INDIANAPOLIS — Josef Newgarden put his cheating scandal behind him to change into the primary back-to-back winner of the Indianapolis 500 since Helio Castroneves 22 years ago and provides Roger Penske a record-extending twentieth win in “The Best Spectacle in Racing.”
The Tennessean passed Pato O’Ward on the ultimate lap of Sunday’s rain-delayed race to change into the primary driver to win consecutive 500s since Castroneves did it for Penske in 2001 and 2002. And similar to last yr, Newgarden stopped his Chevrolet-powered automotive on the track and climbed through a hole within the fence to have fun with fans within the grandstands.
“I really like this crowd. I’ve got to all the time go in the gang if we win here, I’m all the time doing that,” Newgarden said.
O’Ward slumped his head over his steering wheel in bitter disappointment. He was attempting to change into the primary Mexican in 108 runnings to win the Indy 500.
It was an incredible bounceback 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 3 times within the win and it took IndyCar nearly six weeks to find the Penske manipulation.
Roger Penske, who owns the race team, IndyCar, the Indy 500 and the speedway, suspended 4 crew members, including Team President Tim Cindric. The Cindric suspension was a large blow for Newgarden as Cindric is taken into account the very best strategist within the series.
Newgarden was thrilled to have the win and put the push-to-pass scandal behind him.
“Absolutely, they will say what they need, I do not even care anymore,” he said.
The beginning of the race was delayed 4 hours by rain and it ruined NASCAR star Kyle Larson’s probability to run “The Double.” The delay in Indy made him miss the beginning of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Although Larson was decent many of the day, two rookie mistakes led to an 18th-place finish.
Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing finished third because the highest-finishing Honda driver and was followed by Alexander Rossi, O’Ward’s teammate at Arrow McLaren Racing. Chevrolet took three of the highest 4 spots.
This Article First Appeared At www.autoblog.com
