Josef Newgarden may have lost the lead on several occasions late in the Indianapolis 500 but he was never out of control.
Even when Pato O’Ward took the lead, and subsequently the white flag, Newgarden had it all mapped out. He did not want to leave himself susceptible to the slipstream and he knew he could take the lead a will.
He did just that, on the outside in Turn 3, and became the first repeat winner of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing since Helio Castroneves in 2001 and 2002.
“I knew we could win this race again; it was just a matter of getting it right,” Newgarden said. “There’s no better way to win a race than that. I got to give it up to Pato as well. He’s an incredibly clean driver. It takes two people to make that work. It’s not just a good pass, it’s also someone that you’re working with that’s incredibly clean. I have to give hat’s off to Pato. He could have easily won this race, too, but it just fell our way. I’m just so proud of everybody. I’m proud of this whole team. Everyone that partners with us, Team Chevy. Just a great day.”
Newgarden responded to a dramatic six week stretch where he and his team were penalized for an illegal use of the push-to-pass system, receiving the scorn of the entire paddock in the process, but persevered through it to win the biggest race in the world.
“Absolutely, they can say what they want, I don’t even care anymore,” Newgarden said in Victory Lane.
Roger Penske, who owns the team, the IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway suspended four crew members involved in the ordeal and that included company president Tim Cindric, widely considered the best strategist in the discipline.
O’Ward was inconsolable in the minutes after the finish, receiving a long embrace from his family and team, before composing himself to fulfill television obligations.
Scott Dixon completed the podium ahead of Alexander Rossi and Alex Palou. Scott McLaughlin, the other heavily penalized Team Penske driver finished third ahead of Kyle Kirkwood, Santino Ferrucci, Rinus Veekay and Conor Daly.
In winning back-to-back, Newgarden also earned an additional $440,000 bonus in addition to race winnings that exceed $3.5 million. The victory also extends the record 20 in the event for Team Penske.
Kyle Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion and multi-discipline racer, finished 18th in his debut and immediately jumped in a helicopter to reach an airport so he could fly to Charlotte Motor Speedway to join the Coca-Cola 600, already in progress.
A four hour rain delay negated his chance to become just the fifth driver to compete in the Memorial Day Weekend Double across the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600. Justin Allgaier took the green flag at Charlotte and will remain the driver of record once Larson takes over his Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet.
Larson looked like a contender for much of the race and was running sixth with 70 laps remaining when he was hit with a pit road speeding penalty that dropped him temporarily from the lead lap. He did lead a lap while on an alternate pit strategy and is expected to return to compete in the race next season.
Larson will now seek a waiver from NASCAR to remain eligible for the playoffs despite missing a start, something that is expected to be granted.
“I would definitely love to be back next year,” Larson said. “I feel like I learned a lot throughout the race. I made a couple of mistakes on the restarts. I’m not sure what I did wrong there.
“BUt I felt like I got better, learned a lot. Definitely, feel better about knowing what I would need coming back in terms of helping get my balance better and obviously, I smoke the left front on the green flag stop and killed our opportunity.
“Proud to finish but pretty upset at myself. If I could have just executed a better race, you never know what happens, so super bummed but proud of Arrow McLaren, Hendrick Motorsports and Cheverolet.”
The race featured a lot of attrition in the first half.
Marcus Ericsson, the 2022 winner and 2023 runner-up, was collected in a first lap crash by Tom Blomqvist, who lost control of his No. 66 Dallara-Honda in the first turn immediately after the waving of the green flag.
“I can’t believe it,” said Ericsson after being released from the infield care center.. “It’s unbelievable. It’s so frustrating. I don’t know what to say. We had to work so hard. The team did such a good job rebuilding that car. We fought all last weekend. We fought all week and this happens. I can’t believe it.”
Other expected contenders to have crashed out of the race early included Colton Herta in the Andretti Autosport No. 26 who spun by himself into the wall on Lap 86 and Felix Rosenqvist, who was one of three Honda engines that failed across the first 55 laps.
2018 winner Will Power, driving the third Team Penske entry, crashed as well.
- Josef Newgarden
- Pato O’Ward
- Scott Dixon
- Alexander Rossi
- Alex Palou
- Scott McLaughlin
- Kyle Kirkwood
- Santino Ferrucci
- Rinus VeeKay
- Conor Daly
- Callum Ilott
- Christian Rasmussen
- Christian Lundgaard
- Takuma Sato
- Graham Raha
- Sting Ray Robb
- Ed Carpenter
- Kyle Larson
- Romain Grosjean
- Helio Castroneves
- Kyffin Simpson
- Agustin Canapino
- Colton Herta
- Will Power
- Marco Andretti
- Ryan Hunter-Reay
- Felix Rosenqvist
- Linus Lundqvist
- Katherine Legge
- Marcus Armstrong
- Tom Blomqvist
- Pietro Fittipaldi
- Marcus Ericsson
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.