2004 IndyCar Series

2004 IndyCar season
2004 IndyCar season
IndyCar Series
Season
Races	16
Start date	February 29
End date	October 17
Awards
Drivers' champion	Tony Kanaan
Manufacturers' Cup	Honda
Rookie of the Year	Kosuke Matsuura
Indianapolis 500 winner	Buddy Rice
	← 2003 2005 →

Tony Kanaan (left) won his first Drivers' Championship while Dan Wheldon (right) finished second in the championship.

The 2004 IRL IndyCar Series was dominated by two teams, Andretti Green Racing and Rahal Letterman Racing. While there was great parity in 2003 between Honda and Toyota powered teams, in 2004 Honda began to outshine Toyota bringing their teams Penske Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing down with it, leaving Scott Dixon winless and in 10th place in his attempt to defend his 2003 championship.

Season champion Tony Kanaan set a record by completing all 3,305 possible laps, the first IndyCar driver in modern history to do so.

This season was the last to feature an all oval tracks schedule, which was part of the concept that led to the creation of the Indy Racing League. By 2005, road and street courses started to appear in the schedule by a mainstream scheduling method, and by 2015, there were more races run on road/street courses than on oval tracks.

Changes for 2004

The engine displacement for all IndyCar Series cars was reduced from 3.5 litres (214 cubic inches) to 3.0 litres (183 cubic inches) starting from the 2004 Indianapolis 500 in an effort to reduce speeds and ensure safer and exciting racing. The 3.5 litres (214 cubic inches) engine displacement was used at the first three races of the season but a 3-inch by 12-inch slot was cut into the airbox and engine cover, behind the driver's head. The slot decreased positive airflow to the engine, reducing horsepower as well as reducing overall speeds.^[1]

Confirmed entries

Team	Chassis	Engine	No.	Drivers	Rounds
A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Dallara	Toyota	14	A. J. Foyt IV	All
A. J. Foyt Enterprises	G-Force	Toyota	41	Larry Foyt (R)	4
Access Motorsports	G-Force	Honda	13	Greg Ray	1–6
Access Motorsports	G-Force	Honda	13	Mark Taylor (R)	8–16
Aguri-Fernández Racing	G-Force	Honda	5	Adrián Fernández	2–16
Aguri-Fernández Racing	G-Force	Honda	55	Kosuke Matsuura (R)	All
Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda	7	Bryan Herta	All
			11	Tony Kanaan	All
			26	Dan Wheldon	All
			27	Dario Franchitti	All
CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports	Dallara	Chevrolet	98	P. J. Jones	4
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	24	Robbie Buhl	1–3
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	24	Felipe Giaffone	4–16
Hemelgarn Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	91	Buddy Lazier	4
Kelley Racing	Dallara	Toyota	8	Scott Sharp	All
Kelley Racing	Dallara	Toyota	39	Sarah Fisher	4
Marlboro Team Penske	Dallara	Toyota	3	Hélio Castroneves	All
Marlboro Team Penske	Dallara	Toyota	6	Sam Hornish Jr.	All
Newman/Haas Racing	G-Force	Honda	36	Bruno Junqueira	4
Panther Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	2	Mark Taylor (R)	1–6
			2	Townsend Bell	7–16
			4	Tomas Scheckter	All
Patrick Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	20	Al Unser Jr.	4–6
				Jeff Simmons (R)	7
				Jaques Lazier	8–14
				Tomáš Enge (R)	15–16
PDM Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	18	Robby McGehee	4
Pioneer Mo Nunn Racing	Dallara	Toyota	12	Toranosuke Takagi	All
Pioneer Mo Nunn Racing	Dallara	Toyota	21	Jeff Simmons (R)	4
Rahal Letterman Racing	G-Force	Honda	15	Buddy Rice	All
			16	Roger Yasukawa	3–4
			17	Vítor Meira	3–16
Red Bull Cheever Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	51	Alex Barron	All
Red Bull Cheever Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	52	Ed Carpenter (R)	All
Robby Gordon Motorsports	Dallara	Chevrolet	70	Robby Gordon	4
Robby Gordon Motorsports	Dallara	Chevrolet	70	Jaques Lazier^{[N 1]}	4
Roth Racing	Dallara	Toyota	25	Marty Roth (R)	4
Sam Schmidt Motorsports	G-Force	Toyota	33	Richie Hearn	4
Target Chip Ganassi Racing	G-Force	Toyota	1	Scott Dixon	All
Target Chip Ganassi Racing	G-Force	Toyota	10	Darren Manning	1–15

