The race was stopped for the first time with 14 laps to go when Felix Rosenqvist (Arrow McLaren) spun at Turn 1 while in fourth position, touching the Andretti Autosport car of Kyle Kirkwood which slammed into the wall and overturned in turn 2.
This set up an eight-lap sprint before the checkered flag, although another red flag was needed as Pato O’Ward (Arrow McLaren) collided with Marcus Ericsson (Ganassi) and slammed into the wall. A third attempt resulted in a yellow flag almost immediately with a multi-car rear-end collision.
Newgarden then triumphed in a last-lap shootout, passing Ericsson in turn 3 to claim his first Indy 500 win.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s poleman Alex Palou led the 32-car field to the green flag (while Graham Rahal pitted with a battery failure) ahead of Rinus VeeKey (Ed Carpenter Racing) and Rosenqvist. Scott Dixon (Ganassi) jumped up to fourth, ahead of Santino Ferrucci (AJ Foyt Racing) and the McLarens of Alexander Rossi and Pato O’Ward. Rahal rejoined the race two laps later.
VeeKay passed Palou, taking the lead at the start of the third lap, while Team Penske’s Will Power moved straight up to eighth from 12th on the grid. Palou returned the favor to VeeKay one lap later in Turn 1 and the two traded the lead throughout the first stint.
Dixon crashed to the back of the field with left tire vibration after 20 laps. On lap 25, Dixon dropped from fourth to 14th position and made a pit stop on lap 27, rejoining in 32nd position. Romain Grosjean was another early pit stop with handling problems.
Palou was the first of the leaders to pit on lap 30, alongside Ferrucci, while VeeKay stayed out until lap 32, one lap ahead of Rosenqvist, with Rossi, O’Ward and Power continuing longer of all their opponents.
Palou retook the lead, ahead of VeeKay and Ferrucci, while Rosenqvist – who suffered from blistering tire problems – dropped to fourth, ahead of Rossi, O’Ward and Power. Last year’s winner, Marcus Ericsson, moved up to eighth place a quarter of the way ahead of Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden.
Palou made his second stop on lap 62, with VeeKay extending by two laps as before, braving a tire vibration in this stint. The McLarens extended their times again, with Power consuming the most fuel of all.
Josef Newgarden, Team Penske Chevrolet, podium
Photo by: Chris duMond / Motorsport Images
Rosenqvist leapfrogged the front two at this point, with O’Ward moving in his slipstream to make it a 1-2 McLaren, and then the Mexican took the lead by himself on lap 70. Ferrucci moved up to third position, passing Palou, who seemed to be struggling with balance in this stint, and then VeeKay.
The first yellow light came on lap 92, when Sting Ray Robb ended up against a wall in turn 1, after having joined Rahal and climbing high on the marbles.
Rosenqvist led the field into the pits, ahead of O’Ward, Ferrucci, VeeKay, Rossi and Palou. But drama wasn’t long in coming: VeeKay warmed up the rear brakes and spun as he exited the pits, pushing Palou against the wall. Palou at that point had to pit to replace the front wing.
Rossi nearly did a similar spin further back, nearly hitting Power, who had been narrowly missed by VeeKay moments later.
Callum Ilott, who started 27th in his Juncos Hollinger Racing car, pitted on lap 91 and fortuitously found himself leading the group on lap 100, halfway through the race.
Rosenqvist immediately retook the lead, while O’Ward quickly edged past Ilott. Ericsson leapt up to fourth with an incredibly energetic restart on the outside of turn 4, before Ferrucci overtook him for third one lap later. Power, on the other hand, risked making a crash at turn 1 and fell to 16th place.
VeeKay was assessed a drive-through penalty for his pit stop error, while Dixon moved up to 14th and Palou to 18th.
With 90 laps to go, O’Ward led Rosenqvist – the McLarens swapped the lead every three laps to favor fuel consumption – ahead of Ferrucci, Newgarden, Ericsson and Colton Herta, the latter moving up 15 places from the grid with his Andretti Autosport car.
