He struggled to find his wife in the midst of celebrating. But after falling to the back of the pack on Lap 8, Juan Pablo Montoya found himself in first place Sunday as he won his second Indianapolis 500.
Montoya, Will Power and Scott Dixon were in a constant back and forth throughout the final 15 laps, but when teammates Power and Montoya passed Dixon on Lap 188, the two never gave it back. It then came down to the tandem as Power took control during Lap 193 and Montoya grasped it for good with three laps to go.
“This is what racing is all about,” Montoya said, “awesome racing down to the wire.”
In Lap 8, Montoya had to pit for repairs of his rear wheel guards. He fell back to 30th — last place in the field — but slowly made his way back up to third place by Lap 114.
Throughout the thick of the race, Dixon, Tony Kanaan and Simon Pagenaud led the most laps. Kanaan had a single car accident and did not finish with 49 laps to go. Dixon went on to finish fourth and Pagenaud 10th.
But when it came down to the final stretch, it was neck and neck.
“With eight laps to go, I had no idea if I had a shot to win it,” Montoya said.
Power, who finished second, said being in first place may have hurt him the long run, but he wanted to stay in control in case a caution flag ended the race. He said it came down to an imbalance, as he didn’t spend enough time in second place understanding what he needed from his car.
“Anywhere else I’d be happy with second, but here? It sucks,” Power said.
Charlie Kimball finished in third place Sunday while Graham Rahal finished fifth. Both had goals of winning for their respective owners. Kimball said his team wanted to win one for Chip Ganassi on his birthday, while Rahal wanted to win an Indianapolis 500 for owner David Letterman, who retired this week as host of the Late Show.
Rahal was the highest placing Honda driver, and grimaced when asked about Honda’s struggles this season as Chevrolet has won five of six IndyCar races this season.
“I was hoping the top four would wipe themselves out,” Rahal said jokingly. Seconds later, Kimball chimed in that he was hoping the top two would do the same.
Less than one lap into the race, Sage Karam and Takuma Sato got into an accident that resulted in Karam exiting the race. Combined with Montoya’s and Simona de Silvestro’s repair troubles on Lap 8, the first 12 laps of the Indianapolis 500 were under caution.
Another frightening incident Sunday occurred when Pippa Mann collided with James Davison while exiting pit row. The collision resulted in two members of Tristan Vautier’s crew being injured. One crew member was cleared with a foot injury and the other was sent to IU Health Methodist hospital for more examination on his ankle injury.
Besides these incidents, the drivers consistently said it was good, clean race that they enjoyed taking part in. After a three car wreck resulted in a caution, the final 15 laps entailed of back and forth racing.
“I hope everybody enjoyed it,” Rahal said. “It was pretty thrilling for us.”
