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2018 Indy 500 countdown: 8 years ago – 2010 Indianapolis 500

ByAsher Fair|
INDIANAPOLIS - MAY 30: Helio Castroneves of Brazil, driver of the #3 Team Penske Dallara Honda, leads the field at the start of the IZOD IndyCar Series 94th running of the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 30, 2010 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS - MAY 30: Helio Castroneves of Brazil, driver of the #3 Team Penske Dallara Honda, leads the field at the start of the IZOD IndyCar Series 94th running of the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 30, 2010 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)

With just eight days to go until the 2018 Indianapolis 500, let’s take a look back at the 2010 Indy 500, which took place eight years ago.

After Helio Castroneves started on pole for the 94th running of the Indianapolis 500 in 2010, Dario Franchitti won the race for the second time in four years. He started the race in third place and ended a two-year streak of polesitters winning IndyCar‘s most famous event.

By winning the race, Franchitti became the first non-polesitter to win it since he won it after starting in third back in the 91st running of the Indy 500 in 2007.

Franchitti won the race under caution, just like he did when he won it for the first time in 2007. He led second place finisher Dan Wheldon, who also finished in second in the race the previous year in 2009, across the finish line.

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Franchitti led 155 of the race’s 200 laps around the four-turn, 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana. A total of seven other drivers combined to lead the race’s other 45 laps.

Those seven drivers were Marco Andretti, Justin Wilson, Will Power, Helio Castroneves, Tomas Scheckter, Mike Conway and Ryan Briscoe.

The 2010 Indy 500 is the most recent Indy 500 during which the race winner, or any driver in the race for that matter, led more than half of the race thanks to Franchitti’s dominant effort en route to the race win.

The race featured a total of 13 lead changes among these eight drivers, and it also featured a total of nine caution flag periods for 44 laps. Of the 33 drivers who started the race, 20 finished it, and of those 20 drivers who finished it, 14 did so on the lead lap.

Alex Lloyd and Tony Kanaan advanced a field-high 22 positions throughout the race. Lloyd started way back in 26th place and finished in fourth, while Kanaan started way back in last, 33rd, and finished in 11th.

Here is the full broadcast of the 2010 Indianapolis 500.

Next: Top 10 IndyCar drivers of all-time

Tune in to Beyond the Flag tomorrow at 10:00 am ET for a recap of the Indianapolis 500 race that was held seven years ago in 2011 since there will be just seven days to go until this year’s running of the Indy 500 at that time. This year’s running of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” is set to be broadcast live on ABC starting at 11:00 am ET on Sunday, May 27.