May 27, 2024 | By IndyCar PR

Newgarden Goes Back-to-Back at Indianapolis 500

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — It was worth the wait, and then some.

Josef Newgarden joined the immortals Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway by becoming just the sixth driver to win the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge in two consecutive years, edging Pato O’Ward in a scintillating race that included the start delayed four hours by a midday rainstorm.

Two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Newgarden drove his No. 2 Shell Powering Progress Team Penske Chevrolet to the victory by .3417 of a second over the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet of O’Ward, as they swapped the lead four times over the last eight laps.

“I knew we could win this race again,” Newgarden said. “There’s just no better way to win this race than that. I’ve got to give it up to Pato, as well. He’s an incredibly clean driver. It takes two people to make that work.”

Newgarden, who started third, became the first repeat winner of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” since Helio Castroneves won in 2001 and 2002 for Team Penske. Newgarden also earned the record-extending 20th victory in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” for Team Penske.

The repeat victory delivered a $440,000 bonus to Newgarden from BorgWarner, the sponsor of the winner’s Borg-Warner Trophy.

Six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Scott Dixon finished third in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, followed by Alexander Rossi in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

Reigning series champion Alex Palou rounded out the top five in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Just 1.5079 seconds separated the top five cars despite the last 46 laps running caution-free in a frantic finish.

Christian Rasmussen was the top-finishing rookie, 12th in the No. 33 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet. 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson finished 18th in the No. 17 Hendrickcars.com Arrow McLaren Chevrolet in his first “500” start, hampered by a pit road speeding penalty.

Newgarden celebrated in familiar style for the second straight year, climbing into the crowd in the grandstands adjacent to the Yard of Bricks start-finish line, where he was mobbed by fans.

It was hard to blame his exuberance, as the victory capped a Month of May in which he was without Team Penske President and strategist Tim Cindric and engineer Luke Mason. They were suspended by Team Penske for the two races this month at IMS after the team’s cars were found to have violated INDYCAR Push-to-Pass rules in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding. Jonathan Diuguid and Raul Prados substituted for Cindric and Mason, respectively, this month.

“They can say whatever they want after this point; I don’t care anymore,” Newgarden said of critics after the violations were discovered. “I’m just so proud of this team. They crushed it. Crushed it. Luke, Tim – they’re not here today, but they’re a huge part of this. I’m just so proud for everybody at Team Penske. That’s the way I wanted to win the thing, right there.”

There were seven caution periods in the first 117 laps, as the race struggled to find a rhythm. But as the intensity ratcheted in the second half of the 200-lap race, the racing was breathtaking – and clean. There were 32 lead changes alone in the last 70 laps.

Rookie Kyffin Simpson was the last of the drivers on a different pit sequence to surrender the lead with their final stop, on Lap 184. That set the stage for a phenomenal four-driver scramble for the win between Newgarden, O’Ward, Rossi and Dixon over the closing 15 laps.

Newgarden took the lead on Lap 193, with O’Ward climbing to second. That set the stage for a series of slingshot passes between the two drivers over the last seven laps.

O’Ward passed Newgarden on the outside just before the start-finish line as the white flag flew in the air for the final lap. O’Ward stayed out front in Turns 1 and 2 ahead and down the back straightaway, but Newgarden tucked in behind O’Ward’s car and made a daring pass outside of O’Ward in Turn 3 to take the lead for good with the crowd of 330,000 on their feet in rapture.

“It’s hard to put it into words,” said O’Ward, who also finished second in 2022. “So close again. I put that car through things I never thought it was going to be able to do. Sometimes I said, ‘Aw, that’s it,’ and somehow I came out of the other side of the corner.

“Oh, man: It’s just so painful when you put so much into it, and then two corners short.”

It was only the fourth time in Indianapolis 500 history that the race was decided by a last-lap pass. Newgarden also achieved that feat last year by passing Marcus Ericsson on Lap 200.

This year’s race was a classic, with an event-record 18 of the 33 starters leading at least one lap. NTT P1 Award winner Scott McLaughlin led the most laps, 64, before finishing sixth in the No. 3 Pennzoil Team Penske Chevrolet.

There also were 649 on-track passes today, the most in the “500” since 2017.

The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear on Sunday, June 2 on the streets of Detroit.



