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Josef Newgarden wins his 2nd straight Indy 500, 20th overall for Roger Penske

yahoo sports staff
·7 min read
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Josef Newgarden is a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, having gone back-to-back with passes into Turn 3 to win "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing."

It is the 20th Indy 500 win for team owner Roger Penske.

Newgarden was briefly passed on the white-flag lap by Pato O’Ward going into Turn 1, but a mighty run down the backstretch allowed the Team Penske driver to hang it around the outside — the same move he made last year — into Turn 3 and hold on for the win.

“Pato is an incredibly clean racer … it takes two to make that work,” Newgarden said in Victory Circle. “He very well could have won today.”

O’Ward had been haunted for two years after he chose not to be aggressive into Turn 1 on a restart with three laps to go in the 2022 Indy 500 and was forced to watch Marcus Ericsson drive to victory. He sent it this year but came up two corners short.

“This place owes me nothing,” O’Ward said.

A race that featured eight yellow flags, including three in the first 46 laps, went caution-free for the final 45 with myriad lead changes — Sunday set a record for 16 different leaders in a single Indy 500. Newgarden’s Penske teammate Will Power, one of the favorites in the Team Penske stable, crashed with 53 laps to go, which effectively set the stage for the frenetic final stanza of the race.

The race began after a four-hour delay from a heavy rain storm that pounded the speedway right at the scheduled 12:45 p.m. ET green-flag drop. That meant NASCAR Cup Series points leader Kyle Larson, attempting “The Double” along with the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, had a choice to make — abandon all the progress he’d made at the speedway the past two weeks for his day job, or stay and race.

Larson stayed in Indianapolis. After all, he qualified fifth for his first-ever IndyCar race and ran in the top 10 for most of the day, despite missing a shift on the first restart and plummeting 10 spots over one lap. A pit lane speeding penalty on his penultimate stop effectively ended his bid for the win. He finished 18th.

  1. Josef Newgarden (2), Team Penske Chevrolet

  2. Pato O’Ward (5), Arrow McLaren Chevrolet

  3. Scott Dixon (9), Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

  4. Alexander Rossi (7), Arrow McLaren Chevrolet

  5. Alex Palou (10), Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

  6. Scott McLaughlin (3), Team Penske Chevrolet

  7. Kyle Kirkwood (27), Andretti Global Honda

  8. Santino Ferrucci (14), A.J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet

  9. Rinus Veekay (21), Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet

  10. Conor Daly (24), Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports Chevrolet

  11. Callum Ilott (6), Arrow McLaren Chevrolet

  12. Christian Rasmussen (33), Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet

  13. Christian Lundgaard (45), Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

  14. Takuma Sato (75), Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

  15. Graham Rahal (15), Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

  16. Sting Ray Robb (41), A.J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet

  17. Ed Carpenter (20), Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet

  18. Kyle Larson (17), Arrow McLaren Chevrolet

  19. Romain Grosjean (77), Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet

  20. Helio Castroneves (06), Meyer Shank/urb-Abajanian Honda

  21. Kyffin Simpson (4), Chip Ganasi Racing Honda

  22. Agustin Canapino (75), Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet

  23. Colton Herta (26), Andretti Global/Curb-Abajanian Honda

  24. Will Power (12), Team Penske Chevrolet

  25. Marco Andretti (98), Andretti Herta/Marco & Curb-Abajanian Honda

  26. Ryan Hunter-Reay (23), Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports Chevrolet

  27. Felix Rosenqvist (60), Meyer Shank Racing Chevrolet

  28. Linus Lundqvist (8), Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

  29. Katherine Legge (51), Dale Coyne Racing Honda

  30. Marcus Armstrong (11), Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

  31. Tom Blomquist (66), Meyer Shank Racing Honda

  32. Marcus Ericsson (28), Andretti Global Honda

  33. Pietro Fittipaldi (30), Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

The dominant narrative during "The Month of May" at the Speedway is Kyle Larson's attempt at "The Double" — running the combined 600 laps and 1,100 miles of the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same day. Weather may wreak havoc on that endeavor (more on that later), but if he starts both races he'll be only the fifth driver ever to do so.

Kyle Larson drives into a turn during a practice session for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Monday, May 20, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
NASCAR's Kyle Larson qualified fifth for the Indy 500, which would be his first-ever IndyCar start. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Yahoo Sports' Nick Bromberg wrote earlier in the week on the primary storylines for the Indy 500, including:

  • Team Penske seeking 20th win: The owner of series and speedway has quite the trophy collection and, after sweeping all three spots on the front row this year, made it 20 victories in the race.

