For the majority of the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500, the race lived up to its grand billing as ‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing’. Run at a searingly fast pace, and with just a couple of minor shunts to disrupt its flow, it became bogged down by a sequence of late-race, multi-car accidents and a trio of red flags. Its denouement was the Indy 2.5, a final-lap shootout straight out of the pits for a NASCAR-style green-white-chequered finish. Josef Newgarden mastered this, passing last year’s winner Marcus Ericsson to claim his maiden 500 win, and team owner Roger Penske’s record-extending 19th.
Newgarden started the day 17th on the grid, admitting that his team had “fallen short” and “not done a good enough job” in qualifying. “Indy is not easy,” he’d mused. “I don’t care how many Indy 500s you have, what team you are, there are no guarantees when you show up here. For whatever reason this cruel mistress, she’s just tricking us.”
Newgarden made solid progress early on, nudging into the top 10 as early as one-quarter distance. Drivers bemoaned the latest aero package on the Dallara DW12s, which had extra downforce that appeared to be doing the opposite of what was intended in terms of improving overtaking opportunities. But Newgarden
