Due to the new Car of Tomorrow, the surface at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and problems with Goodyear tires, NASCAR was forced to throw competition cautions every 10–12 laps; an average of just 9 green flag laps were run during the race.

At the end of the race, every tire that Goodyear had brought to the track for the weekend had been used and were no longer usable.

Bill Elliott, after starting the first 14 races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, failed in his final run to do so, as he retired following the season.

The only other non-competition yellow came halfway through the race when Brian Vickers' Toyota had its engine fail.

Just seconds later on the same lap, Matt Kenseth spun on the backstretch with a right rear tire failure, causing major damage to the right side of the car.

I feel bad for the fans and everything, when we're running three quarters speed because we're worried the tires are going to fall off and we got them blowing every 8 laps.

[5] Two days following the running of the race, NASCAR VP of competition Robin Pemberton formally apologized for the problems, saying that it did not go to IMS with the correct car-tire combination.

The results of these tests indicated an increased amount of load and slip on the right rear tire caused the particle debris to be smaller than anticipated.