Newgarden Goes Back-To-Back in a Lit Indianapolis 500

49 lead changes, 18 leaders, 8 cautions & a back-to-back winner – all after a 4-delay.

Good night from one of the most memorable #Indy500’s in history. @IMS @WISHNews8 @IndyCar pic.twitter.com/azUuOxm3RO

— Angela Moryan (@AngelaMoryanTV) May 27, 2024

Indy 500 Recap: Newgarden Breaks Hearts

Newgarden is back as he conquered the Indianapolis 500 for a second straight year. Just like in 2023, Newgarden had to edge it out as he broke the hearts of Pato O’Ward and his fans. The Mexican appeared to have it won, but Newgarden overtook him in the final lap and hung on to win the race. With the victory, Newgarden jumped up to seventh in the driver standings.

The two-time IndyCar Series champion badly needed a victory to keep him in the running. He was just behind teammate Scott McLaughlin as far as the IndyCar betting odds to win the Indy 500. Speaking of him, McLaughlin led the most laps with 66, but he faded down the stretch and finished sixth.

“It’s hard not to feel selfish – congrats to Team Penske – but this place, you just want to do it for yourself. I’m proud of the team,” McLaughlin said after the race. “Congrats to Josef, firstly. Hell of a drive just bombed Pato around the outside of (turn) three. Gigantic, humongous things to do that. For me, we had a clutch drama all day, unfortunately. That’s just how it is.”

Team Penske secured another victory as they were favored per the online sports betting odds. Unfortunately, Power crashed out of the race along with many others.

Rough Day For Honda, Rookies

A total of 11 drivers retired at the Indy 500 and eight of them were via contact. Power got taken out after 146 laps while Herta crashed on Lap 86. It was a bad beat for Herta backers as the driver had 12/1 odds to win and looked to be pushing. But he lost control of his Andretti Global Honda, hit the SAFER barrier and spun out.

Herta was just one among nine drivers with Honda engines who failed to finish. Marco Andretti and Marcus Ericsson are two other noted drivers who were forced to retire. Katherine Legge and Felix Rosenqvist suffered mechanical issues. And three of the six rookies were also among the retirees: Linus Lundqvist, Marcus Armstrong and Tom Bloqvist.

Scott Dixon, the 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner, was the top Honda driver of the race. He finished third just behind O’Ward and Newgarden. Alex Palou, the defending IndyCar Series champion, finished fifth overall and second among drivers with Honda engines.

Raining on Kyle Larson’s Parade

Going back to rookies, Kyle Larson had a less-than-ideal Sunday. The rain delay thwarted his plans of pulling off “The Double” as he was not able to race NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600. Larson finished 18th at the Brickyard and was the second-highest-placing rookie behind Christian Rasmussen.

“I’m very, very thankful for the experience, obviously. Everything about the two weeks and all that was great until today,”

Larson told Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass when asked about his “Double Duty” attempt. “It’s just sad. Everything that could’ve went wrong today, went wrong.”

Larson had short odds to win the Indy 500 at +650 just before the race started. That made him the third-likeliest winner behind McLaughlin and Newgarden. But he just could not maintain the pace and finished 9.48 seconds behind the winner.

Still, it was inevitable for betting online as Larson remains one of motorsports’ most popular figures. He’ll be back.

Odds and information are accurate at the time of writing. Please check with official sources for the latest updates before placing any bets.

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