Josef Newgarden celebrated his first Indianapolis 500 win Sunday evening.
He cashed in Monday on the race’s annual victory dinner.
The 2-time IndyCar champ earned a report $3.666 million for the most important win of his profession, a rise of greater than $500,000 over final yr’s race winner, Marcus Ericsson. Newgarden’s win additionally prolonged Staff Penske’s report whole to 19.
Indy’s whole purse of $17,021,500 additionally broke final yr’s mark by greater than $1 million.
Newgarden wins first Indy 500, race was red-flagged 3 times
Race organizers estimated greater than 330,000 attended the race. It was the second-largest race-day crowd since 2000 although precise attendance figures are usually not introduced.
“That is the best race on the planet, and it was an particularly monumental month of Might that includes packed grandstands and intense on-track motion,” Penske Leisure President and CEO Mark Miles mentioned in a press release. “Now, we now have the perfect finish card doable for the 107th Operating of the Indianapolis 500: a record-breaking purse for the historical past books.”
Ericsson took house $1.043 million because the runner-up after developing simply brief to be the primary back-to-back 500 winner since Helio Castroneves in 2001-02. If the race completed below yellow as a substitute of a last lap restart, Ericsson would have collected an extra $420,000 from BorgWarner. Ericsson is in a contract yr with Chip Ganassi Racing and has mentioned he wish to stick with the crew.
Benjamin Pedersen continued A.J. Foyt Enterprises large month as he was chosen because the race’s rookie of the yr. He collected $215,300, together with a $50,000 bonus for the award. Pedersen’s teammate, Santino Ferrucci, made the six-car pole shootout and completed third within the race – the perfect displaying by a Foyt driver since 1999.
Ferrucci is the one driver who has accomplished all 200 laps and posted a top-10 end in every of the previous 5 500s.
The common payout for Sunday’s race was $500,600, which additionally topped final yr’s common by greater than $15,000.
Indy 500’s ending creates controversy and conspiracies
It is referred to as “The Best Spectacle in Racing” as a result of the Indianapolis 500 is meant to be some of the dramatic and tough races on the planet.
Positive, it is an car race. Nevertheless it’s additionally very a lot leisure, even when Marcus Ericsson vehemently disagrees.
The controversial ending to the 107th working of the Indy 500 gave Josef Newgarden the win, and Newgarden drives for Roger Penske, who owns the race and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. So when IndyCar went to an unprecedented one-lap shootout that allowed Newgarden to win the race, nicely, Ericsson was livid and conspiracy theorists went wild.
Ericsson, trying to develop into the primary back-to-back Indy 500 winner in 21 years, was the chief when a crash introduced out the yellow flag. IndyCar ran three laps below warning earlier than deciding to throw the purple flag for an Indy 500-record third time, stopping the race for cleanup for the third time within the last 16 laps.
Ericsson needed the race to finish below yellow, with the Swede declared the winner, and was livid with IndyCar’s choice to arrange a 2.5-mile dash across the observe to determine the most important race on the planet.
And, if IndyCar was going to throw the purple, then Ericsson felt the collection wasted two laps below warning – which created the state of affairs wherein the vehicles got here off pit street to take the inexperienced and white flags on the similar time.
Some discovered all of it a bit suspicious.
Newgarden, in spite of everything, is a featured star in “100 Days to Indy,” the docudrama concerning the race produced by Penske Leisure. And he gained a race on the observe owned by his boss due to a ruling by race management by no means earlier than seen fairly the way in which it was executed till Sunday.
Newgarden dismissed his win being scripted or aided by the proprietor of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“The place does it cease? When is it too comfy a situation for Roger proudly owning the observe and Roger’s automobile successful the race?” Newgarden informed The Related Press on Monday. “I do not assume he’ll ever win that battle. Somebody goes to search out purpose, each time, to deliver us down.
“I’ve a lot respect for Roger,” Newgarden continued. “I do not assume there’s anybody on the planet who cares extra about integrity than Roger Penske.”
Penske mentioned after the race that he is tried to divorce himself because the speedway and IndyCar proprietor from competitors choices that have an effect on the collection and his race crew. He spent a long time on the timing stand for dozens of successful Penske drivers, however since buying the speedway and collection at the beginning of 2020, he has shifted his focus from competitors.
But he famous that below Penske management, custom has shifted away from purity to attempting to make sure the 300,000-plus spectators see a race to the checkered flag.
“I had nothing to do with (the purple flag), clearly,” Penske mentioned. “We’ve a gaggle that’s actually the officers of the observe, and to me, we have mentioned this earlier than, I feel all of you had mentioned, we need to see a checkered flag, not a yellow flag.”
In 107 years, the Indy 500 has ended below the yellow flag or purple flag (for rain) simply 19 occasions, however 10 of these endings have been since 2000. Since Penske’s first 500 as proprietor in 2020, each final yr and this yr have had late purple flags to arrange a race to the end.
There was no purple flag in 2020, when the race ended below warning and was gained by Takuma Sato as helpless Scott Dixon needed to keep in keeping with no probability to strive a late cross for the win. Dixon, a six-time IndyCar season champion however solely one-time winner of the five hundred, mentioned this week that the defeats that finish below warning are those that hassle him most.
IndyCar mentioned in 2020 there weren’t sufficient laps remaining to cease the race for a last restart following a crash with 5 to go; 4 years later, the collection now thinks two laps is sufficient for a purple flag.
Tony Kanaan gained in 2013 below warning, and despite the fact that he is some of the common winners in observe historical past, he acknowledged that some discovered the end of his crowning achievement anticlimactic. Kanaan on Sunday sympathized with Ericsson and third-place finisher Santino Ferrucci due to the odd one-lap shootout however insisted it was finest for the followers.
“Guys like Santino and Marcus are mad, and you’ve got Josef that is blissful. However we’d like to consider the present,” Kanaan mentioned. “The most important grievance we now have yearly was we should not end a race below the yellow. That is going to harm somebody. Really 33 guys are pissed proper now and one man is blissful. That is the fact.
“Might have they’ve referred to as (the purple) earlier? Sure. Might have, ought to have, would have, however we ended below inexperienced, and that is what the followers saved asking us each time. I gained below yellow, and everyone hated it sooner or later.”
Ericsson is indignant – and rightfully so – however he should not be shocked that IndyCar needed the race to finish below inexperienced. His grievance really needs to be what number of laps have been wasted earlier than deciding to cease the race and an absence of ordinary pointers from the collection as to how purple flags shall be utilized universally going ahead.