Season Summary

Schedule

Rnd	Date	Race Name	Track	City
1	February 29	Toyota Indy 300	Homestead-Miami Speedway	Homestead, Florida
2	March 21	Copper World Indy 200	Phoenix International Raceway	Phoenix, Arizona
3	April 17	Indy Japan 300	Twin Ring Motegi	Motegi, Japan
4	May 30	88th Indianapolis 500	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana
5	June 12	Bombardier 500	Texas Motor Speedway	Fort Worth, Texas
6	June 26	SunTrust Indy Challenge	Richmond International Raceway	Richmond, Virginia
7	July 4	Argent Mortgage 300	Kansas Speedway	Kansas City, Kansas
8	July 17	Firestone Indy 200	Nashville Superspeedway	Lebanon, Tennessee
9	July 25	Menards A. J. Foyt 225	The Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin
10	August 1	Michigan Indy 400	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan
11	August 15	Belterra Casino Indy 300	Kentucky Speedway	Sparta, Kentucky
12	August 22	Honda Indy 225	Pikes Peak International Raceway	Fountain, Colorado
13	August 29	Firestone Indy 225	Nazareth Speedway	Nazareth, Pennsylvania
14	September 12	Delphi Indy 300	Chicagoland Speedway	Joliet, Illinois
15	October 3	Toyota Indy 400	California Speedway	Fontana, California
16	October 17	Chevy 500	Texas Motor Speedway	Fort Worth, Texas
Source:^[2]

Race results

Rnd	Race	Pole position	Fastest lap	Most Laps Led	Winner
1	Homestead-Miami	Buddy Rice	Sam Hornish Jr.	Hélio Castroneves	Sam Hornish Jr.
2	Phoenix	Dan Wheldon	Darren Manning	Tony Kanaan	Tony Kanaan
3	Twin Ring Motegi	Dan Wheldon	Dan Wheldon	Dan Wheldon	Dan Wheldon
4	Indianapolis	Buddy Rice	Vítor Meira	Buddy Rice	Buddy Rice
5	Texas 1	Dario Franchitti	Vítor Meira	Tony Kanaan	Tony Kanaan
6	Richmond	Hélio Castroneves	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dario Franchitti	Dan Wheldon
7	Kansas	Buddy Rice	Tomas Scheckter	Buddy Rice	Buddy Rice
8	Nashville	Buddy Rice	Vítor Meira	Vítor Meira	Tony Kanaan
9	Milwaukee	Vítor Meira	Dario Franchitti	Dario Franchitti	Dario Franchitti
10	Michigan	Tony Kanaan	Darren Manning	Tony Kanaan	Buddy Rice
11	Kentucky	Buddy Rice	Vítor Meira	Tony Kanaan	Adrián Fernández
12	Pikes Peak	Tony Kanaan	Dan Wheldon	Dario Franchitti	Dario Franchitti
13	Nazareth	Hélio Castroneves	Sam Hornish Jr.	Hélio Castroneves	Dan Wheldon
14	Chicagoland	Hélio Castroneves	Vítor Meira	Adrián Fernández	Adrián Fernández
15	Fontana	Hélio Castroneves	Vítor Meira	Hélio Castroneves	Adrián Fernández
16	Texas 2	Hélio Castroneves	Bryan Herta	Hélio Castroneves	Hélio Castroneves

BOLD indicates Superspeedways. Note: All races ran on Ovals/Speedways.

Race summaries

Toyota Indy 300

This race was held at Homestead-Miami Speedway on February 29. Buddy Rice won the pole.

Top ten results

Copper World Indy 200

This race was held at Phoenix International Raceway on March 21. Dan Wheldon won the pole.

Top ten results

Indy Japan 300

This race was held at Twin Ring Motegi on April 17. This was Honda's first win in the annual oval race held at their own track. Dan Wheldon won the pole.

