Josef Newgarden won the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500 after pulling off a last-lap ambush on defending winner Marcus Ericsson.
What had already been a chaotic final stint saved the biggest bit of drama for the final corners when Ericsson, looking to defend his lead with a single lap of green flag running after a late restart, was unable to hold off a lunge from Newgarden through Turn 2. Newgarden held firm, echoing Ericsson’s ‘dragon move’ on the exit of Turn 4 to give Roger Penske his 19th Indy 500 victory as a team owner.
Restarts figured heavily in the final stint; a chain of events that began with Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist — who had run up front all afternoon — lost control and crashed in Turn 2 with 16 to go. Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood also got caught up, and both were eliminated on the spot.
Once that mess was cleaned up, Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward led the field for the next restart on lap 191. That was waved off, but the next one was better… until the Mexican feinted around Ericsson to the right in Turn 1, lunged to the left, then lost control — or was squeezed, depending who you ask — and found the barriers. Adding insult to injury, a separate incident further back ended when Agustin Canapino’s broken Juncos Hollinger car sledding into the rear of O’Ward’s stationary No. 5. More red flags.
The next restart came with seven to go, and lasted just two laps before a group of cars tangled towards the back of the field. Rather than keeping the field circulating under yellows, race control opted for another red flag on lap 198: one lap behind the pace car, and one to decide whose portrait would take its place on the Borg Warner Trophy.
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AS IT HAPPENED
The drama began even before the race started, as both Helio Castroneves and Graham Rahal failed to get underway. While Meyer Shank Racing refired the four-time champion, the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing crew had to drag the No. 24, originally destined for Stefan Wilson, behind the wall to install a new battery. He would eventually rejoin but two laps down.
As Adam Driver dropped the green flag for the remaining 32 runners, Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda’s polesitter Alex Palou made a great start to lead Rinus VeeKay and Felix Rosenqvist into Turn 1, while immediately Dixon moved up to fourth chased by A.J. Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci, the Arrow McLaren-Chevys of Alexander Rossi and Pato O’Ward, and a third Ganassi car of Takuma Sato. Will Power hung on around the outside of Marcus Ericsson and Tony Kanaan at Turn 3 to grab ninth.
At the start of the third lap, VeeKay drafted past Palou along the front straight to lead for Ed Carpenter Racing, but Palou was back in front on lap four, and the ECR-Chevrolet driver was lifting off down the back straight to stay close to the leader but save fuel in his draft. It was the same story in the chain of cars behind him. VeeKay returned to the front for lap 11, and on that same lap Power sent his Penske-Chevy passed Sato’s Ganassi-Honda to take eighth.
Palou was into the lead for lap 16, while on lap 19, Ferrucci and Rossi demoted Dixon who lost another place to O’Ward the following lap and then Power on lap 21. Ganassi’s 2008 Indy winner appeared to be adjusting his in-cockpit tools a lot and losing pace, to the extent he had dropped outside the top 10 by lap 23, and he reported a left-rear tire vibrating hard. In fact it was visible, shaking the rear wing on the camera slow-mo, so the team called him in on lap 26. Castroneves also came in early.
Up front, VeeKay had taken the lead once more, but on lap 28 into Turn 3 it was Palou’s American Legion colors heading the field, but he pitted at the end of lap 29, while Ferrucci also pitted from the top five. Notable by his progress was Josef Newgarden who even before these pit stops started, had clambered from 17th into the top 10.
VeeKay ducked into the pits on lap 32 and took two turns of front wing as well as fuel and tires. He emerged still behind Palou. Rosenqvist was next of the front-runners to stop, with Rossi, O’Ward and Power pitting on lap 34. They emerged still in that order, and just behind another Arrow McLaren, that of Rosenqvist, who had lost third to Ferrucci during the pit stop exchange. Like Ferrucci, Newgarden had gained a place in the stops, jumping Sato to run ninth behind Power and defending winner Ericsson.
Rosenqvist was back in front of Ferrucci on lap 39 and the other two Arrow McLarens also got around the Foyt car next time by, as VeeKay took top spot from Palou, but Ferrucci stemmed the tide and re-passed O’Ward the following lap. Power was now informed that his weightjacker wasn’t working, although he was maintaining seventh while his tires were relatively fresh. It could prove very difficult in a year when cars were struggling to make their tires last for a full stint.
Palou retook the lead on lap 48 and remained up front as the race passed quarter distance. The top three — Palou, VeeKay and Rosenqvist — had started separating themselves from the pack a little by now, Felix pulling two seconds on Rossi, who lost a place to Ferrucci on lap 56 and to O’Ward on lap 57.
Palou made his second stop at the end of lap 60, and Ferrucci joined him on pitlane, as did Dixon who had been running in 21st, and reported to his team that he had no vibration issues with his second set. VeeKay stopped on lap 64, and this time he emerged ahead of Palou, who was being chased by Ferrucci, but they were both jumped by Rosenqvist who stopped two laps later.
