The 2004 Indianapolis 500 was held at Indianapolis on Sunday, May 30, 2004.
Recap
The combination of impending rain and pitstops threatened to turn the result into a lottery, with the winner being the driver that hadn’t been forced to pit for fuel. First to go is Bruno Junqueira, who originally gained the lead earlier by not pitting in hopes that rain would come before his fuel ran out. Junqueira pitted on lap 151, handing the race back to the day’s pacesetting trio of Buddy Rice, Tony Kanaan and Dan Wheldon. Kanaan and Wheldon, respectively, came in soon afterwards. Rice, who had steadily become the dominant car past lap 145, came in next and gave up the lead on lap 167 to Bryan Herta, who stopped in turn on lap 169. Adrian Fernandez made it to lap 172, but the rain still hadn't arrived. After several anxious laps, Fernandez pitted and put Rice back into the lead ahead of second place Kanaan and third place Wheldon, which remained the running order. A severe thunderstorm finally fell to bring a halt to proceedings at lap 180, 450 miles. With the victory, Rice became the first American winner since Eddie Cheever in 1998. It was also the first rain-shortened 500 since 1976. As the victory celebration occurred indoors, a tornado rating F3 on the Fujita Scale missed the Speedway and its quarter-million spectators by only six miles as it raked across the South Central portion of Indianapolis. The tornado caused widespread damage.
Results
(W) = Former Indianapolis 500 winner; (R) = Indianapolis 500 rookie
*C Chassis: D=Dallara, P=Panoz
*E Engine: C=Chevrolet, H=Honda, T=Toyota
All cars in the 2004 Indianapolis 500 used Firestone tires.
Failed to qualify:
#10  Luis Díaz
#14  Jaques Lazier
Notes: Race halted on lap 27 due to rain. The race was resumed, and when rain pelted the Speedway again late in the race, officials waved the checkered flag 15 minutes after the traditional 6 PM closing time. It was only the second time in IMS history racing went past the 6 PM closing time; in 1995, the Brickyard 400 raced into 7 PM because of rain delays. Since the adoption of Daylight Saving Time, the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard will usually run past 6 PM.
During the rain delay, Robby Gordon flew to Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600, which prompted the team to put Jaques Lazier in the car, but a crash forced the car not to finish
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