Top ten results

88th Indianapolis 500

The 88th Indianapolis 500-mile (800 km) race was held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 30. Buddy Rice sat on pole. The race was shortened to 180 laps (450 miles) due to rain.

Top ten results

Bombardier 500

This race was held at Texas Motor Speedway on June 12. Dario Franchitti won the pole.

Top ten results

SunTrust Indy Challenge

This race was held at Richmond International Raceway on June 26. Hélio Castroneves won the pole.

Top ten results

Argent Mortgage 300

This race was held at Kansas Speedway on July 4. Buddy Rice won the pole.

Top ten results

Firestone Indy 200

This race was held at Nashville Superspeedway on July 17. Buddy Rice won the pole.

Top ten results

Menards A. J. Foyt 225

This race was held at the Milwaukee Mile on July 25. Vítor Meira won the pole.

Top ten results

Michigan Indy 400

This race was held at Michigan International Speedway on August 1. Tony Kanaan won the pole.

Top ten results

Belterra Casino Indy 300

This race was held at Kentucky Speedway on August 15. Buddy Rice won the pole.

Top ten results

Honda Indy 225

This race was held at Pikes Peak International Raceway on August 22. Tony Kanaan won the pole.

Top ten results

Firestone Indy 225

This race was held at Nazareth Speedway on August 29. Hélio Castroneves won the pole. The race was heralded as the series' 100th event. This was also the final IndyCar race at the track which closed down following this race.

Top ten results

Delphi Indy 300

This race was held at Chicagoland Speedway on September 12. Hélio Castroneves won the pole. This race was memorable due to a scary crash involving Buddy Rice with 15 laps remaining as he slid down the backstretch upside down. Adrián Fernández won the race, despite having a broken on-board pneumatic air jack. His pit crew had to use a manual jack to service his car during pit stops, losing several seconds each time.

Top ten results

5- Adrián Fernández 200 laps in 2:09:31.3301
7- Bryan Herta +0.0716
11- Tony Kanaan +0.1239
26- Dan Wheldon +0.2464
17- Vítor Meira +0.4873
6- Sam Hornish Jr. +0.5402
1- Scott Dixon +0.6109
24- Felipe Giaffone +1.1137
8- Scott Sharp +1.1878
3- Hélio Castroneves +1.2595

Toyota Indy 400

This race was held at California Speedway on October 3. Hélio Castroneves won the pole.

Top ten results

This was Adrián Fernández's final IndyCar victory.

By finishing in 2nd, Tony Kannan clinched the championship with 1 race remaining.

Chevy 500

This race was held at Texas Motor Speedway on October 17. Hélio Castroneves won the pole.

