Ryan Hunter-Reay celebrates after winning the 98th running of the Indianapolis 500. [Joe Jennings Photo]
Indianapolis, Ind. – Hard-charging Ryan Hunter-Reay pushed hard in the final laps of the Indianapolis 500 to win “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” for the first time. To do so, he had to be aggressive over the last six laps in a winner-take-all road to victory.
The final laps were a crowd pleaser, and there wasn’t a fan standing as they wanted to witness the intense competition among three drivers.
On a sunny day, the race drew one of the largest crowds in many years.
In a late-race tussle with Helio Castroneves, Hunter-Reay bested the popular Brazilian to win the iconic race in the second finish ever, a scant 6/100ths of a second.
“This is a dream come true. I can’t believe it. It hasn’t sunk in yet,” Hunter-Reay said. “I’m a proud American boy, for sure. Nobody can stand on their own without a good team behind them. It is not every day you have a shot to win the biggest race in the world.”
Regarding the action with Castroneves, he added, “There was no practice for what we did at the end. Everything we did was all new. I didn’t know if we had what it took, but I’ve got the best team. Winning it under the green like that was just fantastic; we raced each other clean but really hard. I think it was a fantastic race. I hope the fans liked it because I was on the edge of my seat that’s for sure.”
Hunter-Reay went into the race highly confident, according to his wife Beccy. “I knew we had a good race car even though we started 19th,” he said. “When we made it to the front, I just started biding my time, making adjustments on the stops.
“I have been watching this race since I was in diapers in front of the television. My son (Ryden) watched me today, and I am so proud of it. I’m thrilled.”
The Hunter-Reay’s wife and son joined him in victory lane, took a ride around the track with him in the pace car and got down on the ground with him to kiss the Yard of Bricks.
Hunter-Reay became the first American to win the race since Sam Hornish Jr. did it in 2006. He also earned his 13th Verizon IndyCar Series victory.
The winning DHL Honda is owned by Andretti Autosport.
Team owner Michael Andretti heaped praise on his driver and added sympathy for his son Marco, who came up short. “As an owner, I couldn’t be happier and it feels good to be here with Ryan. Marco did give it a heck of a shot, and it seems like he’s always up there, too.”
For the Andretti team, they won the Indy 500 victory for the third time. The late Dan Wheldon won for them in 2005 and Dario Franchitti in 2007. Overall, it has 50 wins with Hunter-Reay scoring 10 of them.
For the record book, this is the first time the No. 28 was the winning car number, and the only other driver to win from the 19th starting position was Bill Vukovich in 1954.
Hunter-Reay led 56 of the 200 laps. Eleven others led one or more laps. Thirty-five lead changes took place during the 2 hour and 48-minute race. The average speed was a rapid 186.563 miles per hour, second only to the 2013 race record set by Tony Kanaan.
Driving the bright yellow Pennzoil Ultra Platinum Team Penske, Castroneves nearly won again but accepted the outcome.
“It is a shame as it was so close, but today it’s Ryan Hunter-Reay’s day,” Castroneves said. “I wanted to give this to Roger (Penske) so bad. It was a great fight, and it was great TV. I was having a great time, but it’s good when second-place sucks.”
Marco Andretti led 20 laps and came home third .3171 seconds behind. He drove the family-owned Snapple Honda.
Fourth in another Andretti Autosport Honda came Carlos Munoz.
Former winner Juan Pablo Montoya overcame a pit-road penalty to finish fifth in the Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.
Sixth through 10th were NASCAR’s Kurt Busch, Sebastien Bourdais, Will Power, rookie Sage Karam and J. R. Hildebrand.
Busch exited quickly for Charlotte but reportedly said the race was an experience of a lifetime.
2013 victor Kanaan had an off-day, finishing 26th after spending many laps in pits while repairs to his car were being done.
The first 150 laps were run caution free, but shortly thereafter five incidents happened in rapid order. First, Charlie Kimball crashed alone and Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden did the same in short order.
During a restart on the 176th circuit, pole winner Ed Carpenter and James Hinchcliffe came together after going three-wide with Townsend Bell.
Carpenter blamed Hinchcliffe and said if the latter hadn’t recently sustained a concussion, he might have poked him.
Bell, running with the leaders, crashed hard with nine laps to go and officials immediately threw the red flag as debris littered the track.
On the restart, Hunter-Reay, Castroneves and Andretti brought the crowd to its feet with intense action over the final six circuits.
The Verizon IndyCar Series races in the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit next weekend. The race will be a double-header and be televised by ABC at 3:30 p.m. ET.