Josef Newgarden finally etched his face onto the Borg-Warner trophy after incredible last lap pass on reigning champion Marcus Ericsson, to win by just 0.0974 seconds.
After three red flags and multiple multi-car incidents, Team Penske recorded their first Indianapolis 500 victory of the aero-screen era in a race packed with drama and intrigue.
Ericsson overtook Newgarden at the restart on lap 197 before a third red flag of the day was thrown as Ed Carpenter, Marco Andretti, Benjamin Pedersen and Christian Lundgaard came together at the back of the field. With just one lap to decide the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500, Newgarden passed Ericsson into turn 3, and held off the Swede to take the victory by less than a tenth of a second.
Behind them came the AJ Foyt Racing car of Santino Ferrucci in 3rd, with Alex Palou in 4th having been in the wall on pitlane early in the race after a bump with Rinus Veekay, whilst Alexander Rossi finished 5th.
Scott Dixon recovered from early woes to finish 6th, Takuma Sato was 7th, Conor Daly was 8th, Colton Herta overcame a penalty to finish 9th and Rinus Veekay rounded out the top 10.
Newgarden and Penske finally break Indianapolis duck
Josef Newgarden came into the Month of May looking to finally win the Indianapolis 500, after failing to on 11 previous attempts. In Newgarden’s illustrious career, this race always seemed to get away from him, and after qualifying 17th, things did not look hopeful for Team Penske.
However, as I reported in my pre-race notes, Penske certainly looked the strongest in terms of car-balance, and although lacking pure pace, they seemed to be the strongest when running in traffic.
This allowed Newgarden to make his way to the front, and pounce on any errors.
For Team Penske, this is their first Indianapolis 500 win since Simon Pagenaud in 2019, and the first since the Penske corporation took hold of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2020. From the top of the Pagoda, the Captain Roger Penske soaked in all the emotions, in a truly thrilling race.
Ericsson misses out on back to back wins by the smallest of margins
When the final caution flag came out on lap 197, it looked as if Marcus Ericsson had wrapped up a second Indianapolis 500 win, becoming the first repeat winner since 2002. However, as it would turn out, Indycar would have another trick up their sleeve.
Despite precedent being that 2 full warm up laps are done to allow tyres to get up to temperature, Indycar stewards were desperate to finish the race under green flag conditions, and so on lap 199 cars left pitlane, to allow for a 2.5 mile shootout on lap 200.
Ericsson got a great restart, catching Newgarden off-guard and led into turn 1. However, the Penske car was able to follow Ericsson through the first 2 corners, setting Newgarden up with an enormous slipstream down into turn 3.
The Swede was powerless to stop the Shell Powering Progress Team Penske car from passing him on the final lap, and as they rounded the final corners, Newgarden swerved towards the pit-wall to break the draft. Ericsson got close, but could not beat Josef Newgarden to the line, resigning him to second.
The Swede labelled the final restart neither ‘fair or safe’. Ericsson lost out by just 0.0974 seconds.
Also missing out was a tearful Santino Ferrucci, who finished third having run in the top five all day. The AJ Foyt racing driver drove superbly, but just missed out on the winning honours during the final stint.
McLaren and Ganassi miss out as Indianapolis proves a cruel mistress
Heading into the race, the 107th running of the Indianapolis looked to be a dogfight between 2 teams – Arrow McLaren and Chip Ganassi Racing. However, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a tough beast to tame, and all McLaren and Ganassi cars found the speedway challenging.
Scott Dixon was the first to encounter trouble, as his left rear tyre caused him immense vibrations, as he fell from 4th to 21st by lap 26. Dixon methodically worked his way back up to 6th in the race. He was followed over the line by Sato in 7th, who pulled off some great moves, but ultimately did not have the pace to fight up at the front.
In the McLaren camp, Kanaan was unable to stay up at the front in his final ever Indy500, as the 2013 champion ended up in 16th, and Alexander Rossi ended a strong race in 5th. However, the main stories would come from the other 4 cars from these two teams.
Incidents plague pre-race favourites
Alex Palou and Pato O’Ward were firm favourites to win the Indianapolis 500. However, both of their afternoons unravelled in unfortunate ways.
The first incident came on lap 100, as Veekay made contact with pole sitter Palou in the pits. The pits were busy following Sting Ray Robb’s accident, and Veekay lit up the rear tyres, sending him straight into Alex Palou. Alex Palou would drop to 28th, but fought back incredibly to finish in 4th, just a few car lengths off the lead.
The race of attrition was strong, and on lap 183 O’Ward led Ericsson and Rosenqvist, in scenes which very much resembled the previous year’s running of the event. However, as Rosenqvist was passed by Newgarden, the Swede was spooked, and ended up in the wall at turn 1. He collected Kyle Kirkwood in an enormous crash which saw the Andretti driver upside down for over 100 metres and a tyre hit onto the golf course, bringing out the first of three red flags.