Race pace dropped to a shocking 207mph with 75 laps to go, as strategists began to delay the final two pitstops. Worryingly for him, O’Ward was the first leader to stop on lap 130, due to his team’s inability to fill the tank correctly, a couple of laps ahead of Rosenqvist.
Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Photo by: Josh Tons / Motorsport Images
Ericsson and Rossi went to great lengths for fuel, while Herta’s chances were lost here when he was restarted directly into the side of team-mate Grosjean.
With a significantly changed order, Rosenqvist found himself ahead of Ericsson, Newgarden, Ferrucci, Rossi and O’Ward. Ed Carpenter and teammate Conor Daly were close behind, ahead of Andretti’s best bet, Kirkwood, and Takuma Sato (CGR). Palou was 11th and in great shape, while Dixon was 13th.
Ericsson took the lead on lap 139, preceding Newgarden, Rosenqvist and Rossi with 50 laps to go, when the second caution was triggered due to a serious accident by Grosjean exiting turn 2. O’Ward was therefore the first among the leaders to pit.
The Mexican was among those who needed to get as much gas as possible due to the refueling problem, such as Sato, Carpenter, Power and Ilott. In the meantime, Palou moved into seventh position, returning to the game.
The green flag flew again with 43 laps to go, with Ericsson ahead of Newgarden, Rosenqvist, Rossi, Ferrucci and Kirkwood. Ferrucci spun on the outside of turn 1 to take third position, while Ericsson and Newgarden swapped the lead in front of him. Ferrucci passed the inside of Newgarden in turn 1 and set off in pursuit of Ericsson, whom he passed in similar fashion with 40 to go. Power hit the wall in turn 2, breaking his rear suspension, but the race continued without neutralizations.
Ferrucci pitted as the race leader with 31 laps to go, but suffered a slow stop and one of his mechanics allowed the right front wheel to cross the white line, although he escaped without a penalty for drive-through. Ericsson, Kirkwood, Newgarden and Rosenqvist pitted for the last time one lap later.
As Ericsson and Rosenqvist battled up front, O’Ward squeezed in behind them after making his extra pitstop, while Newgarden and Rossi battled hard for fifth position.
O’Ward passed Rosenqvist for second position with 18 to go and passed Ericsson to take the lead into turn 3 one lap later, just before the third caution of the race after Rosenqvist hit the wall at the corner 1.
Losing control, due to bent suspension and steering, the Swede spun and touched Kirkwood, whose left rear wheel flew over the crash nets, before slamming into the wall and flipping over. Luckily, Kirkwood’s wheel flew over the crowded grandstand and struck a parked car, injuring no one.
Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Autosport Honda
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
The race was red-flagged to clean up the circuit, with O’Ward getting ahead of Ericsson, Newgarden, Rossi, Ferrucci and Palou at the start.
The first restart was called off, but on the second go O’Ward had Ericsson on his tail and moved to the outside, but Newgarden got around both to take the lead.
O’Ward attacked Ericsson in a very late move into Turn 3, where the two collided with the McLaren driver spinning and then into the barriers. Further back Simon Pagenaud (Meyer Shank Racing) and McLaughlin collided, with Pagenaud going into the wall. As if that weren’t enough, Agustin Canapino (JHR) also spun in an attempt to avoid the accident and his car, with no brakes, slammed into the rear of O’Ward’s stationary car.
This set the pace for a restart with just four laps to go with Newgarden leading from Ericsson, Ferrucci, Rossi, Palou and Dixon, but a crash at Turn 4 – involving Carpenter, Rahal, Christian Lundgaard, Marco Andretti and Benjamin Pedersen – triggered the caution again. Ericsson took the leader’s title when he crossed the finish line, ahead of Newgarden, Ferrucci, Rossi and Palou.
At this point it became clear that it was a one-lap race for Indy 500 glory and Ericsson immediately took the lead by a wide margin into Turn 1, while Palou took fourth over Rossi.
But Newgarden managed to make a big run into Turn 2 and pass Ericsson into Turn 3, holding him off to the finish by 0.0974s – the fourth closest finish in Indy 500 history.
Ferrucci placed third, ahead of Palou, Rossi, Dixon, Sato, Daly, Herta and VeeKay.
