Josef Newgarden made one mad dash around Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and it was all worth it.
Newgarden finally became the Indianapolis 500 champion by successfully completing the final lap after a series of restarts following a frightening late-race wreck Sunday afternoon.
“I’m just so thankful to be here,” Newgarden said. “I wanted to win it so bad.”
The 107th edition of the event had plenty of drama and lots of downtime in the late going.
Marcus Ericsson of Sweden looked to be in position to repeat as champion, but that was dashed by Newgarden’s aggressive last lap. Newgarden passed Ericsson on the outside on Turn 2 and led the rest of the way.
Newgarden, 32, held the lead for a restart with four laps remaining. That figured to be the final restart, but another red flag came out. He came out in front anyway.
“I knew we could do it and I knew we were capable,” Newgarden said.
Newgarden, who drives for Team Penske, is a Nashville, Tenn., native. He was so excited after winning his first Indy crown that he briefly entered the stands to celebrate.
“I started out as a fan in the crowd,” Newgarden said. “This place, it’s amazing.”
It was Team Penske’s 19th victory in the biggest race of the year. Team owner Roger Penske is also owner of the speedway, and this is the first time one of his drivers won the race since he became the track owner.
After Ericsson, Santino Ferrucci finished third, followed by Alex Palou of Spain and Alexander Rossi.
The final 15 laps of the race took more than one hour to complete. There were three late restarts.
Much of the late-race confusion and anxieties were initiated with 14 laps remaining. Kyle Kirkwood was running 10th when a crash put his car upside down and skidding across the track. The mayhem also largely involved Felix Rosenqvist of Sweden, who spun out and was slammed by Kirkwood’s car. A red flag came out with an ensuing delay of more than 20 minutes.
During the accident, a tire flew off the track and close to a spectator area near Turn 2. Video of the incident showed the tire sailing above spectators and into a parking area, but there were no reported injuries either on or off the track in the short period after the wreck.
Kirkwood gave a thumbs-up signal and waved as he was assisted from his car. He was later released from the infield medical center.
“Just glad I’m OK,” Kirkwood said. “The car was super fast, but disappointed in that finish, no doubt. We felt like we were going to win it. We were just driving through cars there.”
Following the restart, Mexican Pato O’Ward’s bid to win was ruined when he was collected in a crash. His move on the inside was doomed when he was banged into by Argentina’s Agustin Canapino, whose car was out of control and appeared to lose braking power. Simon Pagenaud of France also was involved. That brought out another red flag.
O’Ward and Ericsson were poised for a frantic finish. They were joined by Newgarden, Rosenqvist and Rossi with 20 laps to go.
Ericsson was in the front with 50 laps remaining. By the 25-lap mark, O’Ward was in the lead. In between, both Newgarden and Ferrucci were race leaders.
It was a strong push from O’Ward, who withstood fueling issues earlier in the race.
More than halfway through the race, Palou had led the most laps. Palou had held the pole position after a record-setting four-lap qualifying average of 234.217 mph.
Early misfortunes were endured by Katherine Legge, who was first out of the race, and Sting Ray Robb, who was undone by a single-car accident.
–Field Level Media
