Josef Newgarden Wins Back-to-Back Indianapolis 500

Josef Newgarden became the sixth driver to win the Indianapolis 500 consecutively, beating Pato O’Ward in a race that started after a four-hour delay due to a storm.

The two-time NTT INDYCAR series champion, Newgarden, drove his Penske team Chevrolet to victory by 0.3417 seconds over O’Ward's Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Both exchanged the lead four times in the last eight laps.

"I knew we could win this race again," said Newgarden. "I must also recognize Pato, he is a very clean driver. It takes two to make this work."

Newgarden, who started from the third position, is the first driver to win back-to-back since Helio Castroneves did it in 2001 and 2002 for Team Penske. This victory also marks the 20th for Team Penske in the Indianapolis 500. Additionally, Newgarden received a $440,000 bonus from BorgWarner.

Scott Dixon, six-time NTT INDYCAR series champion, finished third, followed by Alexander Rossi. The defending champion, Alex Palou, completed the top five. The difference between the top five was only 1.5079 seconds, with the last 46 laps running without yellow flags.

The highest-placed rookie was Christian Rasmussen, who finished in 12th place. The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion, Kyle Larson, finished 18th in his Indianapolis 500 debut, penalized for speeding in the pits.

Newgarden celebrated similarly to last year, climbing into the stands at the start-finish line, where he was greeted by fans. The victory came in a challenging month, without team Penske president and strategist Tim Cindric, nor engineer Luke Mason, who were suspended. Jonathan Diuguid and Raul Prados replaced them.

"Let them say what they want, I don't care anymore," Newgarden said about the criticism following the discovered violations. "I am very proud of this team. They made it happen. Luke, Tim, even though they're not here today, are an important part of this."

There were seven yellow flag periods in the first 117 laps. As intensity increased in the second half of the race, the pace was frenetic and clean, with 32 lead changes in the last 70 laps. Kyffin Simpson was the last to relinquish the lead on lap 184, setting up a battle among Newgarden, O’Ward, Rossi, and Dixon.

Newgarden took the lead on lap 193, with O’Ward moving to second place. The two drivers swapped positions multiple times in the final laps, with Newgarden making the decisive pass on the final lap.

O’Ward, who also finished second in 2022, commented: "We were very close again. I pushed the car to the limit, and although I thought we wouldn't make it, we came out well in the turns."

This race was one of the few in history decided by a last-lap pass. Newgarden repeated his feat from last year, when he passed Marcus Ericsson on lap 200.

The winner of the NTT P1 Award, Scott McLaughlin, led 64 laps before finishing sixth. There were 649 on-track overtakes, the highest number since 2017.

The next race in the NTT INDYCAR series is the Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear on Sunday, June 2, on the streets of Detroit.