Rain Delay Drama: The Thrilling 108th Indianapolis 500 Race Recap

The 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 began much later than race fans would have liked. Drivers, their teams, and spectators from near and far had gathered in Speedway, Indiana, and they would not be deterred by a little rain.

        Team Penske had secured the entire first row of the starting grid with Scott McLauglin qualifying for the pole position, followed by teammates Will Power and Josef Newgarden. Roughly four hours after the initially-planned start time, the green flag finally dropped, but before the 33 qualifiers could even make it around turn one on the first lap of the race, Tom Blomqvist, a rookie representing Meyer Shank Racing, spun out of control, taking Marcus Ericsson with him. Pietro Fittipaldi was bumped while trying to dodge the spinout and his car was also removed from the race before even rounding turn two. Eleven total drivers would be removed from the race before its completion.

        There were 49 lead changes throughout the 200-lap contest, and all 18 drivers to hold the lead position finished the race on the lead lap. The final laps were highly contested, with Arrow McLaren teammates Alexander Rossi and Pato O’Ward trading the lead position back and forth until Josef Newgarden, the returning champion, swooped in to challenge O’Ward for first place. Rounding turn three, Newgarden overtook O’Ward and sealed the back-to-back trip to Victory Lane. This was merely the fourth time in event history that the winner was decided by a pass made in the final lap.