his milestone 30th race.

Despite a lengthy rain delay throughout the afternoon, ABC stayed on-air all day with coverage, and filled the downtime with highlights and interviews.

The introduction, titled "The Chase", featuring Henry Rollins, would earn a Sports Emmy nomination for outstanding post produced audio/sound.