After searching for speed earlier in the month of May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Josef Newgarden was fast when it counted.
In a one lap shootout for the win, Newgarden powered around defending race winner Marcus Ericsson with half a lap to go, and then held off a final turn charge to the checkered flag to win Sunday’s Indianapolis 500.
“This is the single-most difficult race in the world to win,” Newgarden said. “I’ll stand by that. There’s no doubt. If you’re looking at a single event, you cannot beat the difficulty of the Indy 500.”
It marks the first career win in the “Greatest Spectacle In Racing” for the Hendersonville, Tennessee native, and the 27th career NTT IndyCar Series win for the driver of the No. 2 Chevrolet for Team Penske. The win comes in his 12th start on the historic 2.5-mile raceway, and it makes him the first Tennessee native to win the event.
Newgarden celebrated the win by running into the crowded frontstretch grandstands to be with the cheering fans.
“To win this race is indescribable. I think being at this event is indescribable,” Newgarden said. “Someone has to come and see it and be a part of it to understand what it is really all about, and I’ve always wanted the honor to win this race because I wanted to go in the crowd if it was ever possible because I know what the energy is like here in Indianapolis.”
It also gives team owner Roger Penske his 19th victory in the annual 500-mile classic. It came in the fourth closest finish in Indy 500 history after 52 lead changes.
“Obviously I’ve never had the honor of winning this race,” said Newgarden. “I was in awe of sitting next to my boss Roger Penske and realizing this is his 19th. So it was very special.”
“With the red flags, everything, it could have been anybody’s race,” said Penske, who is also the owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “But I think Newgarden showed what he’s really made of today. He was, I think, confident but yet cautious there at the end, and when it was time to go he made it happen. We can’t thank him enough from the
team.”
Newgarden rolled off from the 18th starting spot in Sunday’s race. As Alex Palou, Rinus VeeKay, Felix Rosenqvist, and Pato O’Ward led the way through the first half of the race, Newgarden worked his way into contention. Just past the 100-lap mark, Newgarden broke into the top five for the first time on the day. He found himself in second after a round of green flag pit stops on lap 139.
Newgarden would lead on occasion during rounds of green flag stops, but after trio of red flags for crashes, Newgarden found himself in second to Ericsson coming to the final restart with one lap to go.
Ericsson got the jump, but Newgarden drafted up to the back of the leader off turn 2, making his move to the outside as they raced down the backstretch. He cleared Ericsson going into turn 3, then hugged the inside line off turn four all the way to the checkered flag to take the win.
“I think sitting in first place was even more difficult than what we’ve seen in years past, even just last year, and when I was able to get by (Ericsson) on the back straight I was actually really surprised how much momentum he still had in 3 and 4,” said Newgarden. “He was like super close and had a good run coming off 4, and with that, I thought, I’ve got to be as aggressive as possible to not let him by.
“Today we had an opportunity to win the race, and I wasn’t looking to take anyone else out of the race, but I was going to put my car on the line to win. I was either going to win the race or I’d end up in the wall. I wasn’t here to finish second, third, or fourth today. I was here to win. So I just did everything I could at the end there.”
Ericsson was hoping to score his second straight Indy 500 win, but had to settle for a second place result.
“I think it wasn’t enough laps to go to do what we did,” said Ericsson. “I don’t think it’s safe to go out of the pits on cold tires for a restart when half the field is sort of still trying to get out on track when we go green. I don’t think it’s a fair way to end the race. I don’t think it’s a right way to end the race. So I can’t agree with that.”
Santino Ferrucci, driving for legendary four-time Indy 500 winner A.J. Foyt, put his car out front on lap 160, and held the point with 32 laps to go. In the end, he came home with a third place finish.
“Yeah, when you finish third, knowing that you led into (turn) 1 with three or four to go, it’s tough,” said Ferrucci. “But at the end of the day, I’m really happy with the way that things played out. This place does pick you as a winner. It’s very true. But I just really wanted to win this race like everybody else. We’ll come back next year probably a little stronger.”
Pole sitter Palou led early, but almost saw his race derailed when contact on pit road with Rinus VeeKay sent him into the pit wall. Palou raced his way forward, and could boast a fourth place finish in the end.
Alexander Rossi, winner of the 2016 running of the Indy 500, finished in fifth.
The first half of the race ran relatively clean, with the leaders swapping the top spot among themselves. The only caution in the first 100 laps came on lap 92 when Sting Ray Robb got into the turn 1 wall and crashed, ending his day.
The only other caution in the first 150 laps came when Romain Grosjean spun in turn 2 after hitting the outside wall.
In all, it looked like it would be a fairly clean running of the 500. But then came the final 17 laps.
It started with the scariest looking crash of the month of May. While racing among the leaders, Rosenqvist got into the turn 1 wall, and then tried to gather the car up, only for it to spin. His car the clipped the passing car of Kyle Kirkwood. That sent Kirkwood’s car hard into the wall, where in flipped and slid down the track upside down.
A tire from Kirkwood’s car cleared the catch fence and sailed over the grandstands, hitting a car in the parking lot. Fortunately, no injures from the flying tire were reported. Kirkwood climbed from his car uninjured, as did Rosenqvist.
That led to a red flag condition to allow for clean up of the crash scene.
