INDY 500 RESULTS: WILL POWER USES SKILL, STRATEGY TO WIN HIS BIGGEST RACE

Rather than pass two drivers who were trying to conserve fuel, Power pushed them to the limit. Stefan Wilson, the younger brother of the late Justin Wilson, and Jack Harvey were both ahead of Power but needed to save fuel to make it to the finish.

Instead, Power’s heavy-footed approach paid off as they both had to pit on lap 196, just four laps from the finish.

Power was in the lead and stayed there for the final four laps to win his first Indianapolis 500 on his 11th attempt. It was also the 17th Indy triumph for a car owned by Roger Penske.

“Man, I just can’t believe it,” Power said in victory lane. “I changed my attitude a lot after Barber (the April race at Barber Motorsports Park). I was very positive, I had a great month.

“I just can’t believe it. I’ve got to thank Roger Penske, Verizon and my parents for allowing me to get to this point. I just … I can’t describe it. I feel like collapsing. I want to cry. I couldn’t stop screaming. I can’t believe it.”

Power’s Chevrolet defeated pole-sitter Ed Carpenter in another Chevrolet by 3.1589 seconds. Four-time Verizon IndyCar Series champion and 2008 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon was third in a Honda, followed by Alexander Rossi, who drove from 32nd to the lead on lap 173 and finished fourth in a brilliant drive.

Ryan Hunter-Reay, the 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner, was fifth in a Honda.

Power was the first driver to sweep both races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the month of May. He won the May 12 IndyCar Grand Prix for the third time in his career.

The victory in the 500 was Power’s 34th career IndyCar victory, tying him with Al Unser, Jr. for eighth on the all-time list. The pole he won earlier in the month was his 51st in Indy cars, good for No. 3 on that list.

Power, the 2014 IndyCar Series champion, was kept abreast of the fuel situation for Wilson and Harvey and was not concerned until the final restart of the race after Tony Kanaan spun and crashed in turn two on lap 189. The green flag flew on lap 192 for the final eight laps.

“I’m like, ‘I have to get these guys. I don’t know how much fuel they got, but this is the restart of my life,’” Power recalled. “And then I go on, and the two (Wilson and Harvey) pit, and I’m like, ‘Man, I think I’m going to win this!’

“I was screaming with one to go. ‘Man, I got this.’ Unbelievable.

“I was wondering if I was ever going to win it, and thoughts went through my mind during the month like that. In my career, I’ve had so many wins, so many poles. But everyone always talks about the ‘500.’ And I won it. I just couldn’t imagine winning a race in front of crowd like this, this many people. It’s just amazing. What an event.

“I love it.”

Carpenter’s second place was his best finish in the Indy 500 for the driver from Indianapolis. He led 65 laps, the most of any driver in the race. Power was second with 59.

“We had everything we needed,” Carpenter said. “The guys were great in the pits. Will got us on one of the pit sequences. I don’t know if it was on an out lap our fuel. But track position was so important, and I had it early when it didn’t matter so much and couldn’t get it back at the end. We were still in a great position.

“The first restart I had behind him, I thought I could have made a run at him. But at that point, we were still focused on saving fuel, and I thought I’ll just draft around behind Will (Power) for a while. We’ll race it out later. In hindsight, with how many yellows kept coming in, we went away from a fuel race, so we needed to take the opportunity to get it when I could. Congrats to him. They’re tough competitors. We’ll just have to come back a little better next year.”

Dixon finished third, his fourth podium finish at the Indianapolis 500.

“We did what we could,” Dixon said. “To be honest, a huge credit to the team. They pulled that strategy out. We got a little bit lucky there with the caution with the 14 (Tony Kanaan), but we struggled on the restarts. First and second gear just seemed to be out of sync with what the others were and the speed they were restarting at, and it was just kind of kill the momentum at the start and probably being a little overcautious in turn one.

“But it was cool to watch Rossi and Oriol Servia get the high line working on the restarts, and it almost paid off big for them. Really happy for the PNC Bank crew. Did a hell of a job. It’s nice to get top three. Obviously, the points are big here, too. Proud of the team and big thank you to them.”

It was a brutally hot day with the high temperature 91 degrees. That tied it for the second-hottest Indy 500 in history with the 2012 Indy 500. The hottest Indy 500 in history was 1937 when the temperature was 92 degrees.

Despite that, it was another huge throng of spectators nearing 300,000 spectators.

It also made the race difficult for the drivers as the higher temperatures made the track surface slippery, especially with the new aerodynamic package.

The cars were lighter to drive and with less downforce and high heat, six of the seven caution periods were single-car spins, including Danica Patrick’s crash in turn two on lap 58.

This was the final race of Patrick’s career.

“It was definitely not a great ending,” Patrick said. “But I kind of said before I came here that I feel like if it’s a complete disaster, ‘complete’ like as in not in the ballpark at all, look silly, then people might remember that. If I win, people will remember that. But probably anything in between might just be a little part of a big story.

“So I kind of feel like that’s how it is, you know.

“I’m appreciative for all the fans, for GoDaddy, for Ed Carpenter Racing for giving me a good car. Today was a tough day. A little bit of it was okay, a lot of it was tough to drive.”
“Take my mic away, I’ll leave. I don’t even want to be here because I’m pretty sad. I guess I’ll stop there.

“I will say, though, for sure I’m very grateful for everybody and for being able to finish it up like I wanted to. It still was a lot of great moments this month, a lot of great moments this year.”

Patrick finished 30th.

Another popular driver, three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Hélio Castroneves, was also involved in a single-car crash when he lost it in turn four and backed into the infield retaining barrier on lap 146. He finished 27th after running fifth at the time of his crash.

“I got a good move on Ryan Hunter-Reay, went wide in turn three, probably had dust on the tires then I wanted to pass Simon Pagenaud and the tires gave up,” Castroneves said. “Frustrating. The car was good.

“Please, Roger, we have to go back again.”

Castroneves was competing as an “Indy-only” driver after Team Penske moved him over to the Acura Sports Car program in IMSA.

Despite the IndyCar aerodynamic package making the car being difficult to drive, there were still 30 lead changes among 15 drivers — tying the record for most leaders in the Indy 500.

Many of those lead changes were during green flag pit stops.

The Indianapolis 500 paid double-points and that boosted Power into the Verizon IndyCar Series lead with 243 points. He leads Rossi by two and defending champion and teammate Josef Newgarden by 10 heading into next weekend’s Chevy Detroit Doubleheader at Belle Isle.