The greatest spectacle in racing seemed like an oddity. What usually is a red-carpet event, The Indianapolis 500 was held Sunday afternoon, with no fans in attendance.
The Indy 500 is held on Memorial Day weekend, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the race was moved to August 23rd. Marco Andretti was the pole-sitter looking to follow his grandfather’s footsteps to win the Indy 500. Next to him was Scott Dixon, who was looking to win his second Indy 500 win.
The start only lasted five laps before the first caution came out for debris from the No. 51 car of James Davison. Scott Dixon was the leader when he led the field back to green on the twelfth lap. The restart only lasted thirteen laps before Marcus Ericsson crashed hard at turn two to bring out the second caution of the day.
Simon Pagenaud was the leader when the race resumed on lap 31. Will Power, Colton Herta, and twice Scott Dixon all led before the third caution came out for a crash at turn three by Dalton Kellett on lap 84.
Just as the race was getting back underway on lap 92, another wreck happened this time involving Oliver Askew and Conor Daly for the fourth caution.
The race would finally get back to green at the halfway point of the race with Scott Dixon in the lead. Scott Dixon and Alexander Rossi traded the lead several times when the fifth caution would come out for an accident at turn one by Alex Palou. Alexander Rossi was penalized for an unsafe release and had to restart in the back of the field. Once cleanup was complete, racing resumed on lap 131 with Felix Rosenqvist as the leader.
Scott Dixon resumed the lead as the latest green flag run lasted thirteen laps before another caution came out for the sixth time as Alexander Rossi got loose and crashed at turn two.
The race would get back underway with 46 laps to go with Dixon in the lead. On lap 157, Takuma Sato took the lead away from Dixon. Dixon would reclaim the lead before losing it to Santino Ferrucci. James Hinchcliffe led a lap, and Zach Veach led fourteen laps before Sato took over the lead.
With four laps to go in the race, Spencer Pigot got loose at turn four and hit the outside wall before coming down the track and hitting the wall at the entrance on pit road. IndyCar officials did not put out a red flag to stop the race, and instead, kept the cars going during the caution. The laps winded down as Takuma Sato scored his second Indy 500 win under caution with Scott Dixon finishing in second place.
The rest of the top ten finishers were Graham Rahal third, Santino Ferrucci fourth, Josef Newgarden fifth, Patricio O’Ward sixth, James Hinchcliffe seventh, Colton Herta eighth, Jack Harvey ninth, and Ryan Hunter-Reay tenth. There were 22 lead changes and seven cautions for 52 laps.
Points standings as of now are: Scott Dixon leads Josef Newgarden by 84 points. Patricio O’Ward is third (-117), Graham Rahal fourth (-121), Simon Pagenaud fifth (-123), Takuma Sato sixth (-125), Colton Herta seventh (-145), Santino Ferrucci eighth (-154), Will Power ninth (-160) and Felix Rosenqvist tenth (-178).
The NTT IndyCar Series will now to the Wide World Technology Raceway at Gateway for a doubleheader weekend beginning next Saturday at 3 pm and Sunday at 3 pm both on NBCSN.
