Despite a four-hour rain delay, the clouds cleared and an intense battle ended as the sun set on more than 300,000 spectators at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Newgarden, who started third, was forced to make a dramatic pass on the final lap, producing a dramatic outside move around the Arrow McLaren’s O’Ward at turn three to win by 0.3417 seconds. He became the first driver to make a running back since Hélio Castroneves did so with Team Penske in 2001 and 2002.
O’Ward, who made several late laps before making his own effort to take the lead into the first turn on the final lap, could only sit with his helmet in his hands after his second-place finish.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, the 2008 Indy 500 winner, moved up from 20th to third, ahead of Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi in fourth, with two-time defending IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou in fifth.
The 200-lap race featured 16 different leaders, with leader Scott McLaughlin leading a race-high 66 before finishing sixth.
The battle for victory was heated when Newgarden caught Dixon with 24 laps to go, who rode his bike to the front of the pack as they were both ahead of Rossi and Ord.
Dixon showed signs of struggle as O’Ward passed him for third with 13 laps to go entering Turn 1, trailing Newgarden and Rossi. Newgarden held the lead with 10 points remaining, with Rossi, Ord, Dixon and Kyle Kirkwood in the top five.
Patricio Oward, Arrow McLaren Chevrolet
Photography: Philip Abbott / Motorsport pictures
O’Ward made a late move as Rossi entered turn one for second with seven laps remaining and was then caught and gone by Newgarden with five laps remaining, only for Newgarden to fire back to retake the lead.
O’Ward fell back several times despite his run on Newgarden, sitting in second place coming into the white flag.
The Mexican went to the outside of Newgarden coming out of Turn 4 and took the lead into Turn 1. Newgarden then made a strong run into Turn 2 as the two went wheel-to-wheel and completed an outside pass into Turn 3 to charge. To win.
In a highly attritional race, Tom Blomqvist sparked a multi-car crash on the opening lap between 2022 Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson and Pietro Fittipaldi.
Despite his promising rise from 13th to second, Colton Herta’s sixth attempt at the Indy 500 ended abruptly after he was involved in a crash in Turn 1 on Lap 88.
Although the accident was similar to Blomqvist’s, Herta, who was behind leader McLaughlin, never touched the inside curb before losing his No. 26 Andretti Global Honda. Although he was sent back to the garage, Herta returned several laps after the halfway point.
Will Power’s lap 147 charge ended in a hard crash in turn two. His No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet was running on the outside of Ed Carpenter Racing rookie Christian Rasmussen into turn one when the rear end snapped and hit the wall.
Kyle Larson finished 18th, but was forced to miss the NASCAR Coca-Cola Cup Series 600 due to Indy 500 start delays – denying him a proper attempt at “The Double.”
Indy 500 – Race Results
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