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 Newgarden, a two-time IndyCar Series champion.
The 32-year-old from Nashville finally broke through Sunday, winning the Indy 500 to extend team owner Roger Penske's record in "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing" to 19 victories — and the first since he completed his purchase of Indianapolis Motor Speedway three years ago. Newgarden did it with an audacious pass of 2022 Indy 500 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.
"But I think a lot of people view this race and this championship with that lens. The 500 stands alone, and if you are not able to capture one, the career really is a failure."
After the race was red-flagged for the third time in the final 16 laps, Newgarden was moved from fourth to second by race control after a video review of the running order at the time the yellow flag waved. He took advantage of his improved position to slingshot around Ericsson on the restart and hold him off from there.
Newgarden brought his Chevrolet-powered car to a stop on the front stretch, jumped out and found a hole in the fence, celebrating by diving into part of a crowd estimated at more than 300,000. He then climbed the fence to mimic longtime Team Penske driver and four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves.
Newgarden is the first American to win the Indy 500 since Alexander Rossi in 2016. He led five of the 200 laps and beat Ericsson in the fourth-closest finish in 107 years with a margin of victory of .0974 second.
"I'm just so thankful to be here. I started out as a fan in the crowd, and this place is amazing, regardless of where you're sitting," Newgarden said after pouring a bottle of whole milk over his head. "Everyone kept asking why I hadn't won this race, and they look at you like you're a failure if you haven't won it. I knew I was capable. I knew I could."
Ericsson finished second in a Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing, and he immediately criticized IndyCar's decision to hold a one-lap shootout to the checkered flag. The 32-year-old Swede, a former Formula One driver, believed the race should have ended under caution and with him the winner, rather than having the green flag fly on the first lap out of the pits.
"I think it wasn't enough laps to go to do what we did. I don't think it's safe to go out of the pits on cold tires for a restart when half the field is sort of still trying to get out on track when we go green," Ericsson said. "I can't agree with that."
AP photo by Darron Cummings / Josef Newgarden takes the checkered flag ahead of Marcus Ericsson to win the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.Newgarden and Ericsson were followed by Santino Ferrucci, who gave 88-year-old A.J. Foyt his team's best finish in the iconic race that Super Tex won four times since Kenny Bräck reached victory lane in 1999.
Ganassi's Alex Palou, the favorite who started in pole position, finished fourth after recovering from a crash on pit road, and Rossi was fifth on what was an otherwise disappointing day for Arrow McLaren.
What was on pace to be the fastest Indy 500 in history ended with three red flags in the final 16 laps.
The first came for a crash involving Felix Rosenqvist and Kyle Kirkwood, who were near the front of the lead pack. Kirkwood went upside down into the catch fence, beginning a terrifying, spark-filled ride through the short chute.
One of Kirkwood's wheels sailed over the fencing and narrowly cleared the packed grandstand. Nobody was injured. His tire smashed the hood of a Chevrolet in a parking lot next to the grandstand.
"All I know is I was up in the fence, which is never a good thing in IndyCar. Thank God these cars are so safe," Kirkwood said. "I saw sparks flying everywhere. That's the scary part. You're upside down and you're kind of stuck at that point."
On the restart, Pato O'Ward — who already had a restart called off for setting too slow of a pace — was shuffled from first to third as Newgarden shot to the lead. O'Ward and Ericsson were then side by side entering the third turn on the oval and touched wheels, and O'Ward slid into the wall and out of the race in another disappointment for Arrow McLaren.
Agustin Canapino did a 360-spin behind him, snapping a break line. He was unable to stop and collided with O'Ward's car.
"I was a little too nice there," O'Ward said. "I just feel so bummed for the team. ... I got onto the apron to give (Ericsson) room. I got squeezed. Yeah, I won't forget that."
Suddenly, the race had its second red flag with six laps to go.
Last year's race was red-flagged with five to go, when Ericsson was leading O'Ward to the finish. Ericsson held him off the rest of the way, and many criticized O'Ward for not making a more aggressive move for the win.
Newgarden didn't make the same mistake with Ericsson out in front of him.
As Newgarden crossed the yard of bricks, Penske and his entire executive committee jumped up and down in celebration on an elevated platform near the start-finish line. And for a moment, the 86-year-old team owner looked like a child filled with joy.
"The last two laps, I forgot about being the track owner and said 'Let's go for it,'" said Penske, who joined Newgarden in an open-top Chevy Camaro for a victory lap around the speedway.
Penske's parking spot inside the speedway has been marked simply "18" for the last four years, since Simon Pagenaud's 2019 Indy 500 triumph. Even as Newgarden completed his media obligations after Sunday's race, the number had already been changed to 19.
"I think back about coming here in 1951 with my dad to see the first race of my own with him," Penske said, "and of course never realized that many, many years would pass and I would be here today, our family as the steward of the track, and also to have 19 wins."