NEWTON, Iowa -- Dario Franchitti, the pole sitter for the Iowa Corn Indy 250, was not credited with a lap as smoke trailed from the No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car at the start of the race.

Franchitti, who won twice previously at Iowa Speedway, had earned his 28th Indy car pole start (passing Al Unser for eighth all time) a day earlier on the .894-mile oval. Helio Castroneves inherited the point and led the initial 51 laps.

"It was making a very strange noise," the four-time IZOD IndyCar Series champion said. "I’d actually just come on the radio to say 'Is this thing making an odd noise?' And then it let go. Really disappointed. I believe this was our Indy-winner engine. A real shame that it let go."

The race started under yellow for the stalled No. 98 Team Barracuda-BHA car driven by Alex Tagliani on the backstretch.