The long awaited Indianapolis 500 victory for Josef Newgarden is finally his. (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Sam Hanks, Tom Sneva, Tony Kanaan, and now Josef Newgarden knows the wait for finally winning the Indianapolis 500 is worth it.
On a red-flag plagued Sunday afternoon, the final checkbox on Newgarden’s legendary INDYCAR career was finally marked after a daring last-lap backstretch pass as he fended off Marcus Ericsson, leading to a win in the 107th Indianapolis 500.
Coming to the white flag, Ericsson had a strong restart over Newgarden as it appeared that it was Chip Ganassi Racing’s day once again. Not so fast, Newgarden rhetorically said, as he quickly closed in on Ericsson.
As Ericsson attempted to cut off the draft, Newgarden went up high and cleared him before going into the third turn. Ericsson tried one last effort to get by Newgarden, but was not able to accomplish the task.
The two-time INDYCAR champion bested last year’s Indy 500 champion by 0.0974 seconds, the fourth closest margin of victory in history. Newgarden earned a 19th Indy 500 win for Team Penske.
Following his victory lap, he parked his No. 2 Shell Chevrolet at the yard of bricks and celebrated with the fans in an unorthodox way. Instead of climbing the fence like Helio Castroneves, he dove inside the photo hole at start/finish line of bricks and embraced the moment in front of a fired up crowd, showcasing why Indy hits different than anything else in the world.
“I feel emotionally depleted. I really do,” Newgarden said. “Obviously, I’ve never had the honor of winning this race. I was in awe of sitting next to my boss Roger Penske and realizing this is his 19th. It was very special.
“To win this race is indescribable. I think being at this event is indescribable. Someone has to come and see it and be a part of it to understand what it is really all about, and I’ve always wanted the honor to win this race because I wanted to go in the crowd if it was ever possible because I know what the energy is like here in Indianapolis. It was an unbelievable finish to be able to be here with the team and do that.”
After all the chaos, Newgarden was in jubilation in his victory lap. (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
Newgarden’s win comes despite some controversy with the circumstances leading to the finish. Despite such, he had to fend off Ericsson well below the pit commitment line coming to the final corner. The newly crowned 500 champion made it clear that INDYCAR Race Control would not enforce such a rule during the race finish, making his maneuver legal.
Due to the wild circumstances in the final hour, Ericsson was naturally upset to lose out on a second straight Indy 500 win. His reasoning was not so much for finishing second, but the decision of going for a one-lap shootout instead of ending the race under caution in the interest of safety.
“I think it wasn’t enough laps to go to do what we did. I don’t think it’s safe to go out of the pits on cold tires for a restart when half the field is sort of still trying to get out on track when we go green,” said Ericsson. “I don’t think it’s a fair way to end the race. I don’t think it’s a right way to end the race. So I can’t agree with that.”
A two-car crash with four laps to go brought out the final red flag, leading to the one-lap dash. (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
If there is one suggestion Newgarden wanted, it is to make the car more demanding where the race boils down to who really had the strongest car instead of who has excellent tow and track position.
“I think the cars should be more difficult to drive here. It’s a terribly difficult balance for the series to walk because you want to have a good show. You want everybody to be as close together as possible and you want it to be difficult for someone to win this race, and I agree with that,” Newgarden explained. “It’s not difficult in the right way. We’ve got to find a different formula where we can trim the cars out and they’re easier to follow in the pack.
“Basically all this downforce that we’ve added has only made it easier and easier for the first two cars, so when you’re the third car you’re still just stuck in that tow line where no one is really going anywhere. We’re all closer, but it’s only the first two that can really do something. We’ve got to change that formula where it’s easier to follow in the pack, but you can also be rewarded if you’re better at driving the car with less downforce. I want to see the drivers that really excel get a better advantage.”
The balance is a tricky proposition for the series and industry. Nevertheless, it was a race and finish that will have many buzzing about it for many years.
Likewise, Newgarden elaborated further about the high stakes demands of winning the Indianapolis 500.
“That’s why they pay us to be in the seat,” he said. “That’s why they pay the engineers, to find the perfect setups that we can make an advantage and get away with it. Not so we can win by two laps, but I just think the dynamic of the race, the complexion could look a little differently.”
Following the parade lap, Newgarden shows his appreciation to the fans at IMS. (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
Now that Newgarden has an Indy 500 under his belt, his mindset is that finally winning the race was more of relief than making him a complete race car driver. The Tennessean commented that winning the Astor Cup is much tougher than an Indy 500 race.
“I think I’m still in the camp that the championship is tougher. In a lot of ways it is, because there’s so much more that goes into it,” said Newgarden. “This is the single-most difficult race in the world to win. I’ll stand by that. There’s no doubt. If you’re looking at a single event, you cannot beat the difficulty of the Indy 500.
“But I don’t know how you compare the two. You’re looking at one standalone versus a championship, and putting a championship together, I think, is very, very difficult. You really see the best rise to the top. You see the best team, the best pit stop performance, consistently it adds up over a year, and it’s very difficult to do that. They felt very different. I just don’t know I (can) classify them as different things. I think internally I feel differently about them.”
Humbly speaking, Newgarden thought about the guys who have yet to or never won the 500, feeling that no matter what, 500 win or not, a driver can accomplish so much.
