Indy 500 rides its luck as Penske wins again

Three late-race red flag stoppages and a flying wheel that almost wrought unspeakable horror could have defined the 107th Indianapolis 500. Instead, a single-lap shoot-out triggered both delirium and consternation as Josef Newgarden drafted past 2022 winner Marcus Ericsson to deliver a 19th Indy 500 victory for his boss Roger Penske – and the first since ‘The Captain’ took ownership of the grand old superspeedway.
The consternation was Ericsson’s, but it wasn’t missing out on a $420,000 (£340,000) bonus for what would have been a consecutive win that was upsetting the Swede. It was the call to throw a third red flag with effectively just two laps left instead of finishing under an anti-climactic caution – and thus handing him the win – that made him sour.

The decision left time for just one warm-up lap straight out of the pits and a final 2.5-mile dash to the chequered flag. Leader Ericsson made what looked a strong restart, but Newgarden’s Chevrolet-powered Dallara got a run out of Turn 2 and was comfortably ahead before they swooped into Three. The 32-year-old double IndyCar champion then took a leaf from Ericsson’s tactics of violently weaving down the final stretch to secure a first Indy 500 victory at his 12th attempt, from 17th on the grid.
Ericsson immediately played the safety card post-race. “There wasn’t enough laps to go to do what we did,” complained the Chip Ganassi Racing driver. “I don’t think it’s safe to go out of the pits on cold tyres for a restart when half the field is still trying to get out on track when we go green. I don’t think it’s a fair way to end the race.”

But in front of 325,000 fans on IndyCar’s biggest day of the year – and with Penske now pulling the strings – finishing the race under yellows was never a likely outcome.

As he celebrated victory, the boss could also count his lucky stars for a terrifying near-miss. When Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist hit the wall and spun, Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood had no way of avoiding a collision, the tag sending his Dallara into the wall and on to its side. Alarmingly, Kirkwood opened his helmet visor while still upside down in the accident, as sparks flew beside him. But more concerning was the flight of his left-rear wheel, which defied its Xylon tethers to detach and soar over the debris fence. That its trajectory took it between the giant Turn 1 grandstand and a packed hospitality building to land harmlessly on the bonnet of a parked car was sheer luck.

Beyond Ericsson, others to be left ruing what might have been included Pato O’Ward, who caused the second red flag after being squeezed out of an ill-considered move on the ex-Formula 1 driver into Turn 1. O’Ward and Rosenqvist ran together at the front for much of the race and either one could have scored McLaren’s first Indy 500 win since Johnny Rutherford in 1976, in the team’s 60th anniversary year. Instead, both buckled to pressure. Then there was 88-year-old AJ Foyt, who watched his driver Santino Ferrucci just fall short of what would have been an even sweeter fairy-tale win. The stars ’n stripes-liveried driver finished a close third.