Montoya outduels Power to win Indy 500
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| Juan Montoya wins his 2nd Indy 500 |
In another exciting Indianapolis 500 finish, Team Penske drivers Juan Montoya and Will Power swapped the lead back and forth several times over the final laps. Ultimately, Montoya took the lead for good with two laps remaining and held off Power to win the 99th running the biggest race in the world by 0.1046 seconds.
Chip Ganassi Racing's Charlie Kimball came home third with teammate Scott Dixon fourth. Graham Rahal rounding out the top-5.
It was the 2nd Indy 500 win for Montoya, his first win coming in 2000.
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Prior to the race you could feel the tension. A month filled with spectacular crashes and driver changes had left everyone pretty nervous before the race Well, let's cut to the chase for the rest – all cars stayed on the ground, no unexplained crashes, and all of the drivers will go home tonight. Hopefully all of the angst can now subside?
But admittedly, it did seem like the race was star-struck when Conor Daly's car went up on flames on parade laps, and finished 33rd. (Insert jokes here about it being a bacon grease fire….) Also, Alex Tagliani reported shifter problems as well, and did not initially roll away. Ultimately, the Canadian veteran would rally to finish a respectable 17th.
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| Sage Karam gets taken out by Takuma Sato |
His teammate Takuma Sato did not cover himself in glory when the race green. Wedging himself between the wall and Sage Karam, the Nazareth, PA native touched wheels with Sato and wound in wall. In the chaos that ended Karam's day, Ryan Briscoe spun after contact with James Davison, and Pippa Mann spun to avoid the others. Sato went 2 laps down, but unlapped himself and finished 13th — no doubt there is some conversation on what he could've done if he was on the lead lap with an intact car and didn't have to pit 10 times to repair damage. Briscoe finished 12th. Davison's day would get worse.
The lap-7 restart, or really, the start of the race, was waved off when Simona de Silvestro got into the back end of Juan Pablo too. JPM's rear bumper was knocked off, but as you already know, his day got better after he restarted at the rear of the field. De Silvestro finished 19th.
The green flag fell on lap 13, and Scott Dixon proceeded to put on a driving exhibition. For most of the day Dixon was the class of the field, leading a race-high 84 laps.
The second caution flag flew on lap 64. Bryan Clauson got high in turn 4 and found the wall. Clauson was unhurt in the incident. "…'Got up in the marbles and there was no saving it," commented Clauson afterwards. He too was uninjured.
On lap 71 the green flag flew for Simon Pagenaud, but by turn 3 Dixon passed him for the lead. And for a few laps the fans were treated with exciting racing among the Penske and Ganassi guys – Pagenaud, Dixon, Kanaan, Power, Castroneves, and Charlie Kimball all joining Dixon in the top-7 fun.
[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Last year's winner, Ryan Hunter-Reay, had a miserable day. On the lap-71 restart he was last man on the lead lap. He was lapped one point, pitting early all day long. Hunter-Reay's car lost the plot sometime in the previous week and the Andretti people never found it again. Hunter-Reay finished 15th.
In fact, only 2 of the top 11 finishers were Honda-powered. At the end of the race Graham Rahal charged to 5th, and Marco Andretti finished 6th. Ten of the last 11 still running at the end of the race were Honda-powered. While one can debate the relative strength of the Chevy teams (Penske, Ganassi and perhaps CFH Racing at Indy) the Honda effort was clearly slower than the Chevy cars – perhaps a couple of tenths of a second on average.
On lap 113, Ed Carpenter got a run on Oriol Servia and tried to pass the Spaniard on the inside going into turn 1. It was one of those racing deals – Oriol held his line, Ed was hoping that there was room, and the result was that both went into the wall. "I think he did to me what (James Hinchcliffe) did to him last year, "commented Servia commented. Carpenter finished 30th, a far cry from the high expectations, and Servia finished 29th.
During the ensuing pit stops, all three Dale Coyne Racing cars were involved in a single incident on pit road. James Davison was waved out just as Pippa Mann drove by, and Davison bounced off of Pippa's car and into teammate Tristan Vautier. Two of Vautier's crew were knocked over, with the worst of the damage going to Daniel Jang who was changing the right rear tire. Jang was flipped over in the impact, and ultimately taken to IU-Methodist Hospital for further treatment for an ankle injury. Greg Senerius was checked out and released from the infield hospital.
Once again, the green flag few on lap 124, with Dixon making his way back to the point by lap 129 Dixon. He would hold the lead until the next round of pit stops on lap 149. As a result of the pit stops, one of the favorites — fan and otherwise — to win the race wriggled and hit the wall on lap 153. Tony Kanaan's wing adjustments proved to be disastrous, and he did a quarter spin into the SAFER barrier, and slid backwards for a bit after making contact – but the car stayed on the ground. Kanaan was uninjured, and finished 26th.
