INDIANAPOLIS—The Indianapolis 500 is the one race Josef Newgarden desperately wanted to win.
It’s basically the only race that matters to his boss.
Coming up empty for 11 consecutive years had become personal for the two-time IndyCar champion.
Newgarden finally broke through Sunday, though, winning the Indy 500 to extend team owner Roger Penske’s record to 19 victories—and the first since he bought Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Newgarden did it with an audacious pass of defending race winner Marcus Ericsson during a frantic, controversial 2.5-mile sprint to the finish.
“We’ve had a tough go here the last three, four years, and we’ve had a lot of questions to answer every day, after every qualifying weekend. We’ve had to come out and put on a brave face,” Newgarden said. “It’s just not an easy place to succeed at. I don’t necessarily subscribe to the fact that if you don’t win the 500, your career is a failure….