Josef Newgarden laments what could have been in Indy 500 three-peat bid
Special to FOXSports.com
INDIANAPOLIS — There's a reason why no driver in history has won three straight Indy 500s.
Because it's hard.
Even with perhaps the fastest car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Sunday's 109th Indianapolis 500, Team Penske's Josef Newgarden was starting in the back row. It came after INDYCAR Series officials heavily penalized Team Penske for modifying the rear attenuator.
Newgarden knew he would have to put on the race of his life to win his third-straight Indy 500. Newgarden had a lot working against him, even with the fastest car.
The winning driver has never won the Indianapolis 500 from 28th or lower. Newgarden was starting 32nd.
Newgarden laid back at the start of the race on the first green-flag lap because he saw the potential of a crash at the back of the pack.
Sure enough, Marco Andretti and Jack Harvey were involved in a crash in Turn 1 that knocked Andretti out of the race. Harvey was able to continue but Newgarden was nowhere near the calamity when it occurred.
Once the race finally settled down, Newgarden proved he had one of the fastest cars on the track. The No. 2 Shell Chevrolet raced its way through the field to as high as sixth place on Lap 128.
He had the right strategy to fight for the win over the final 32 laps.
Newgarden made his scheduled pit stop on Lap 133 and had an issue. He returned to the track but came back down pit road on Lap 134 and never returned to action.
"It looks like some fuel pressure issues, so I'm not sure," Newgarden said after he climbed out of the car. "It's some kind of anomaly or something we've never seen before.
"It's just unfortunate for the whole group. It's a team sport, which that very much shows it. You guys were definitely right on pace for what you had to do today to have a shot to make history."
Newgarden reflected on what could have been on Sunday.
"It's tough to not have a shot here at the end," he said. "It's a team sport. It takes everything to win here.
"I'm still immensely grateful to run at Indianapolis. As tough as it is to take, I still feel grateful to be out here today. I just wish we had a chance to fight for it."
Newgarden began his day loudly booed by many fans during driver introductions over the latest controversy surrounding the team. Although he seemed to use that for motivation earlier in the week, he remained determined to give it a shot at becoming the first driver to win three-straight Indy 500s.
It's a record that will remain unachieved, for now.
Bruce Martin is a veteran motorsports writer and contributor to FOXSports.com. Follow him on X at @BruceMartin_500 .
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(Times are ET; %-downtown street course, &-road course, *-oval) March 2, St. Petersburg, Florida % (Winner: Alex Palou) March 23, Thermal, California & (Winner: Alex Palou) April 13, Long Beach, California % (Winner: Kyle Kirkwood) May 4, Birmingham, Alabama & (Winner: Alex Palou) May 10, Indianapolis & (Winner: Alex Palou) May 25, Indianapolis 500 * (Winner: Alex Palou) June 1, Detroit % (Winner: Kyle Kirkwood) June 15, St. Louis * (Winner: Kyle Kirkwood) June 22, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin & (Winner: Alex Palou) July 6, Lexington, Ohio & (Winner: Scott Dixon) July 12, Newton, Iowa * (Winner: Pato O'Ward) July 13, Newton, Iowa * (Winner: Alex Palou) July 20, Toronto %, noon July 27, Monterey, California &, 3 p.m. Aug. 10, Portland &, 3 p.m. Aug. 24, Milwaukee *, 2 p.m. Aug. 31, Nashville *, 2:30 p.m. IndyCar drivers for 2025 (Team and drivers; *-Indianapolis 500 only) A.J. Foyt: Santino Ferrucci, David Malukas Andretti Global: Colton Herta, Kyle Kirkwood, Marcus Ericsson, Marco Andretti* Arrow McLaren: Pato O'Ward, Nolan Siegel, Christian Lundgaard, Kyle Larson* (with Rick Hendrick) Chip Ganassi: Kyffin Simpson, Scott Dixon, Alex Palou Dale Coyne: Jacob Abel, Rinus VeeKay Dreyer & Reinbold: Ryan Hunter-Reay*, Jack Harvey* Ed Carpenter: Alexander Rossi, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter* Juncos Hollinger: Conor Daly, Sting Ray Robb Meyer Shank: Felix Rosenqvist, Marcus Armstrong, Helio Castroneves* Prema: Callum Ilott, Robert Shwartzman, Romain Grosjean (reserve) Rahal Letterman Lanigan: Graham Rahal, Louis Foster, Devlin DeFrancesco, Takuma Sato* Toby Sowery (reserve) Team Penske: Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin, Will Power IndyCar Series 2025 points championship points (Through 12 of 17 races) Alex Palou, 515 points Pato O'Ward, 386 Scott Dixon, 342 Kyle Kirkwood, 335 Christian Lundgaard, 300 Felix Rosenqvist, 298 Marcus Armstrong, 267 Will Power, 244 Colton Herta, 244 Santino Ferrucci, 237 David Malukas, 237 Scott McLaughlin, 234 Rinus Veekay, 211 Josef Newgarden, 207 Christian Rasmussen, 207 Alexander Rossi, 194 Kyffin Simpson, 191 Conor Daly, 184 Graham Rahal, 169 Marcus Ericsson, 164 Nolan Siegel, 156 Louis Foster, 150 Robert Shwartzman, 145 Sting Ray Robb, 120 Devlin DeFrancesco, 115 Callum Ilott, 111 Jacob Abel, 88 Takuma Sato, 36 Helio Castroneves, 20 Ed Carpenter, 16 Jack Harvey, 12 Ryan Hunter-Reay, 10 Kyle Larson, 6 Marco Andretti, 5 This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar complete results, leaderboard, crashes, starting grid at Toronto
