- Late-race efforts from Dixon, Alex Palou and Kyle Kirkwood fall short in multi-car battle to the checkers
- Palou maintains championship points lead with fifth-place result
- Honda drivers hold three of the top-four places in the championship with Dixon second, Herta fourth
After a four-hour rain delay, the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 culminated in a five-car battle for the victory with Scott Dixon leading the Honda effort with a third-place finish.
A series of early-race caution flags led to multiple pit strategies among the 33 starters. As often happens in NTT INDYCAR SERIES competition, the various strategies converged in the last 40 laps as the battle for the win was fought out among five drivers, including Scott Dixon and Alex Palou.
Palou increased his championship points lead to 20 with a fifth-place finish, while Kyle Kirkwood overcame mid-race contact in pit lane and resulting penalty to finish seventh.
Honda Results for the Indianapolis 500
|
Chip Ganassi Racing Honda |
|
Chip Ganassi Racing Honda |
|
Andretti Global Honda |
|
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda |
|
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda |
|
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda |
|
Meyer Shank Racing Honda |
|
Chip Ganassi Racing Honda |
|
Andretti Global Honda [Did not finish-contact] |
|
Andretti Global Honda [Did not finish-contact] |
|
Meyer Shank Racing Honda [Did not finish-mechanical] |
|
Chip Ganassi Racing Honda [Did not finish-contact] |
|
Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda [Did not finish-mechanical] |
|
Chip Ganassi Racing Honda [Did not finish-mechanical] |
|
Meyer Shank Racing Honda [Did not finish-contact] |
|
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda [Did not finish-contact] |
|
Andretti Global Honda [Did not finish-contact] |
W - Indianapolis 500 race winner
R - Indianapolis 500 rookie
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Drivers' Championship Standings (unofficial, after 5 of 17 rounds)
|
183 points |
|
-20 |
|
-37 |
|
-49 |
|
-54 |
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers' Championship (unofficial, after 5 of 17 rounds)
| Chevrolet | 413 points |
| Honda | 386 points |
Quotes
Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) Finished fifth, continues to lead the Drivers' Championship standings by 20 points after five of 17 races: "It's frustrating because with this race, you only want to win it. For one moment, I thought we were really good. But then with the different strategies and needing to run really slow up front didn't help us. We had to save a little bit more fuel than other cars and that just put us back in the pack and we couldn't really move from there. I think nobody really was able to move from there. But still, happy we made it to a top five! We gave the top guys a hard time today, and I'm happy with P5."
Kyle Kirkwood (#27 Andretti Global Honda) Finished seventh: "I went to the back I don't even know how many times today. But, we still rallied! Our Honda power was great, fuel economy was impeccable, it's what was able to make us go a little bit longer than everyone and overcut a lot of people. I'm happy with that. I can't say I'm happy with seventh, but it keeps us in the points really. On to Detroit."
Takuma Sato (#75 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda) finished 14th: "Obviously, it was a difficult race but I think a huge congrats to the team. I think we made a great step forward the entire month. Unfortunately, perhaps we were a little draggy on the straight when things were cooler in the evening. It just didn't have speed. Mid-stint we were very strong. One time we had to go all the way to the back, but we fought back really strong and I'm really proud of all the boys for what they've done. In the end, the result wasn't what we expected or what we wanted, but I think we should be happy and take some positives and then hopefully we can move on. I'd like to thank Bobby [Rahal], Mike [Lanigan], and David [Letterman, team owners] for the opportunity to drive for them again. It was great to have AMADA with us on the No. 75 along with Panasonic, Deloitte and of course Honda."
David Salters (President, Honda Racing Corporation USA) on today's Indianapolis 500: "It was a disappointing day. All things considered, we weren't good enough on the day. We'll regroup,lick our wounds, focus our efforts, and come back. That's how racing works."
Next
After an incredible "Month of May" at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, culminating in today's 108th Indianapolis 500, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES continues next weekend with the Detroit Grand Prix race weekend, on the downtown riverfront street circuit in Detroit, Michigan.
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