Top ten results

Final driver standings

Pos	Driver	HMS	PHX	MOT	INDY	TXS	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIL	MIS	KTY	PIK	NAZ	CHI	FON	TXS	Pts
1	Tony Kanaan	8	1*	2	2	1*	5	3	1	4	2*	5*	5	2	3	2	2	618
2	Dan Wheldon	3	3	1*	3	13	1	9	13	18	3	3	3	1	4	3	3	533
3	Buddy Rice	7	9	6	1*	15	6	1*	6	2	1	2	22	4	14	5	20	485
4	Hélio Castroneves	2*	6	3	9	12	3	7	3	12	10	12	6	5*	10	7*	1*¹	446
5	Adrián Fernández		20	18	7	5	7	6	10	8	12	1	2	7	1*	1	5	445
6	Dario Franchitti	17	17	7	14	2	12*	4	20	1*	22	6	1*	3	20	6	15	409
7	Sam Hornish Jr.	1	15	19	26	4	13	8	2	3	4	14	18	11	6	4	17	387
8	Vítor Meira			17	6	6	2	2	12*	5	5	7	7	10	5	21	4	376
9	Bryan Herta	13	7	14	4	19	4	5	18	9	6	9	9	8	2	17	16	362
10	Scott Dixon	18	2	5	8	14	8	12	8	DNS	7	13	20	9	7	8	6	355
11	Darren Manning	6	5	4	25	8	20	11	4	19	13	10	4	6	15	DNS		323
12	Alex Barron	16	4	12	12	3	22	10	17	7	11	11	10	12	12	18	14	310
13	Scott Sharp	9	13	9	13	18	9	20	14	15	9	17	15	19	9	11	8	282
14	Kosuke Matsuura RY	11	11	8	11	16	14	18	9	10	17	4	13	21	21	13	19	280
15	Tora Takagi	4	8	10	19	10	19	21	11	20	20	20	19	17	13	14	12	263
16	Ed Carpenter R	12	19	22	31	21	16	14	22	11	14	8	11	20	11	12	21	245
17	Mark Taylor R	19	12	16	30	17	18		7	14	21	19	14	22	17	10	7	232
18	A. J. Foyt IV	15	14	15	33	22	11	13	16	16	15	18	21	15	16	19	10	232
19	Tomas Scheckter	5	16	13	18	20	17	15	19	21	19	22	17	13	19	15	18	230
20	Felipe Giaffone				15	9	10	16	15	13	16	16	16	16	8	20	11	214
21	Townsend Bell							17	5	6	8	21	12	18	22	9	9	193
22	Jaques Lazier				RL²				21	17	18	15	8	14	18			104
23	Greg Ray	14	10	20	27	7	15											99
24	Robbie Buhl	10	18	21														44
25	Al Unser Jr.				17	11	21											44
26	Roger Yasukawa			11	10													39
27	Tomáš Enge R															16	13	31
28	Bruno Junqueira				5													30
29	Jeff Simmons R				16			19										26
30	Richie Hearn				20													12
31	Sarah Fisher				21													12
32	Robby McGehee				22													12
33	Buddy Lazier				23													12
34	Marty Roth R				24													12
35	P. J. Jones				28													10
36	Robby Gordon				29²													10
37	Larry Foyt R				32													10
Pos	Driver	HMS	PHX	MOT	INDY	TXS	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIL	MIS	KTY	PIK	NAZ	CHI	FON	TXS	Pts

Color	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	2nd place
Bronze	3rd place
Green	4th & 5th place
Light Blue	6th–10th place
Dark Blue	Finished (Outside Top 10)
Purple	Did not finish (Ret)
Red	Did not qualify (DNQ)
Brown	Withdrawn (Wth)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
Blank	Did not participate (DNP)
Blank	Not competing

In-line notation
Bold	Pole position
Italics	Ran fastest race lap
*	Led most race laps (3 points)
DNS	Any driver who qualifies but does not start (DNS), earns all the points had they taken part.
RY Rookie of the Year
R Rookie

Ties in points broken by number of wins, followed by number of 2nds, 3rds, etc., and then by number of pole positions, followed by number of times qualified 2nd, etc.

Notes:

¹ Hélio Castroneves had 15 points deduction at Texas Motor Speedway due to a premature start after the final caution.
² After a red flag for rain at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Jaques Lazier replaced Robby Gordon, but all points were awarded to Robby Gordon.

References

^ "IRL: IndyCar engines reduced to 3.0 Liters for 2004". Motorsport.com. December 17, 2003. Archived from the original on September 21, 2014. Retrieved December 17, 2003.
^ "Tour dates". IndyCar Series 2004 Season Preview: 7. January 2004. Retrieved 30 July 2021 – via Internet Archive.

External links

Footnotes

^ Relief driver.

[1] "IRL: IndyCar engines reduced to 3.0 Liters for 2004". Motorsport.com. December 17, 2003. Archived from the original on September 21, 2014. Retrieved December 17, 2003.

[3] "Tour dates". IndyCar Series 2004 Season Preview: 7. January 2004. Retrieved 30 July 2021 – via Internet Archive.

[Jaques-2] Relief driver.

[1]

[N 1]

[2]

v t e American Championship car racing (Indy car) seasons
AAA	1905 1906–1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942–1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955
USAC	1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95
CART	1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
CCWS	2004 2005 2006 2007 ~~2008~~
IRL	1996 1996–97 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
IndyCar	2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Years marked in italics are not official championship years or upcoming seasons.

Changes for 2004

Confirmed entries

Season Summary

Schedule

Race results

Race summaries

Final driver standings

References

External links

See also

Footnotes