Josef Newgarden Wins Indianapolis 500 With Last-Lap Pass

Since his first race at Team Penske, Josef Newgarden has been one of the two best drivers in IndyCar. Two titles, 23 wins, no championship finish worse than fifth, and a mastery on every oval but Indianapolis were great, but the biggest prize in the series had eluded him. Newgarden had never even finished in the top three while racing here for Penske, and all of that speed seemed to translate everywhere but here. Today, starting from 17th, that finally changed.

The opening of the race looked nothing like the end. Over the first hundred laps, the leaders aggressively saved fuel. Newgarden and two Andretti drivers, Colton Herta and Kyle Kirkwood, used that time well; they saved fuel in traffic, making up a few spots on track and others with overcuts on their longer fuel stints. All three found themselves near the top ten when Dale Coyne Racing rookie Sting Ray Robb crashed, bringing out the day's first yellow just before the halfway mark. That's when the race turned: Leaders Alex Palou and Rinus VeeKay collided on pit lane, with VeeKay spinning while trying to avoid traffic exiting on cold tires and hitting Palou as he left the pole sitter's pit box. VeeKay was assessed a penalty, while Palou was forced to pit again for a front wing replacement.

With Palou and VeeKay out of the way, the day suddenly opened up for Chip Ganassi Racing's Marcus Ericsson, AJ Foyt Racing's Santino Ferrucci, and a McLaren trio of Pato O'Ward, Felix Rosenqvist, and Alexander Rossi. A fueling issue forced O'Ward to go off-cycle, stopping earlier than the rest while Ericsson, along with the group of Herta, Kirkwood, and Newgarden, moved into the leading group. Herta's race turned to disaster on the next scheduled stop, with Herta not seeing a hand sign from a crew member not to accelerate as teammate Romain Grosjean came into the pit lane ahead of him. Herta hit Grosjean, leading to a penalty and knocking another leading car out of contention.

Grosjean would crash laps later, dividing the second-to-last stint and opening the option for an alternate strategy. Pato O'Ward, whose fueling issues meant that he had no chance of saving fuel, led a group also including Herta down the pit lane. Most of the field made their final stop shortly after the restart, while O'Ward and a few others from that group stayed out to make up time at full throttle in clean air. O'Ward came out a shocking third after his stop, making sensational time while the leaders raced among themselves. A few laps later, he had the lead.

Then, with less than 15 laps to go, a massive crash. Felix Rosenqvist lost control in turn 1 while fighting among the leaders, spinning back into the short chute between 1 and 2. One of his tires caught one of Kyle Kirkwood's, severing the tire-securing tether on Kirkwood's car and flinging it past the grandstand into a parking lot near the track's golf course. Kirkwood then rolled into the outside wall, sliding down the track on his roll bar. Nobody was hurt in the accident, either in the crash or in the resulting debris field.

That brought out a red flag.