By Roy J. Akers- www.skyviewsports.net
After a great Month of Indy and a four hour rain delay, the Greatest Spectacle in Racing began.
The big storylines entering the race are:
- Will the Penske Cars dominate the race?
- Will Kyle Larson win or get a podium finish as a rookie?
- Will Josef Newgarden be the first driver to repeat as a back to back champ for the first time in over 20 years?
Checkered Flag
Josef Newgarden got off to a rough start of his own making after the Tampa- St. Pete Grand Prix race cheating mishap. Turning his season around, Newgarden kept his head up and looked to become the first driver since Helio Castroneves to be a back-to-back race winner of the Indianapolis 500. Dueling with Alexander Rossi, who has not won a race in two years with Pato O’Ward in the chase. Dueling back and forth over the last dozen laps, O’Ward and Newgarden had an outstanding duel and he held off O’Ward to win in consecutive Indy 500 races. Newgarden went into the stands and shook hands with fans, Newgarden said “we are always going into the crowd any time we win this race.” Teammates and thousands of fans roared their approval.
Dueling for the win
Pato O’Ward– O’Ward was also outstanding. O’Ward got stronger throughout the race and ended up leading at various times totaling eight times for 12 laps. O’Ward was visibly shaken after the race. “I’m fine. It’s been a tough month. So much goes into this race. I think I’m somebody that wears my heart on my sleeve. I don’t really hide anything. It’s just when you’ve come so close and it just doesn’t seem to — you just can’t seem to get it right, it’s just a lot of emotion I would say.” O’Ward is now tied for fourth in 2024 NTT points with Colton Herta.
Alexander Rossi won this race as a rookie in 2015. Rossi looked to be a player down the stretch but he finished as the third man to O’Ward and Newgarden. Rossi is eighth in NTT points.
Scott Dixon– Dixon was another driver in the mix for the 2024 Indianapolis 500 win. Dixon led four times for 12 laps in the race. None coming after lap 171. Dixon said second-place finishes can be devastating. “I don’t know. It’s a privilege to race here, right? I’m in a situation where I’m lucky to have won, but
Pato has come close a few times. It can go in cycles. As I’ve said many a times, finishing second sucks. It’s
horrible. You’d rather finish last I think almost at this place and be out of the race early.”
Alex Palou– Leading Indy Car in 2024 points, Palou steadily climbed into the top five and finished there. Still, Palou never led a lap in the race. He had a low key month in Indy this year. Palou leads Dixon by twenty points for the NTT Championship lead.
Scott McLaughlin dominated early in the race before settling into the top five. He led the race seven times for 61 laps and no laps after lap 130. He did not have dominant speed as the race entered the final 100 laps. He is sixth in NTT points after Indy. This is only nine points ahead of Newgarden.
Kyle Larson finished 18th. He ran in the top ten most of the day until a couple of rookie mistakes cost him twice in the last 50 laps. Larson he made a minor mistake going through the gears on an early restart and lost about 10 spots, then made a major one later in the race, when Larson locked up the tires entering pit road and was caught speeding. “I would definitely love to be back next year,” Larson said afterward. “Feel like I learned a lot. Made a couple of mistakes early there with the restart — not sure what I did there. Feel like I did a really good job after that and was able to learn a lot.”
Top 15 Finishers at the 2024 Indianapolis 500
Vets banging away
Four-time winner Helio Castroneves and two-time winner Takuma Sato (14th) banged on each other on lap 73. These are two great drivers that had side to side contact and thankfully, both drove off with no damage.
Ryan Hunter-Reay collided with Scott Dixon after getting loose on lap 207. Reay did a great job saving his DREYER & REINBOLD RACING / CUSICK MOTORSPORTS machine. There was talk of a penalty to Scott Dixon for a block but it appeared Hunter-Reay crashed into Dixon, spun onto the grass and did a 360 and cleanly made his way into the pits. Great save by RHR. He wanted a penalty on Dixon during a pit road interview.
Insane Restarts
Four wide restarts in turn one early in the race created drama and left broadcasters, teams and fans wondering what was in store as the 500 cranked out laps. Scott McLaughlin put a move on Sting Ray Robb on lap 64 that was breathtaking.