However, O’Ward was flying and passed not only Palou and VeeKay but on lap 70, his teammate Rosenqvist too, as the pair ran behind RC Enerson of debutant team Abel Motorsports, running not quite a lap down. The McLaren drivers seemed happy to be up front, but still able to briefly save fuel behind Enerson. Further back, the No. 2 Penske crew had jumped Newgarden ahead of Ericsson in the pit stop exchange, while just outside the top 10, local hero Conor Daly was up to 11th for Ed Carpenter Racing.
Palou lost fourth to Ferrucci on lap 76, but still the top nine were blanketed by only four seconds, while Sato’s loose car had fallen to 2.5s off the back of Ericsson.
Rosenqvist drafted past O’Ward to lead on lap 79, the pair of them planning to swap back and forth to take turns at saving fuel now that Enerson had pitted for a third time. He would retire on lap 76. However, there was no guarantee that they’d get to pick and choose when to pass, since as O’Ward took over from Rosenqvist at the front, Ferrucci passed VeeKay for third.
As Rosenqvist took the lead on lap 91 and Rossi passed Palou, Sato suddenly slowed, forcing Scott McLaughlin’s Penske and Kanaan’s McLaren to take evasive action, Kanaan putting all four wheels in the grass out of Turn 2 to pass McLaughlin. Much further back, Rahal unlapped himself from Sting Ray Robb, but the Dale Coyne Racing with RWR-Honda tried to hang on around the outside, hit some marbles and slid up the track into the wall. That was the first caution of the race.
The leaders hit pitlane at the end of lap 94, but on emerging from his pitbox, VeeKay had to tighten his steering as there were cars already in the outside lane, namely Power and Newgarden. VeeKay got sideways and slapped Palou into the left-side wall as the polesitter was accelerating hard out of his pitbox.
Rosenqvist led O’Ward, Ferrucci, Power, Newgarden, Rossi, VeeKay, Ericssson and Colton Herta (Andretti Autosport-Honda) out of the pits, but they would all be trailing the Juncos Hollinger Racing-Chevy of Callum Ilott, who had just pitted when the yellow flew. Meanwhile, Palou had been able to get back to the pits for a new nosewing assembly and emerge still on the lead lap, but now down in 28th.
Ilott was immediately passed by Rosenqvist and O’Ward, but further back with the track cleared of marbles, Ericsson surged forward on the high-line with a three-wide pass on Rossi and VeeKay to claim fifth, while another driver excelling was Newgarden, who jumped forward and into the top six as the cars fanned out three and four wide down the back straight. The big loser in this kerfuffle was Power who dropped to 16th in the space of a lap, while Herta moved into the top six by lap 110 ahead of Rossi, the falling Ilott, Daly and Kyle Kirkwood in a second Andretti car. VeeKay would soon have to serve a drive-through penalty for his pit road contact with Paloul
Kanaan was up to 11th ahead of Sato, Carpenter, Dixon (another driver to have a strong restart), McLaughlin, Power and Palou — up 11 places from the drop of the green.
Through the fourth stint, Rosenqvist and O’Ward continued the McLaren shuffle at the front of the field, just ahead of Ferrucci, Newgarden, Ericsson and Herta, but on lap 125, Rossi drafted past Herta for sixth into Turn 1, while Carpenter fell back behind Dixon, McLaughlin, Power, Palou and Romain Grosjean. However, the pace had dropped to some 208mph in order to try and make it on just two more stops, and now the Ganassi cars started moving more rapidly. In short order, Dixon passed Kanaan, Palou passed Power, and Kanaan, and Ericsson drafted past Newgarden for third on lap 130. That was because O’Ward had ducked into the pits a lap earlier.
Rosenqvist pitted from the lead at the end of lap 132, and emerged well ahead of O’Ward. Meanwhile Andretti’s hopes took a dive when Herta was sent out of the pitbox into the side of his teammate Grosjean. His time loss would be magnified, of course, by a drive-through penalty.
Ganassi’s No. 8 crew had rapidly turned around Ericsson and he had emerged in third. However, he passed Newgarden and then took the lead from compatriot Rosenqvist on lap 137. Two laps later, Newgarden, too, had passed Rosenqvist to run second in Ericsson’s wheeltracks. Half a second behind Ericsson ran Rossi who had demoted Ferrucci, while O’Ward was sixth, the No. 5 McLaren team warning him that his car was using up too much fuel. The surprise was Carpenter, who appeared to have been short-filled for he had jumped to seventh in the pit stop exchange ahead of Kirkwood, the recovering Palou and Sato.
On lap 149, out came the second caution, as Grosjean lost control out of Turn 2, sliding out of the groove and into the SAFER barrier, before bouncing across the track and into the infield grass. As the DHL car was scooped onto the flatbed, O’Ward, Carpenter, Sato, McLaughlin, VeeKay, Kanaan and Power were among those who hit pit road.
