Newgarden wins Indianapolis 500 with last-lap pass

Josef Newgarden passed Marcus Ericsson on the last lap of the Indianapolis 500 to win the 107th running of The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

The race was red-flagged with two laps remaining after a crash at the back of the field, resulting in a one-lap shootout to decide the winner. Newgarden overtook defending Indy 500 champion Ericsson on the backstretch en route to victory.

Newgarden's best finish in 11 previous races at the Indianapolis 500 was third. It's Team Penske's first Indy 500 victory since 2019 and the 19th in team history.

The 32-year-old driver from Nashville celebrated in the crowd, climbing past the fence on the front stretch immediately after exiting his car.

"Everyone kept asking me why I haven't won this race," Newgarden said in victory lane, winner's wreath over his shoulder and drenched in celebratory milk. "They look at you like you're a failure if you don't win it. I wanted to win it so bad. I knew we could, I knew we were capable.

"It's so long to get to this point. We're here for weeks, working and grinding on this thing just for this one moment. That's what makes it so demoralizing when it doesn't work out. But I can tell you we're gonna enjoy it tonight.

"This is not easy to win this race, it's the most difficult race in the world to win."

Newgarden is a two-time IndyCar champion and now has 26 race victories on his resume.

Runner-up Ericsson was frustrated with the call from race control to red-flag the race with two laps remaining.

"I just thought it was an unfair and dangerous end to the race," he said. "I don't think it was enough laps to do what we did. I think we've never done a restart out of the pits.

"(Josef) is a worthy champion, but I'm just very disappointed with the way that ended. I feel like we won that race, then it sorta got taken away from us. But it is what it is."