SCOTT’S STATS
Here’s a collection of interesting stats from our friend Scott Richards:
Race Stats:
• 16 race leaders (amended by IndyCar from 18 to 16 after an audit was done), a new record (previous record: 15 – 2017 and 2018)
• 7 drivers led for the first time in a 500, the most since the inaugural running in 1911.
• 3 rookies led in the race, the first time that’s happened since 2002.
• 11 drivers leading 10 laps or less, a new record (previous record: 10 – 2018)
• 4th last-lap pass for the win (2006, 2011, 2023)
• 10th closest margin of victory (0.3417s)
• 4th most number of lead changes (49)
• 13 drivers finished ahead of where they started, the fewest since 2005 (12)
• The 2024 race took 28 seconds longer to complete compared to 2023, yet had 3 more cautions and 19 more caution laps.
• Starters from Rows 8-11 led 51 total laps, the most since 1974 (122)
• There were 3 leaders from the final two rows, the most ever for a 500
• Car No. 2 collected its 11th win in the 500, tying No. 3 for the most all-time.
• First time a number has won back-to-back since 1991-92 (No. 3 – Rick Mears and Al Unser); the first time since Bill Vukovich (No. 14) in 1953-54 it occurred with the same driver.
Attrition:
• 11 drivers did not finish. With 12 DNFs in 2023, this is the first time since 2009-10 that at least 10 drivers did not finish in two consecutive 500s.
• 9 drivers failed to complete 120 laps, the most since 2006 (10)
• 7 drivers failed to complete 100 laps, the most since 2009 (8)
• 5 drivers failed to complete 25 laps, the most since 1997 (9)
• 3 drivers failed to complete any laps, the most since 1997 (5)
• 3 drivers out with mechanical issues in the first 55 laps, the most since 2003 (also 3)
• Chip Ganassi Racing became the first team since KV Racing Technology in 2011 to have multiple cars out in the first 27 laps of a 500.
Drivers:
Josef Newgarden (1st):
• 3rd straight year the defending winner finished inside the top 10, the longest such streak since 1968-71.
• Led a combined 31 laps over his two wins, the fewest for a back-to-back winner.
• Led the 100th lap, becoming the first halfway leader to win since Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2014 and only the 5th since 1990.
Pato O’Ward (2nd):
• Joins Albert Guyot, Harry Hartz, Ted Horn and Roberto Guerrero as the only drivers to have 4 finishes of 6th or better in their first five 500 starts, yet not win.
Scott Dixon (3rd):
• Led his 16th different 500, breaking a tie with Tony Kanaan for the most individual 500s led.
• With 12 laps led, his record total number of laps in the lead during the 500 now sits at 677.
• After completing the 131st lap, he became the 4th driver in 500 history to complete 10,000 miles in race competition (A.J. Foyt, Al Unser, Helio Castroneves)
Alexander Rossi (4th):
• Became the 5th driver to score 6 top 5 finishes in his first 9 500 starts, after Ted Horn (8), Rick Mears (6), Helio Castroneves (6) and Dan Wheldon (6)
Alex Palou (5th):
• Joined Frank Wearne, Ted Horn and Tony Kanaan as the only drivers to DNF in their first 500, then finish Top 10 in their next 4.
Scott McLaughlin (6th):
• Led 64 laps, the most for a first-time lap leader since Buddy Rice in 2004 (91)
Santino Ferrucci (8th):
• Became the first driver to finish inside the top 10 in each of his first six 500 starts.
• Has completed every lap in each of his 6 starts, joining Carlos Munoz (2013-18) as the only drivers to accomplish this.
Rinus VeeKay (9th):
• Joined Greg Ray, James Hinchcliffe and Felix Rosenqvist as the only drivers to lead in 4 of their first 5 starts in the 500, yet not score a Top 5 finish in any of those races.
Conor Daly (10th):
• His 22 laps led was the most for any driver who started in the last two rows of a 500 since Jim Rathmann in 1957 (24 after starting 32nd)
• Conor has led 69 laps in his last 4 starts at the 500, yet not had a top-5 finish. That’s the most laps led for a driver with this stat since Tony Kanaan from 2007-10 (95 laps led)
Graham Rahal (15th):
• Became only the 4th driver to lead after starting 33rd (Tom Sneva – 1980, Alex Tagliani – 2016, James Davison – 2017)
Ed Carpenter (17th):
• Led his 8th 500, tying him with Marco Andretti for the 2nd most races among non-winners (Rex Mays and Michael Andretti each led 9 races)
Agustin Canapino (22nd):
• Finished in the same position he started, which he also accomplished in 2023 (26th).
