Pour it on
Newgarden takes advantage of chaos to win first Indy 500
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis 500 is the one race Josef Newgarden desperately wanted to win.
It’s basically the only race that matters to his boss.
Coming up empty for 11 consecutive years had become personal for the twotime IndyCar champion.
Newgarden finally broke through Sunday, though, winning the Indy 500 to extend team owner Roger Penske’s record to 19 victories — and the first since he bought Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Newgarden did it with an audacious pass of defending race winner Marcus Ericsson during a frantic, controversial 2 ¹/₂ -mile sprint to the finish.
“We’ve had a tough go here the last three, four years, and we’ve had a lot of questions to answer every day, after every qualifying weekend. We’ve had to come out and put on a brave face,” Newgarden said. “It’s just not an easy place to succeed at. I don’t necessarily subscribe to the fact that if you don’t win the 500, your career is a failure.
“But I think a lot of people view this race and this championship with that lens,” Newgarden continued. “The 500 stands alone and if you are not able to capture one, the career really is a failure.”
After the race was redflagged for the third time in the final 16 laps, Newgarden was moved from fourth to second by race control following a review of the running order at the time the yellow flag waved.
He took advantage of his improved position to slingshot around Ericsson on the restart and hold him off from there.
Newgarden brought his Chevrolet-powered car to a stop on the front stretch, jumped out and found a hole in the fence, diving into part of a crowd estimated at more than 300,000 to celebrate. Then, Newgarden climbed the fence to mimic longtime Team Penske driver and four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves.
The 32-year-old from Nashville is the first American to win the Indy 500 since Alexander Rossi in 2016. He led five of the 200 laps and beat Ericsson in the fourth-closest finish in 107 years with a margin of victory of .0974 seconds.
“I’m just so thankful to be here. I started out as a fan in the crowd, and this place is amazing, regardless of where you’re sitting,” Newgarden said after pouring a bottle of whole milk over his head. “Everyone kept asking why I hadn’t won this race, and they look at you like you’re a failure if you haven’t won it. I knew I was capable. I knew I could.”
Verstappen wins Monaco GP
In Monaco, Formula One champion Max Verstappen’s lights-to-flag victory at the Monaco Grand Prix gave the Red Bull driver his fourth victory of the season and a record 39th overall for the team as he extended his championship lead to 39 points over teammate Sergio Perez on Sunday.
Verstappen’s wins have all been with Red Bull since his debut for the team at the Spanish GP in 2016 when he became the youngest F1 winner at 18 years old.
“It’s great, I never thought I’d be in this position in my career,” Verstappen said. “It’s better than I could have imagined for sure.”
Coca-Cola 600 rained out
The Coca-Cola 600 was postponed until Monday due to wet weather.
The Cup Series race will begin at 3 p.m. and the Xfinity Series race will begin at 11 a.m. —