“The 500 stands alone and if you are not able to capture one, the career really is a failure.”Īfter the race was red-flagged for the third time in the final 16 laps, Newgarden was moved from fourth to second by race control following a review of the running order at the time the yellow flag waved. “But I think a lot of people view this race and this championship with that lens,” Newgarden continued. I don’t necessarily subscribe to the fact that if you don’t win the 500, your career is a failure.

“It’s just not an easy place to succeed at. We’ve had to come out and put on a brave face,” Newgarden said. “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. Newgarden did it with an audacious pass of defending race winner Marcus Ericsson during a frantic, controversial 2.5-mile sprint to the finish.

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.

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