Following the restart on lap 191, O’Ward was passed by both Ericsson and Newgarden on the front stretch, and in an act of desperation, tried to send one up the inside of Marcus Ericsson into turn 3. O’Ward was opportunistic with his move, however, and although he gave a fiery interview afterwards, he will look back on that incident with regret. O’Ward came to a stop in the short-chute between turns 3 and 4, and was collected by Augustin Canapino, ending the Argentinian driver’s race.
Indycar safety proves invaluable as Kirkwood saved from monster crash
As already mentioned, Kyle Kirkwood and Felix Rosenqvist had a huge crash on lap 181 which brought out the first of three red flags. As Rosenqvist spun, Kirkwood had to check up, almost sending him into the back of Santino Ferrucci, and although he missed the #14 car, he did indeed make contact with Rosenqvist.
The wheel tether designed to keep all tyres from coming off was instantly sheered, such was the force of the impact between Kirkwood and Rosenqvist. The tire flew over the catch-fence, but luckily for all, it went between 2 grandstands, instead hitting a parked car on the golf course outside of the speedway.
It was a big blow for Rosenqvist and Kirkwood as both drivers were running excellently in the top 6, but their days would come to an abrupt end.
Caution free opening laps descend into chaos
The 2023 Indianapolis 500 saw the first 91 laps go by caution free, as the race was an exhibition in clean and fair racing early on. However, Sting Ray Robb’s accident with Graham Rahal started all kinds of drama behind.
After the Palou and Veekay incident, Romain Grosjean was swallowed up by the wall at turn 2 for the second time in two years, on lap 149. Then the race unfolded in a way no one would’ve predicted.
The caution and red flag period for O’Ward’s shunt with Canapino and Pagenaud ended on lap 196, but the race was immediately red flagged once more after the multi car pile up on the front straight. Ericsson had taken the lead in that moment by mere inches, and those inches may have decided the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500.
That allowed Newgarden to be in a prime position to draft Ericsson on the final lap, and write his name into Indianapolis Motor Speedway legend.
Following the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES will head to Detroit for its race around a totally new street course on Sunday. As one champion is crowned in Josef Newgarden, Alex Palou leads the points standings heading to Detroit. Attention now turns to the championship, and who will claim the Astor Cup come September.
| Position: | Driver: | Team: | Classification: | Points: |
| 1 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | 2:58:21.9611 | 51 |
| 2 | Marcus Ericsson | Chip Ganassi Racing | +0.0974 | 44 |
| 3 | Santino Ferrucci | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | +0.5273 | 45 |
| 4 | Alex Palou | Chip Ganassi Racing | +0.7638 | 45 |
| 5 | Alexander Rossi | Arrow McLaren | +0.9934 | 37 |
| 6 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | +1.4316 | 35 |
| 7 | Takuma Sato | Chip Ganassi Racing | +1.5770 | 32 |
| 8 | Conor Daly | Ed Carpenter Racing | +1.8855 | 24 |
| 9 | Colton Herta | Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian | +2.2248 | 23 |
| 10 | Rinus Veekay | Ed Carpenter Racing | +3.2648 | 32 |
| 11 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | +3.4223 | 20 |
| 12 | Callum Ilott | Juncos Hollinger Racing | +4.0470 | 19 |
| 13 | Devlin DeFrancesco | Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport | +4.7432 | 17 |
| 14 | Scott McLaughlin | Team Penske | +5.0045 | 16 |
| 15 | Helio Castroneves | Meyer Shank Racing | +5.4631 | 16 |
| 16 | Tony Kanaan | Arrow McLaren | +5.7158 | 18 |
| 17 | Marco Andretti | Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian | +8.9800 | 13 |
| 18 | Jack Harvey | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | +1 Lap | 12 |
| 19 | Christian Lundgaard | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | +2 Laps | 11 |
| 20 | Ed Carpenter | Ed Carpenter Racing | Collision (Lap 197) | 10 |
| 21 | Benjamin Pedersen | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | Collision (Lap 196) | 11 |
| 22 | Graham Rahal | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | +5 Laps | 8 |
| 23 | Will Power | Team Penske | +5 Laps | 9 |
| 24 | Pato O’Ward | Arrow McLaren | Crashed (Lap 192) | 17 |
| 25 | Simon Pagenaud | Meyer Shank Racing | Collision (Lap 192) | 5 |
| 26 | Augustin Canapino | Juncos Hollinger Racing | Collision (Lap 192) | 5 |
| 27 | Felix Rosenqvist | Arrow McLaren | Collision (Lap 183) | 16 |
| 28 | Kyle Kirkwood | Andretti Autosport | Collision (Lap 183) | 5 |
| 29 | David Malukas | Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports | Crashed (Lap 160) | 5 |
| 30 | Romain Grosjean | Andretti Autosport | Crashed (Lap 149) | 5 |
| 31 | Sting Ray Robb | Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing | Crashed (Lap 90) | 5 |
| 32 | R. C. Enerson | Abel Motorsports | Retired (Lap 75) | 5 |
| 33 | Katherine Legge | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Crashed (Lap 41) | 5 |
Single Seater Space 