Indy 500: Josef Newgarden uses last-lap pass to win weather-delayed race for second straight year

CNN
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Josef Newgarden used a scintillating final-lap pass to win Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 for the second straight year in a race that started four hours late because of severe weather.

“I’m very proud of the team. They crushed it. I mean crushed it. … They came here with the fastest cars. We worked our tails off,” Newgarden told NBC Racing Radio.

Indy 500, one of the finest and Upcoming events Of the motorsport calendar, it started four hours late on Sunday afternoon after lightning and Severe weather Organizers temporarily halted pre-race celebrations, evacuated fans from the grandstands and waited for rain to dry out.

The race was initially scheduled to start at 12:45 PM ET but was postponed to 4:45 PM.

When the match started, the fans were in joy, with passes at the front of the pitch and in the pack. There was a race record of 16 different leaders and 87 leadership changes. Newgarden and Pato O’Ward battled for the win in the closing laps, with Newgarden passing the Arrow McLaren driver on the final drive around the 2.5-mile circuit.

Newgarden is Sixth driver to win consecutive races in Indianapolis and the first since Hélio Castroneves in 2002.

The win gave team owner Roger Penske 20 victories in “the greatest spectacle in racing.”

The Indy 500 regularly shares a date with the famous Monaco Grand Prix, known as the “crown jewel” of the Formula One calendar. Earlier Sunday, a hometown hero Charles Leclerc won the race On the streets of Monte Carlo for the first time.

NASCAR Cup points leader Kyle Larson is attempting to drive the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day — a feat made more difficult by a weather delay.

Larson raced at Indy and led some laps but finished 18th as a rookie in the Indianapolis 500.

He qualified an impressive fifth place as a driver for Arrow McLaren.

After driving in the Indy 500 and doing post-race media, Larson will head to Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina in an attempt to finish two major motorsport races on the same day, although he will have to take over from another driver who will take over. 600 start location. The green flag for the NASCAR race came at 6 p.m. ET.

Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion, is trying to become Fifth driver to start both races. John Andretti was the first to do so in 1994, with Robbie Gordon and Tony Stewart later winning the double on five and two occasions respectively. It was most recently attempted by Kurt Busch in 2014.

“The Double” is considered one of the most difficult challenges in motorsport due to the mental and physical toll of driving 1,100 miles in one day, overcoming the differences between open-wheel and stock cars and the grueling travel schedule.

“I don’t want to just be referred to as the greatest NASCAR driver of all time or the greatest race car driver of all time, I want to be known as someone who can get into all different types of cars and be great at what they do.” “I do,” Larson said in 2021, per NASCAR.

Castroneves was one of only four drivers to win the Indy 500 four times, and he was looking for history Sunday when he lined up at the Brickyard for the 24th time.

The Brazilian’s victory on Sunday would have made him stand alone as the only person to have won the race on five occasions. Castroneves, 49, was aiming to become the oldest 500 winner ever and doesn’t plan to hit the brakes anytime soon.

Despite high hopes, he finished 20th on Sunday.

“(Racing at 50) has always been a goal of mine, but I don’t want to just do that.” He told IndyStar. “I feel like we can still be very competitive, and not just to win, but to make people go crazy here, and that’s what I want to do.

“Right now, I want to get on with it, because this is the best I know how. I’m sure this will change, but I don’t think it will in the near future.