The race restarted with eight laps to go, with O’Ward leading Ericsson and Newgarden, with Newgarden making a three wide pass to claim the lead. Moments later, the caution flew again when O’Ward attempted to pass Ericsson, but got his left side tires in the dirt in turn 3. O’Ward’s car spun into the outside wall, with the front of the car jumping high in the air as it rode wall.
Behind him, the car of rookie Agustin Canapino spun and tagged the wall, leaving him with no brakes. His out of control car then hit the stopped car of O’Ward at a reduced speed, but still hard enough to bounce Canapino’s car into the air. Behind both of them, the car of 2019 Indy 500 winner Simon Pagenaud spun and crashed after being tagged from behind while slowing by Scott McLaughlin. No one was injured, but this led to the second red flag of the day to clean up the debris from the crashes.
That set up a restart with four laps to go, with Ericsson, Newgarden, and Ferrucci battling for the lead in turn 1. Behind them, the cars of Marco Andretti, Ed Carpenter, and Christian Lundgaard tangled on the frontstretch, triggering another crash and bringing out the third red flag of the race.
Race officials gave the field one lap under caution before throwing the green and white flags together, setting up the dramatic last lap dash for the win.
Scott Dixon finished the day in sixth, with Takuma Sato, Conor Daly, Colton Herta, and VeeKay rounding out the top 10.
NTT IndyCar Series
Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Indianapolis, IN
Indianapolis 500 – May 28, 2023
1. (17) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 200, Running
2. (10) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 200, Running
3. (4) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 200, Running
4. (1) Alex Palou, Honda, 200, Running
5. (7) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 200, Running
6. (6) Scott Dixon, Honda, 200, Running
7. (8) Takuma Sato, Honda, 200, Running
8. (16) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 200, Running
9. (21) Colton Herta, Honda, 200, Running
10. (2) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 200, Running
11. (18) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Chevrolet, 200, Running
12. (27) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 200, Running
13. (25) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 200, Running
14. (14) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 200, Running
15. (20) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 200, Running
16. (9) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 200, Running
17. (24) Marco Andretti, Honda, 200, Running
18. (32) Jack Harvey, Honda, 199, Running
19. (30) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 198, Running
20. (13) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 197, Contact
21. (11) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 196, Contact
22. (33) Graham Rahal, Chevrolet, 195, Running
23. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 195, Running
24. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 192, Contact
25. (22) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 192, Contact
26. (26) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 192, Contact
27. (3) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 183, Contact
28. (15) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 183, Contact
29. (23) David Malukas, Honda, 160, Contact
30. (19) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 149, Contact
31. (31) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 90, Contact
32. (28) RC Enerson, Chevrolet, 75, Mechanical
33. (29) Katherine Legge, Honda, 41, Contact
Average Speed: 168.193 mph
Time of Race: 2:58:21.9611 Margin of Victory: 0.0974 Seconds
Cautions: 5 for 27 laps
Lead Changes: 52 among 14 drivers
Lap Leaders: Palou, Alex 1-2; VeeKay, Rinus 3; Palou, Alex 4-9; VeeKay, Rinus 10-14; Palou, Alex 15-22; VeeKay, Rinus 23-27; Palou, Alex 28-29; VeeKay, Rinus 30-31; Rosenqvist, Felix 32; Rossi, Alexander 33-34; Palou, Alex 35-39; VeeKay, Rinus 40-47; Palou, Alex 48-60; VeeKay, Rinus 61-63; Rosenqvist, Felix 64-65; O’Ward, Pato 66; Power, Will 67; Herta, Colton 68; Rosenqvist, Felix 69; O’Ward, Pato 70-78; Rosenqvist, Felix 79-81; O’Ward, Pato 82-89; Rosenqvist, Felix 90-94; Ilott, Callum 95-99; Rosenqvist, Felix 100-101; O’Ward, Pato 102; Rosenqvist, Felix 103-107; O’Ward, Pato 108-109; Rosenqvist, Felix 110-113; O’Ward, Pato 114-115; Rosenqvist, Felix 116-119; O’Ward, Pato 120-122; Rosenqvist, Felix 123-124; O’Ward, Pato 125-128; Rosenqvist, Felix 129-131; Ferrucci, Santino 132; Ericsson, Marcus 133-134; Castroneves, Helio 135; Rosenqvist, Felix 136; Ericsson, Marcus 137-156; Newgarden, Josef 157; Ericsson, Marcus 158; Ferrucci, Santino 159-168; Ericsson, Marcus 169-170; Rossi, Alexander 171-172; Sato, Takuma 173-174; O’Ward, Pato 175-179; Hunter-Reay, Ryan 180-187; O’Ward, Pato 188-191; Ericsson, Marcus 192; Newgarden, Josef 193-195; Ericsson, Marcus 196-199; Newgarden, Josef 200.
Point Standings: Palou 219, Ericsson 199, O’Ward 185, Newgarden 182, Dixon 162, McLaughlin 149, Rossi 145, Grosjean 139, Power 131, Herta 130, Lundgaard 122, Kirkwood 113, Rosenqvist 113, Ilott 111, Ferrucci 96, VeeKay 96, Rahal 94, Malukas 84, Armstrong 77, Daly 73, Castroneves 69, Harvey 65, DeFrancesco 63, Canapino 61, Pagenaud 55, Pedersen 51, Robb 47, Sato 37, Carpenter 27, Hunter-Reay 20, Kanaan 18, Andretti 13, Enerson 5, Legge 5
