Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Speedway, Ind.) — Josef Newgarden spun out on a restart during Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, smacked the outside wall of the 2.5-mile track and suffered a minor foot injury, as our Bob Pockrass reported.
On Lap 125 of 200, Newgarden, behind the wheel of his No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet, seemingly cut it too close in Turn 4, hit the rumble strip and spun out. His car was destroyed as he hit the SAFER barrier hard, knocking him out of the race.
Newgarden suffered a minor foot injury and was icing it, but he was released from the care center later in the day.
“We were going for it,” Newgarden said in a release from Chevrolet. “Obviously, we didn’t know how the weather was going to affect the second half of the race. It looked like there could be heavy rain before the end of it, and I wanted to put us [in] the best possible position no matter how it finished.
“The Shell Fuel Rewards Chevy was a work in progress for much of the first half, but it was starting to come to us. Just hate that we couldn’t finish it off.”
A couple of years ago, Newgarden won back-to-back Indianapolis 500s (2023, 2024), but after Sunday’s race, he now hasn’t finished two straight after dealing with a mechanical issue last year.
Felix Rosenqvist ultimately won the 110th Running of the Indy 500 on Sunday with a photo finish over runner-up David Malukas, Newgarden’s Penske teammate.