Six drivers were eliminated in multiple incidents and most involved rookies. The opening lap saw three cars go down. Tom Blomqvist, Marcus Ericsson, and Pietro Fittipaldi all crashed out of the race
In the Pits
Colton Herta – ANDRETTI GLOBAL W/ CURB-AGAJANIAN crashed out of the race on lap 87. He was sailing through the field but something appeared to break and sent him skidding into the wall. NBC said it appeared he could still race as his ride appeared fine from the eye other than the nose that could be replaced on pit row. Herta has had plenty of mistakes over the years. His temper runs hot but he decided not to speak with reporters after the race.
Honda Problems
Honda had seven cars go down in the first 55 laps of the race. Crashes and mechanical failures from Katherine Legge and Marcus Armstrong thinned the field. Felix Rosenqvist blew an engine on lap 54.
He Said It… Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Shell Team Penske Chevrolet:
“I knew we could win this race again; it was just a matter of getting it right. There’s no better way to win a race than that. I got to give it up to Pato (O’Ward) as well. He’s an incredibly clean driver. It takes two people to make that work. It’s not just a good pass, it’s also someone that you’re working with that’s incredibly clean. I have to give hat’s off to Pato (O’Ward). He could have easily won this race, too, but it just fell our way. I’m just so proud of everybody. I’m proud of this whole team. Everyone that partners with us, Team Chevy. Just a great day.”
Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 167.763 mph
Time of Race: 2:58:49.4079
Margin of victory: 0.3417 of a second
Cautions: 8 for 46 laps
Lead changes: 49 among 18 driversLap Leaders:
McLaughlin, Scott 1 – 23
Robb, Sting Ray 24 – 26
Daly, Conor 27 – 31
Robb, Sting Ray 32
McLaughlin, Scott 33 – 34
O’Ward, Pato 35
Daly, Conor 36 – 42
McLaughlin, Scott 43 – 48
Rasmussen, Christian 49
McLaughlin, Scott 50 – 57
Daly, Conor 58 – 64
Robb, Sting Ray 65 – 76
McLaughlin, Scott 77 – 87
VeeKay, Rinus 88 – 91
Rahal, Graham 92
Lundgaard, Christian 93
VeeKay, Rinus 94 – 96
Lundgaard, Christian 97 – 99
Newgarden, Josef 100 – 112
McLaughlin, Scott 113 – 125
Newgarden, Josef 126 – 129
McLaughlin, Scott 130
Rossi, Alexander 131
Ferrucci, Santino 132
Dixon, Scott 133 – 134
O’Ward, Pato 135 – 136
Dixon, Scott 137 – 140
Daly, Conor 141 – 143
Robb, Sting Ray 144 – 150
Dixon, Scott 151 – 154
O’Ward, Pato 155
Rossi, Alexander 156 – 159
O’Ward, Pato 160
Rossi, Alexander 161 – 163
O’Ward, Pato 164
Rossi, Alexander 165
O’Ward, Pato 166 – 169
Dixon, Scott 170 – 171
Palou, Alex 172
VeeKay, Rinus 173
Kirkwood, Kyle 174 – 175
Ilott, Callum 176
Carpenter, Ed 177 – 179
Larson, Kyle 180 – 183
Simpson, Kyffin 184 – 186
Rossi, Alexander 187
Newgarden, Josef 188 – 190
Rossi, Alexander 191 – 192
Newgarden, Josef 193 – 194
O’Ward, Pato 195
Newgarden, Josef 196 – 198
O’Ward, Pato 199
Newgarden, Josef 200NTT INDYCAR SERIES Point Standings:
Palou 183, Dixon 163, Power 157, O’Ward 134, Herta 134, McLaughlin 131, Newgarden 122, Rossi 120, Rosenqvist 116, Kirkwood 115, Lundgaard 102, Ferrucci 95, Rahal 87, VeeKay 87, Armstrong 81, Grosjean 79, Lundqvist 73, Simpson 70, Ericsson 68, Canapino 56, Rasmussen 51, Fittipaldi 50, Harvey 47, Blomqvist 46, Robb 46, Ilott 39, Theo Pourchaire 38, Daly 21, Larson 21, Sato 19, Carpenter 14, Luca Ghiotto 14, Castroneves 10, Colin Braun 10, Nolan Siegel 10, Hunter-Reay 6, Andretti 5, Legge 5
Next UP for NTT Indy Car…
The Detroit Grand Prix is up next on June 3rd, 2024.
I will be there with video and print stories and great photos.