Once again, a green flag, once again, a battle at the front, and once again Dixon came out in the lead. However, a yellow flag flew for debris on lap 167 (Sato was hit from behind), giving the entire field a perfect chance to make that last fuel and tire stop. And with the exceptions of Justin Wilson and Carlos Munoz, they did just that, setting up a shootout for the last laps of the race. And a shootout it was…
[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]On lap 177, Jack Hawksworth spun his car, collecting Sebastian Saavedra en route to the SAFER barrier in turn four. Saavedra came to rest sideways in front of Stefano Coletti, who hit the Colombian's car just behind the left front tire. Saavedra was checked out but will need more evaluation before he's cleared to drive. The other drivers were okay. Hawksworth finished 24th, Saavedra 23rd, and Coletti 25th.
Somewhere in the melee of the previous restart, Simon Pagenaud made contact with Justin Wilson as Wilson fell thru the ranks due to his no-pit strategy. Pagenaud had been among the lead pack before that, but was only able to struggle back to a 10th after leading 35 laps.
Also during this time Helio Castroneves was given a warning for blocking. If you follow this series you know that this wouldn't be the first time, and probably not the last time, Helio has been so warned. The Brazilian later finished 7th, complaining bitterly that he was blocked by Charlie Kimball, who quietly finished 3rd on the day and set fastest lap of the race. Castroneves remarked that he thought that he was the champion of blocking, but now he might have to reclaim his title. I guess this is the whole what goes around, sometimes comes around…
The restart on lap 185 lead to some of the best 5 laps of close crazy racing ever seen this side of a 15 lap USAC midget race (dirt, of course). Power lead Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Dixon and Carlos Munoz at the start, but Dixon fought back to take the lead before the end of lap 186. By lap 187 Power was back in lead, throwing a block on Dixon for the next couple of laps until Dixon retook the lead on lap 187.
However, by this time, Dixon's engine was overheating, with the handling going away. On lap 188, he was passed by Power and Montoya who then fought out a very close, exciting race to the end. Finally, on lap 197, Montoya took the lead and checked out. Dixon finished 4th, Power second, and of course, Montoya was heading for a drink of milk.
Results
| Pos | No | Name | Laps | Diff | Gap | Pits | FLap | Led | ST | FSpeed | Team |
| 1 | 2 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 200 | 0.0000s | 0.0000s | 9 | 40.244 | 9 | 15 | 223.635 | Team Penske |
| 2 | 1 | Will Power | 200 | 0.1046 | 0.1046 | 6 | 40.293 | 23 | 2 | 223.364 | Verizon Team Penske |
| 3 | 83 | Charlie Kimball | 200 | 0.7950 | 0.6904 | 6 | 39.698 | 10 | 14 | 226.712 | Chip Ganassi Racing Teams |
| 4 | 9 | Scott Dixon | 200 | 1.0292 | 0.2342 | 6 | 40.093 | 84 | 1 | 224.481 | Chip Ganassi Racing Teams |
| 5 | 15 | Graham Rahal | 200 | 2.3122 | 1.2830 | 6 | 40.365 | 0 | 17 | 222.966 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 6 | 27 | Marco Andretti | 200 | 2.5388 | 0.2266 | 6 | 40.312 | 0 | 8 | 223.261 | Andretti Autosport |
| 7 | 3 | Helio Castroneves | 200 | 2.7821 | 0.2433 | 6 | 39.998 | 2 | 5 | 225.009 | Team Penske |
| 8 | 6 | JR Hildebrand | 200 | 3.5631 | 0.7810 | 7 | 40.035 | 0 | 10 | 224.802 | CFH Racing |
| 9 | 21 | Josef Newgarden | 200 | 4.0281 | 0.4650 | 6 | 40.464 | 0 | 9 | 222.421 | CFH Racing |
| 10 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | 200 | 4.2148 | 0.1867 | 7 | 39.926 | 35 | 3 | 225.415 | Team Penske |