On lap 156, the green flew again, and Newgarden drafted past Ericsson into the lead, while Ferrucci passed Rossi and Rosenqvist for third, and the following lap Ferrucci was past the No. 2 Penske into second, and into Turn 1 next time by, the Foyt car went up the inside of Ericsson into the lead.
Behind Rosenqvist and Rossi, Kirkwood ran sixth ahead of Palou, Daly, Dixon, Sato, Simon Pagenaud, O’Ward and Power. Then on lap 164, Kirkwood passed the man he replaced at Andretti, Rossi, to claim fifth, and the following lap Daly drafted past Palou for seventh. On lap 166, Kirkwood moved again, getting around Rosenqvist for fourth, and on lap 167 he passed Newgarden around the outside for third. Meanwhile, Power slid wide at Turn 2, and broke a toelink on the wall.
Of those yet to make a fifth pit stop, Ferrucci blinked first and pitted on lap 169, and there was a fumble as a wheel rolled out of the Foyt No. 14 team’s pitbox. However, he received only a monetary fine and a warning. It was still a slow stop, but he was still in the hunt. He got around Newgarden and then Rosenqvist, but both of them re-passed him, as did Rossi.
Ericsson and Rosenqvist ran in lockstep, while Newgarden and Rossi squabbled over third. Yet O’Ward, who had led the early fifth-stoppers, had worked hard and emerged in third. He wasted little time in passing teammate Rosenqvist, then Ericsson. However, it wasn’t yet for the lead, as Ryan Hunter-Reay and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing led the Juncos Hollinger pair of Ilott and Agustin Canapino, having not yet made their final stop.
Then on lap 186, after Newgarden passed him at Turn 1, Rosenqvist slid up to the wall in the dirty air, smacked it hard, and slid down to the middle of the track. Ferrucci and Rossi swerved to the inside around his stricken teammate, Ferrucci went to the high side to avoid the wreck, but Kirkwood — also on the high side — was far less lucky. His left-rear wheel just clipped the McLaren and was torn off. It cleared the debris fence, yet by some miracle it fired into a gap between grandstands. However, Kirkwood’s car was spun around, flipped up and ground along the barrier, then the track, upside down. Kirkwood, mercifully, was left complaining only of sore knees, while NBC were able report that no one was injured by his errant wheel, damaging only a parked street car.
Hunter-Reay led Ilott and Canapino into the pits, leaving O’Ward heading Ericsson, Newgarden, Rossi, Ferrucci, Palou, Daly, Dixon, VeeKay and Herta for the restart with nine laps to go. However, the restart was waved off as O’Ward was adjudged to have brought the field to the green at too slow a pace.
Now with eight laps left, there were no issues with the start, but O’Ward was still a sitting duck. He clung to the inside wall, but Ericsson drafted alongside him along the front straight to and edged ahead, while Newgarden swept around the pair of them to snatch the lead. On the run down to Turn 3, O’Ward tried outside, then inside Ericsson, and was three-quarters alongside when Ericsson turned in. O’Ward’s left front hit the rumble strip, while his right-front rubbed the Ganassi car’s left rear. That pitched the No. 5 into a spin across the track and into the outside wall, where it lifted its nose but stayed right-side up. After coming to rest, his car was damaged further by Canapino, who was without steering, having been an innocent victim of a crash caused when McLaughlin ran into the back of Pagenaud, spinning the Meyer Shank car out of control.
Ericsson, having completed a great save after the contact with O’Ward, would take the restart as Newgarden’s main challenger, with Ferrucci third after passing Rossi around the outside of Turn 2 on the previous start. In fifth lay Palou ahead of Dixon, Daly, VeeKay, Herta and Sato.
A four-lap shootout never happened. Newgarden didn’t stay alongside the pitwall, and Ericsson filled the gap on the left, while Ferrucci found a gap on the right to slip into second. However, behind them, Christian Lundgaard was knocked into the wall by a wheel-to-wheel battle between Carpenter and Andretti, and the chaos claimed the second Foyt car of rookie Benjamin Pedersen, which also struck the wall and scattered debris along the front straight. Out came the third red flag.
That meant the restart would leave one warm-up lap, and then one racing lap, with Ericsson leading Newgarden, Ferrucci, Rossi.
Ericsson sprinted away as the green was called, and he looked to have too much of an edge on Newgarden, who had also dropped his pursuers. But on the run down to Turn 3, Ericsson had no way of defending, and the No. 2 Penske pulled past. Despite cool tires, he held firm on a slightly higher line, kept his momentum through the short chute and up the front straight. He beat Ericsson by 0.0974s, with Ferrucci, Palou and Rossi completing the top five ahead of Dixon, Sato, Daly, Herta and VeeKay.
RESULTS