“I don’t feel different,” he said. “The only thing I feel is the weight of what everyone else wants to put on you because they think the Indy 500 has to be won. I think about all the drivers that probably should have won this race that never won it, and it doesn’t make a difference whether they won it or not. Their career is still fantastic. It’s more just a shame that it didn’t work out for them.
“That’s really how I feel about the event. I’m not here to take anything away from it, but I don’t like looping it into the category that you have to have it to be complete. I don’t feel differently as a driver because today happened, I just feel less weight.”
First of many Indy 500 victory shots for the No. 2 Penske squad. (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
During the first 90 laps, mechanical issues were the predominant headline with Graham Rahal, filling in for Stefan Wilson, lost two laps when the No. 24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports Chevrolet was stationary and had to pulled behind pit lane. Rahal ended up 22nd to cap off a putrid Month of May.
From there, crashes happened on the track and on pit road. At one point, it was shaping up to be a fuel economy race until one of the top contending guys fell out of the running.
On Lap 184, Felix Rosenqvist’s consistently strong month was dashed after contacting the Turn 1 wall. His No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet spun in front of traffic. Santino Ferrucci barely escaped, but the same could not be said for Kyle Kirkwood, who collided and also slammed the wall, causing his car to go upside down near Turn 2.
Due to the severity of the crash, which also saw a wheel clear the catchfence and damaged a Chevrolet Cruze, the red flag came out for the second consecutive year. Fortunately, both drivers were okay, but most vital from the crash, no spectators were hurt from the flying wheel.
This year’s rookie class had a long afternoon with neither finishing with RC Enerson falling out first after 75 laps. Sting Ray Robb brought out the first caution after crashing in Turn 1 while Agustin Canapino and Benjamin Pedersen were involved in two separate crashes that brought out red flags.
A battle between Ericsson and Pato O’Ward for the lead went awry for the latter with six laps remaining. O’Ward’s car crashed into the Turn 3 wall as he popped a wheelie. The heartbreaking crash did not end there as Canapino ran into the back of O’Ward, causing his car to lift off as the Argentinean finished 26th.
Not the kind of wheelie O’Ward would’ve wanted at Indy. (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
When cleanups were done, Pedersen was collected on the restart crash with Ed Carpenter with three laps to go, setting up the one-lap dash. All of those red flags marked the first time since 1973 to have at least three red flags in the Indianapolis 500 and the 20th, 21st and 22nd stoppages since 1965.
In his final Indy 500 start, Tony Kanaan did not play a big role at the front of the front despite a backstretch pass in the grass, finishing 16th on an afternoon that only saw one Arrow McLaren finish in the top-five with Alexander Rossi finishing fifth.
Despite not winning a second Indy 500, Kanaan still had every reason to celebrate to cap off his 26th and final season in American Open Wheel Racing.
“It was either going to be a win or anything apart from the win we were going to celebrate regardless,” said Kanaan. “I think I would do a disgrace to almost 400,000 people that were there that made me feel the way they did to say I’m sad. I had a laugh. Helio and I battling for 15th and 16th on the last lap like we’re going for the lead. It was like, who’s playing pranks with us.
“We both went side by side on the backstretch after the checker and we saluted with each other, and I just told him actually I dropped a tear because of that, and he said, I did, too. It was a good day for me, man. What can I say? We cried on the grid.”
Although Kanaan’s sendoff had heartwarming moments, his final Indianapolis 500 had some setup issues that derailed his efforts.
“Not the result that we wanted,” he said. “I went really aggressive on the downforce to start the race. It was wrong. Then I added downforce towards the end of the race, and it was wrong. It was just one of those days.”
After 200 intense laps, Kanaan bid farewell in his cool down lap. (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
With that, one career ended while another one’s career reached its pinnacle. Indy is now over and for most racers, it is off to Detroit for its first race outside of Belle Isle since 1991. Live coverage of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix begins Sunday, June 4 at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.
107th Indianapolis 500 Results
- 2 – Josef Newgarden
- 8 – Marcus Ericsson (W)
- 14 – Santino Ferrucci
- 10 – Alex Palou
- 7 – Alexander Rossi (W)
- 9 – Scott Dixon
- 11 – Takuma Sato (W)
- 20 – Conor Daly
- 26 – Colton Herta
- 21 – Rinus VeeKay
- 23 – Ryan Hunter-Reay (W)
- 77 – Callum Ilott
- 29 – Devlin DeFrancesco
- 3 – Scott McLaughlin
- 06 – Helio Castroneves (W)
- 66 – Tony Kanaan (W)
- 98 – Marco Andretti
- 30 – Jack Harvey
- 45 – Christian Lundgaard
- 33 – Ed Carpenter
- 55 – Benjamin Pedersen (R)
- 24 – Graham Rahal
- 12 – Will Power (W)
- 5 – Pato O’Ward
- 60 – Simon Pagenaud (W)
- 78 – Agustin Canapino (R)
- 6 – Felix Rosenqvist
- 27 – Kyle Kirkwood
- 18 – David Malukas
- 28 – Romain Grosjean
- 51 – Sting Ray Robb (R)
- 50 – RC Enerson (R)
- 44 – Katherine Legge
Margin of Victory: 0.0974 seconds (fourth closest in Indy 500 history)
Lead Changes: 52 among 14 drivers
Race Time: 2 hours, 58 minutes and 21 seconds (three red flags)
Average Speed: 168.193 mph