| 11 | 11 | Sebastien Bourdais | 200 | 5.3067 | 1.0919 | 6 | 40.492 | 0 | 7 | 222.267 | KVSH Racing |
| 12 | 5 | Ryan Briscoe | 200 | 5.6687 | 0.3620 | 7 | 40.342 | 0 | 31 | 223.091 | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports |
| 13 | 14 | Takuma Sato | 200 | 6.1678 | 0.4991 | 10 | 40.125 | 0 | 24 | 224.300 | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
| 14 | 24 | Townsend Bell | 200 | 8.5005 | 2.3327 | 6 | 40.232 | 0 | 23 | 223.704 | Dreyer and Reinbold – Kingdom Racing |
| 15 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 200 | 9.6481 | 1.1476 | 6 | 40.558 | 0 | 16 | 221.902 | Andretti Autosport |
| 16 | 98 | Gabby Chaves | 200 | 10.1016 | 0.4535 | 6 | 40.408 | 0 | 26 | 222.726 | BHA with Curb-Agajanian |
| 17 | 48 | Alex Tagliani | 200 | 11.2151 | 1.1135 | 7 | 40.556 | 2 | 20 | 221.913 | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
| 18 | 7 | James Jakes | 200 | 12.0431 | 0.8280 | 8 | 40.520 | 0 | 19 | 222.111 | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports |
| 19 | 29 | Simona de Silvestro | 200 | 12.7328 | 0.6897 | 8 | 40.741 | 0 | 18 | 220.910 | Andretti Autosport |
| 20 | 26 | Carlos Munoz | 200 | 39.8346 | 27.1018 | 8 | 40.454 | 3 | 11 | 222.474 | Andretti Autosport |
| 21 | 25 | Justin Wilson | 199 | 1 LAPS | 7.4264 | 8 | 40.525 | 2 | 6 | 222.085 | Andretti Autosport |
| 22 | 63 | Pippa Mann | 197 | 3 LAPS | 2 LAPS | 11 | 40.983 | 0 | 25 | 219.601 | Dale Coyne Racing |
| 23 | 17 | Sebastian Saavedra | 175 | 5.0491 | 0.0988 | 6 | 40.416 | 0 | 27 | 222.687 | Chip Ganassi Racing Teams |
| 24 | 41 | Jack Hawksworth | 175 | 5.4827 | 0.4336 | 7 | 40.332 | 0 | 28 | 223.148 | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
| 25 | 4 | Stefano Coletti | 175 | 5 LAPS | 0.2465 | 7 | 40.570 | 0 | 29 | 221.838 | KV Racing Technology |
| 26 | 10 | Tony Kanaan | 151 | 37.6492 | 1.9786 | 5 | 40.041 | 30 | 4 | 224.767 | Chip Ganassi Racing Teams |
| 27 | 19 | James Davison | 116 | 7 LAPS | 87.9440 | 4 | 40.752 | 0 | 33 | 220.845 | Dale Coyne Racing |
| 28 | 18 | Tristan Vautier | 116 | 9 LAPS | 0.0001 | 4 | 40.694 | 0 | 32 | 221.162 | Dale Coyne Racing |
| 29 | 32 | Oriol Servia | 112 | 27.4099 | 0.9231 | 3 | 40.181 | 0 | 13 | 223.989 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 30 | 20 | Ed Carpenter | 112 | 27.5141 | 0.1042 | 3 | 40.375 | 0 | 12 | 222.911 | CFH Racing |
| 31 | 88 | Bryan Clauson | 61 | 5 LAPS | 2 LAPS | 2 | 40.936 | 0 | 30 | 219.857 | KVSH Racing / Jonathan Byrd's |
| 32 | 8 | Sage Karam | — | 3.0703 | 0.0019 | 0 | 1:13.199 | 0 | 21 | 122.952 | Chip Ganassi Racing Teams |
| 33 | 43 | Conor Daly | — | 0 | No Time | 0 | 22 | 0.000 | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports |
Race Statistics
Winner's average speed: 161.341 mph
Time of Race: 3:05:56.5286
Margin of victory: 0.1046 of a second.
Cautions: 6 for 47
Lead changes: 37 among 10 drivers
Lap Leaders:
Dixon 1-18
Kanaan 19-20
Dixon 21
Kanaan 22-25
Dixon 26-34
Pagenaud 35-36
Power 37-38
Montoya 39-40
Dixon 41-66
Pagenaud 67-70
Dixon 71
Pagenaud 72
Kanaan 73-74
Dixon 75
Kanaan 76-97
Pagenaud 98-99
Castroneves 100-101
Pagenaud 102-123
Power 124
Pagenaud 125
Dixon 126-127
Pagenaud 128
Dixon 129-148
Pagenaud 149-150
Kimball 151-152
Tagliani 153-154
Kimball 155-162
Dixon 163-164
Montoya 165-166
Dixon 167-169
Munoz 170-172
Wilson 173-174
Power 175-186
Dixon 187
Power 188-191
Montoya 192
Power 193-196
Montoya 197-200
Verizon IndyCar Series Point Standings: 1. Montoya 272, Power 247, Dixon 211, Castroneves 206, Rahal 204, Newgarden 173, Bourdais 161, Kimball 160, Andretti 151, Kanaan 147.
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