For the first time in 22 years, an Indianapolis 500 champion successfully defended his title for back-to-back championships after Josef Newgarden put on a racing masterclass on the last laps of Sunday’s weather-delayed race.
The Team Penske driver won his second consecutive Indy 500 after a hard-fought battle against Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward. With about a dozen laps left in the 500-mile race, Newgarden was fighting 2016 Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi for the lead, but by the final five laps, it was basically a two-man race between Newgarden and O’Ward.
With five laps left, O’Ward was in front. With four to go, it was Newgarden. O’Ward stole the lead with just one lap around Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and all he had to do was hang on.
Unfortunately for O’Ward, who’s had his heart broken multiple times at Indy, Newgarden pulled off a stunning last-lap move to take the lead and win the 2024 Indy 500.
WHAT A FINAL LAP!
Josef Newgarden and Pato O’Ward battled to the end in the 108th running of the #Indy500. pic.twitter.com/0QqbcbnfYl
— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) May 26, 2024
It was a “220-mile-an-hour game of chess,” as NBC broadcaster James Hinchcliffe described it.
Newgarden joins an exclusive club with this victory as the 11th driver to be a two-time Indy 500 champion. The last time there was a back-to-back winner was 2001 and 2002 with now-four-time winner Hélio Castroneves.
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