108th RUNNING OF THE INDIANAPO;IS 500 PRESENTED BY GAINBRIDGE RESULTS


INDIANAPOLIS - Results Sunday of the 108th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge NTT INDYCAR SERIES event on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (3) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 200, Running
2. (8) Pato O'Ward, Chevrolet, 200, Running
3. (21) Scott Dixon, Honda, 200, Running
4. (4) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 200, Running
5. (14) Alex Palou, Honda, 200, Running
6. (1) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 200, Running
7. (11) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 200, Running
8. (6) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 200, Running
9. (7) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 200, Running
10. (29) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 200, Running
11. (15) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 200, Running
12. (24) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 200, Running
13. (28) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 200, Running
14. (10) Takuma Sato, Honda, 200, Running
15. (33) Graham Rahal, Honda, 200, Running
16. (23) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 200, Running
17. (17) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 200, Running
18. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 200, Running
19. (26) Romain Grosjean, Chevrolet, 200, Running
20. (20) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 200, Running
21. (18) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 200, Running
22. (22) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 199, Running
23. (13) Colton Herta, Honda, 170, Contact
24. (2) Will Power, Chevrolet, 145, Contact
25. (19) Marco Andretti, Honda, 113, Contact
26. (12) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Chevrolet, 106, Contact
27. (9) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 55, Mechanical
28. (27) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 27, Contact
29. (31) Katherine Legge, Honda, 22, Mechanical
30. (16) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 6, Mechanical
31. (25) Tom Blomqvist, Honda, 0, Contact
32. (30) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 0, Contact
33. (32) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 0, Contact

Race Statistics
Winner's average speed: 167.763 mph
Time of Race: 2:58:49.4079
Margin of victory: 0.3417 of a second
Cautions: 8 for 46 laps
Lead changes: 49 among 18 drivers

Lap Leaders:
McLaughlin, Scott 1 - 23
Robb, Sting Ray 24 - 26
Daly, Conor 27 - 31
Robb, Sting Ray 32
McLaughlin, Scott 33 - 34
O'Ward, Pato 35
Daly, Conor 36 - 42
McLaughlin, Scott 43 - 48
Rasmussen, Christian 49
McLaughlin, Scott 50 - 57
Daly, Conor 58 - 64
Robb, Sting Ray 65 - 76
McLaughlin, Scott 77 - 87
VeeKay, Rinus 88 - 91
Rahal, Graham 92
Lundgaard, Christian 93
VeeKay, Rinus 94 - 96
Lundgaard, Christian 97 - 99
Newgarden, Josef 100 - 112
McLaughlin, Scott 113 - 125
Newgarden, Josef 126 - 129
McLaughlin, Scott 130
Rossi, Alexander 131
Ferrucci, Santino 132
Dixon, Scott 133 - 134
O'Ward, Pato 135 - 136
Dixon, Scott 137 - 140
Daly, Conor 141 - 143
Robb, Sting Ray 144 - 150
Dixon, Scott 151 - 154
O'Ward, Pato 155
Rossi, Alexander 156 - 159
O'Ward, Pato 160
Rossi, Alexander 161 - 163
O'Ward, Pato 164
Rossi, Alexander 165
O'Ward, Pato 166 - 169
Dixon, Scott 170 - 171
Palou, Alex 172
VeeKay, Rinus 173
Kirkwood, Kyle 174 - 175
Ilott, Callum 176
Carpenter, Ed 177 - 179
Larson, Kyle 180 - 183
Simpson, Kyffin 184 - 186
Rossi, Alexander 187
Newgarden, Josef 188 - 190
Rossi, Alexander 191 - 192
Newgarden, Josef 193 - 194
O'Ward, Pato 195
Newgarden, Josef 196 - 198
O'Ward, Pato 199
Newgarden, Josef 200


NTT INDYCAR SERIES Point Standings:
Palou 183, Dixon 163, Power 157, O'Ward 134, Herta 134, McLaughlin 131, Newgarden 122, Rossi 120, Rosenqvist 116, Kirkwood 115, Lundgaard 102, Ferrucci 95, Rahal 87, VeeKay 87, Armstrong 81, Grosjean 79, Lundqvist 73, Simpson 70, Ericsson 68, Canapino 56, Rasmussen 51, Fittipaldi 50, Harvey 47, Blomqvist 46, Robb 46,  Ilott 39, Theo Pourchaire 38, Daly 21, Larson 21, Sato 19, Carpenter 14, Luca Ghiotto 14,  Castroneves 10, Colin Braun 10, Nolan Siegel 10, Hunter-Reay 6, Andretti 5, Legge 5

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INDIANAPOLIS 500 POST-RACE NOTES


INDIANAPOLIS, iND. – Historical and event notes from the 108th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge at Indianapolis Motor Speedway:

This was the second career Indianapolis 500 victory for Josef Newgarden in his 13th career “500” start.