  • Honda's challenge of Chevrolet: Chevys took the top eight spots in qualifying and had a clear advantage when the engines were turned all the way up; Honda did not unseat them.

  • Former winners in the field: This year's grid featured eight past winners, including four-time victor Helio Castroneves. The Brazilian legend had a chance to break the record for most wins ever at the event, which would have lifted him above the likes of A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears and Al Unser.

Defending champion Josef Newgarden will start third on the grid and sports the best odds entering the weekend at 5-to-1 according to BetMGM.

Best odds to win
Josef Newgarden +500
Scott McLaughlin +550
Kyle Larson +675
Will Power +700
Alexander Rossi +800
Pato O'Ward +850

The top six betting favorites are either from the Penske or Arrow McLaren stables, with Indy 500 rookie and current NASCAR Cup Series points leader Kyle Larson sporting a +675 moneyline ahead of his first IndyCar start.

Being the longest continually running auto race in the United States (beginning in 1911), there are plenty of traditions that have built up over the years. Most notably they are:

  • Singing of "Back Home Again in Indiana" just prior to the command to fire engines.

  • Indianapolis Gordon Pipers bagpipe group plays the Borg-Warner Trophy into the speedway before the race and plays the winner to victory lane afterward.

  • Three-car wide starting grid (opposed to the usual two-wide for all other races).

  • Winner kisses the three feet of bricks marking the speedway’s finish line (which actually started after Dale Jarrett won NASCAR's Brickyard 400 in 1996).

  • Winner drinks (or douses themself with) a quart of milk of their choice: Whole, 2% or skim.

  • Winner is presented with a wreath featuring 33 orchids, representing the 33 cars entered.

  1. Scott McLaughlin (3), Team Penske Chevrolet, 234.220 mph

  2. Will Power (12), Team Penske Chevrolet, 233.917 mph

  3. Josef Newgarden (2), Team Penske Chevrolet, 233.808 mph

  4. Alexander Rossi (7), Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, 233.090 mph

  5. Kyle Larson (17), Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, 232.846 mph

  6. Santino Ferrucci (14), A.J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet, 232.692 mph

  7. Rinus Veekay (21), Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, 232.610 mph

  8. Pato O’Ward (5), Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, 232.584 mph

  9. Felix Rosenqvist (60), Meyer Shank Racing Chevrolet, 232.305 mph

  10. Takuma Sato (75), Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, 232.171 mph

  11. Kyle Kirkwood (27), Andretti Global Honda, 23.993 mph

  12. Ryan Hunter-Reay (23), Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports Chevrolet, 230.567 mph

  13. Colton Herta (26), Andretti Global/Curb-Abajanian Honda, 232.316 mph

  14. Alex Palou (10), Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, 232.306 mph

  15. Callum Ilott (6), Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, 232.230 mph

  16. Marcus Armstrong (11), Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, 232.017 mph

  17. Ed Carpenter (20), Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, 232.017 mph

  18. Kyffin Simpson (4), Chip Ganasi Racing Honda, 231.948 mph

  19. Marco Andretti (98), Andretti Herta/Marco & Curb-Abajanian Honda, 231.890 mph

  20. Helio Castroneves (06), Meyer Shank/urb-Abajanian Honda, 231.871 mph

  21. Scott Dixon (9), Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, 231.851 mph

  22. Agustin Canapino (75), Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, 231.847 mph

  23. Sting Ray Robb (41), A.J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet, 231.826 mph

  24. Christian Rasmussen (33), Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, 231.682 mph

  25. Tom Blomquist (66), Meyer Shank Racing Honda, 231.578 mph

  26. Romain Grosjean (77), Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, 231.514 mph

  27. Linus Lundqvist (8), Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, 231.506 mph

  28. Christian Lundgaard (45), Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, 231.465 mph

  29. Conor Daly (24), Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports Chevrolet, 231.243 mph

  30. Pietro Fittipaldi (30), Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, 231.100 mph

  31. Katherine Legge (51), Dale Coyne Racing Honda, 230.092 mph

  32. Marcus Ericsson (28), Andretti Global Honda, 230.027 mph

  33. Graham Rahal (15), Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, 229.974