• He is the first driver in 500 history to start and finish in the same position in each of his first two starts.
Will Power (24th):
• Once again, the 2nd-place starter failed to win. Only once since 1970 has a driver started 2nd and won (Juan Pablo Montoya – 2000)
• Did not lead a lap, the first time a 2nd-place starter didn’t lead since 2002 (Robbie Buhl)
Tom Blomqvist (31st):
• Became the first rookie to not complete a single lap since 1997 (Sam Schmidt, Affonso Giaffone, Kenny Brack)
Marcus Ericsson (33rd):
• His 33rd-place finish was the worst for a defending runner-up in 500 history.
• Ericsson did not complete a single lap, the first runner-up to have this occur since Roberto Guerrero in 1988, who was also eliminated in a first-lap crash.
• Ericsson’s finish along with Newgarden’s win was only the 2nd time in race history that the defending 1st- and 2nd-place finishers finished 1st and 33rd . The other was 1976-77 (Johnny Rutherford went from 1st to 33rd , AJ Foyt went from 2nd to 1st)
Best finish (among veterans and not including ties):
• Josef Newgarden – 1st (13th start – ties personal best of 1st from 2023)
• Pato O’Ward – 2nd (5th start – ties personal best of 2nd from 2022)
• Scott McLaughlin – 6th (4th start – previous best: 14th – 2023)
• Kyle Kirkwood – 7th (3rd start – previous best: 17th – 2022)
• Callum Ilott – 11th (3rd start – previous best: 12th – 2023)
• Christian Lundgaard – 13th (3rd start – previous best: 18th – 2022)
• Sting Ray Robb – 16th (2nd start – previous best: 31st – 2023)
• Romain Grosjean – 19th (3rd start – previous best: 30th – 2023)
• Agustin Canapino – 22nd (2nd start – previous best: 26th – 2023)
Worst Finish (among veterans):
• Pietro Fittipaldi – 32nd (2nd start – previous worst: 25th – 2021)
• Marcus Ericsson – 33rd (6th start – previous worst: 32nd – 2020)
MISC
• Great to see Chevy lean hard into a new racing-themed national ad that ran during the 500.
• Reports of traffic nightmares trying to leave the Speedway Sunday night were rampant. By the time I left around 11:20pm, I figured the mess would be fixed, but with huge storms happening, power was out in some of the areas surrounding the track and Speedway police officers were diverting traffic to alternate routes that added a lot of time to the egress process.
•· IndyCar absolutely nailed the aerodynamic specifications for this year’s Indy 500. Everybody could pass everybody.
• Brutal race for Andretti Global with three crashes across Ericsson, Marco Andretti, and Colton Herta — only Ericsson’s wasn’t of his making — and unlike last year where Kirkwood was an innocent bystander in Rosenqvist’s wreck, he improved from starting 11th to finish seventh for the team, which were both career bests at Indy for the Floridian.
• Was that the most undisciplined use of pit lane in forever? Drivers blasting from their pit boxes straight to the fast lane — often in a cloud of oversteery tire smoke — and hits from behind and side-to-side contact and stopping short and running long…how we didn’t have 10 cautions from pit lane contact alone is a mystery.
• Seeing veteran racing reporter Holly Cain at Indy was a joyful thing. She continues to fight recurrences of cancer and refuses to give in.
• It was part of an alternate strategy that didn’t work out as desired but give credit to A.J. Foyt Racing and Sting Ray Robb who improved from 23rd to 16th, kept his car off the walls when others didn’t, finished on the lead lap in between Graham Rahal and Ed Carpenter, and led 23 laps, only three laps less than Newgarden. Robb was the third driver out in 2023 — started and finished 31st — which speaks to noteworthy year-to-year growth at the Speedway.
• Speaking of Carpenter, he started 17th, finished 17th, and never featured. Same for Helio Castroneves who started and ended the race in 20th. He did reach as high as seventh as others pitted during a caution, but the four-timers quest for five wins continues.
• The return of Simon Pagenaud was a delight to behold and the same was true for photographer Chris Bucher. A familiar presence at IndyCar races, Bucher spent time away while dealing with serious health issues, and despite being a top agency shooter today, was drawn to help capture images of Pagenaud — who brought him to the fore in IndyCar many years ago — on the special occasion with the Frenchman’s piloting of Gil de Ferran’s 2003 Indy 500 winner. Great to have Simon back where he belongs, and for Chris as well.