Josef Newgarden became the sixth driver to earn back-to-back victories in the Indianapolis 500 and the first since Helio Castroneves achieved the feat for Team

Penske in 2001-02. The others: Wilbur Shaw (1939-40), Mauri Rose (1947-48), Bill Vukovich (1953-54) and Al Unser (1970-71).

Josef Newgarden became the 11th two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500. He is the first driver to join the two-time winner’s club since Takuma Sato in 2020.
Sato also won in 2017.

Team Penske earned its 20th Indianapolis 500 victory, extending its event record. Chip Ganassi is second with six wins, five with Chip Ganassi Racing and one as a co-owner with Pat Patrick.

Team Penske repeated its feat of sweeping the front row in qualifying and winning the race. Rick Mears won from the pole in 1988 after his teammates Danny Sullivan and Al Unser started second and third, respectively. Team Penske drivers Scott McLaughlin, Will Power and Josef Newgarden started 1-2-3, respectively, in this race in only the second front-row sweep in “500” history.

This is the 14th time the car that started third won the Indianapolis 500. The last winner from the No. 3 starting spot was Takuma Sato in 2020. The event record is 21 winners from the pole.

This is the 13th Indianapolis 500 victory for a Chevrolet engine, elevating it to third in event history. Offenhauser is first with 27 wins, followed by Honda with 15.
This is the 11th time car No. 2 has won the Indianapolis 500, tying that number with No. 3 for the most wins in “500” history. Newgarden also won last year in No. 2.

The last time an American driver or drivers have won two consecutive Indianapolis 500s came in 1991 and 1992. Rick Mears won in 1991, Al Unser Jr. in 1992.
Josef Newgarden is the fourth driver to win the Indianapolis 500 at age 33. The last was Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2014.

This is only the fourth time the Indianapolis 500 has been decided by a last-lap pass. The other two times: 2006: Sam Hornish (Team Penske) passed Marco Andretti on the front straightaway; 2011: Dan Wheldon passed JR Hildebrand on the front straightaway; 2023: Josef Newgarden (Team Penske) passed Marcus Ericsson on the back straightaway.

Eighteen different drivers led at least one lap today, an event record. The previous record was 15 drivers in 2017 and 2018.
Helio Castroneves completed the full 500-mile distance for the 18th time in his Indianapolis 500 race career, extending his race record. He has been running at the end of the race in 22 of 24 career starts, also a race record.

There were 21 cars on the lead lap at the finish, just shy of the event record of 22 set in 2021 and 2022.

Scott Dixon led 12 laps today to extend his event record to 677 career laps led.

Scott Dixon has led at least one lap in 16th Indianapolis 500s, breaking the event record of 15 races led he shared with Tony Kanaan.

Christian Rasmussen was the top-finishing rookie today, in 12th place.

There were 49 lead changes, the fourth-highest total in “500” history. The record is 68 in 2013, followed by 54 in 2016 and 52 in 2023.

Helio Castroneves made his 24th Indy 500 start, moving into a three-way tie with Gordon Johncock and Johnny Rutherford for fourth place for career Indianapolis 500 starts. The record is 35 by A.J. Foyt, followed by Mario Andretti with 29 and Al Unser with 27.

The last time there was a yellow caution flag on the opening lap was 2015 when there was contact between several cars in Turn 1, eliminating Sage Karam from the race.

Marcus Ericsson became the first former winner to finish last since Juan Pablo Montoya in 2016.

Roger Penske is the first team owner to have two drivers win back-to-back Indianapolis 500s, with Helio Castroneves in 2001-02 and Josef Newgarden in 2023-24.

Scott Dixon finished third, giving him nine top-five finishes in 22 career starts.

Conor Daly advanced more positions than any other driver, finishing 10th after starting 29th.

Fourth-place finisher Alexander Rossi finished in the top five for the sixth time in nine Indy 500 career starts.

Christian Lundgaard recorded the fastest lap (226.373 mph) of the race on Lap 175.

NTT P1 Award winner Scott McLaughlin led a race-high 64 laps today, the first “500” laps he has led in his career.

There were seven drivers who led the Indianapolis 500 for the first time: Scott McLaughlin, Sting Ray Robb, Christian Lundgaard, Kyle Kirkwood, and rookie drivers Kyffin Simpson, Kyle Larson and Christian Rasmussen.

All 18 lap leaders finished on the lead lap, beating the event record of 11, set in 2023.