Kiwi Scott McLaughlin couldn’t convert his Indianapolis 500 pole position into a victory, while Scott Dixon produced a stunning drive to finish third in the 108th running of America’s great race.
McLaughlin’s teammate, Josef Newgarden, put his cheating scandal behind him to become the first back-to-back winner ofthe Indianapolis 500 since Helio Castroneves 22 years ago and give Roger Penske a record-extending 20th win in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing”.
After starting 21st on the grid, Dixon, of Chip Ganassi Racing, showed all his racecraft to take third as the highest-finishing Honda driver, and was followed by Alexander Rossi, O’Ward’s teammate at Arrow McLaren Racing. Chevrolet took three of the top four spots.
Having last week set the record for the fastest driver to take pole position in the race’s history, McLaughlin could manage only a sixth-place finish, with no pole-sitter winning the race since Simon Pagenaud in 2019.
The Tennessean passed Pato O’Ward on the final lap of the rain-delayed race to become the first driver to win consecutive Indy 500s since Castroneves did it for Penske in 2001 and 2002. And, just like last year, Newgarden stopped his Chevrolet-powered car on the track and climbed through a hole in the fence to celebrate with fans in the grandstands.
“I love this crowd. I’ve got to always go in the crowd if we win here, I am always doing that,” Newgarden said.
O’Ward slumped his head over his steering wheel in bitter disappointment. He was trying to become the first Mexican in 108 runnings to win the Indy 500.
Scott McLaughlin couldn't convert pole position into victory at the Indianapolis 500. Photo / Getty Images
It was an incredible bounce-back for Newgarden, who last month had his March season-opening victory disqualified because Team Penske had illegal push-to-pass software on its cars. Newgarden used the extra horsepower three times in the win and it took IndyCar nearly six weeks to discover the Penske manipulation.
Roger Penske, who owns the race team, IndyCar, the Indy 500 and the speedway, suspended four crew members, including team president Tim Cindric. The Cindric suspension was a massive blow for Newgarden because Cindric is considered the best strategist in the series.
Newgarden was thrilled to have the win and put the push-to-pass scandal behind him.
“Absolutely, they can say what they want, I don’t even care anymore,” he said.
The start of the race was delayed four hours by rain and it ruined Nascar star Kyle Larson’s chance to run “The Double”. The delay in Indy made him miss the start of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Although Larson was decent most of the day, two rookie mistakes led to an 18th-place finish.
Kiwi Marcus Armstrong lasted only six laps before he was forced to retire with an engine issue seen across the Honda-powered cars.
