|
 Juan Pablo Montoya, who turns 40 in September, joined the
Indianapolis 500's two-time winner's club with a late-race flurry.
He passed Team Penske teammate Will Power on the outside in Turn 1
on Lap 198 of 200 and held on for the win -- 15 years after his
first Indy victory.
The margin of victory was 0.1046 seconds, the fourth-closest in race
history.
Montoya won his first 500 as a series rookie in 2000, then went to
Formula One and NASCAR before joining Roger Penske's IndyCar Series
organization last year.
Penske went to victory lane for a record-extending 16th time and the
first time with Montoya, who won for Chip Ganassi the first time.
"This is too much," Montoya said in victory lane.
So much has changed for the Colombian, who was young and single the
first time he won at IMS. Now he is married with three children.
Montoya won despite being 30th early in the race after being forced
to pit with rear wing damage following contact from Simona De
Silvestro. Montoya wasn't happy with the Swiss driver, but he kept
his cool and recovered despite having three more pit stops than
Power.
There was no letting go of the lead once he got it in the late
going.
"You give that guy the bit and he'll run with it," Penske said.
Power settled for second with Charlie Kimball of Ganassi Racing
third and teammate Scott Dixon fourth. All four of those drivers are
powered by Chevrolet.
"Montoya got that last run and maybe I was a bit nice to him in
(Turn) 1 and lifted," Power said. "That was some serious racing
there, a lot of fun."
The top-finishing Honda was driven by Graham Rahal, who was fifth.
Marco Andretti was sixth with three-time 500 winner Helio
Castroneves seventh.
The race hadn't even started and there was trouble on the track.
Conor Daly's second 500 ended on the pace lap when it appeared his
car's exhaust system caught fire. Alex Tagliani had a shifting
problem, but he was able to leave the grid due to a push start.
In the first turn of the race, Takuma Sato tried to use his momentum
to go from the outside of Row 8 to the outside of Row 7, but that
didn't work. Sage Karam, who had the position, couldn't do anything
about already being two-wide, and three cars at the corner's exit
was too much. Karam and Sato collectively hit the wall.
Behind them, Ryan Briscoe tried to slow up and was clipped from
behind by James Davison. The two Australian drivers had started on
the last row as a result of not having qualified the car. Briscoe's
car wasn't damaged, and he soldiered on after refiring. Davison's
car wasn't hurt either.
Under the caution, De Silvestro ran into the right rear corner of
Montoya's car, breaking part of his rear wing. The broken piece came
off in Turn 4 before Montoya could pit.
On Lap 62, short-track champion Bryan Clauson had his car drift high
in Turn 4 and hit the wall. Clauson was not injured.
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Ed Carpenter's difficult month came to an end on Lap 113 when he hit
the wall in a crash including Oriol Servia. Carpenter tried to pass
Servia entering Turn 1 on the inside, and Servia came down on him.
The crash was reminiscent of last year's involving Carpenter and
James Hinchcliffe, although in that instance Carpenter was in the
other position. Neither driver was injured.
The crash was the second in the past eight days for Carpenter, who
destroyed a car in the morning practice before qualifying. That
crash, in Turn 2, was more dramatic as the car got airborne. His
team, CFH Racing, also crashed a car in practice with Josef
Newgarden.
In the caution for that accident, three Dale Coyne Racing cars were
on pit road at the same time. Pippa Mann was leaving her pit box
when Davison's car pulled out. They made contact, pushing Davison's
car toward Tristan Vautier's car, which was parked. Both right-side
crew members were knocked in the air, the one working the rear tire
taken off pit road in an ambulance.
Tony Kanaan, the 2013 race winner, was a top contender until he lost
control in Turn 3 following a pit stop. He had asked for and
received a wing change on that stop, and the change in downforce
must have caught him off guard. The back end of the car stepped out,
hitting the wall. He was not injured.
On Lap 176, three cars came together in a big crash. Things started
with Jack Hawksworth clipping the back end of Sebastian Saavedra.
They both slid to the wall, and Saavedra's momentum took him into
the path of rookie Stefano Coletti. The impact was fierce, with
Coletti hit Saavedra's car in the left wheel. Debris scattered and
the front of Coletti's car lifted slightly in the air, but it was
not the airborne crash of earlier in the month.
Saavedra's damaged car slid to the inside wall where there was
another impact. Saavedra had to be extricated from the car and
carried to the ambulance. Officials later confirmed a foot
contusion.
NOTES: The race was held without driver James Hinchcliffe, who
remained at an Indianapolis hospital following injuries suffered in
a post-qualifying practice crash last Monday. ... The race was
slowed by six caution periods for 47 laps. ... Juan Pablo Montoya
became the 11th driver to win the Indy 500 for Penske. The others:
Mark Donohue, Rick Mears (four times), Bobby Unser, Danny Sullivan,
Al Unser, Emerson Fittipaldi, Al Unser Jr., Helio Castroneves (three
times), Gil de Ferran and Sam Hornish Jr. ... Jeff Gordon never got
a chance to compete in this 500, but he drove the pace car for
Sunday's race before jetting off to Charlotte for the NASCAR Sprint
Cup Series event at Charlotte Motor Speedway. "This is awesome," he
said before getting in the car. ... Now-retired talk show host David
Letterman was on hand to watch his car, driven by Graham Rahal, who
finished fifth.
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