INDYCAR: Josef Newgarden Wins 2023 Indianapolis 500 – Full Race Results

It took three red flags but Josef Newgarden was finally able to get the monkey off of his back and win the Indianapolis 500. The Team Penske driver passed defending Indy 500 champ Marcus Ericsson on the final lap of the race and earned his first career victory at Indianapolis in his 12th start. The two-time series champion had heard all of the whispers and handled all of the pressure along the way, and delivered the 19th Indy 500 win for Roger Penske.

"I'm just so thankful to be here. I love this city. I'm just so thankful for Roger and Tim and everyone at Team Penske. They look at you like you're a failure if you don't win. It's a huge team effort. I'm so glad to be here." His boss believed he could seal the deal in those closing laps.

"The last two laps I forgot about being a track owner and said lets go for it," Penske said. "Terrific effort by Josef. Thank God everybody was here. Good race. Safe race. I know Josef wanted this so bad. At the end it was time to go, I was betting on him."

This was just the third time in Indy 500 history that the race was decided by a last-lap pass, and Newgarden becomes the first American driver to win the race since Alexander Rossi in 2016. Newgarden and Alex Palou had been the only two series champions since 1999 that hadn't won the 500 but Josef took his name off that list today. The Nashville native celebrated in style by exiting his car, slipping through the fence, and running into the stands to the cheers of the fans.

After elation last year, Ericsson was on the other end of things today. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver finished just 0.0974 seconds behind Newgarden, with Santino Ferrucci delivering a mega 3rd place finish for AJ Foyt Racing. Pole sitter Alex Palou overcame contact on pit road to finish 4th with 2016 winner Alexander Rossi rounding out the top five.

Arrow McLaren teammates Felix Rosenqvist and Pato O'Ward were at the front of the field for most of the day, but both were unable to finish the race. Rosenvist lost control of his Chevrolet in Turn 1 in the closing laps, and collected Kyle Kirkwood in the process. Kirkwood went upside down and his left-rear tire separated from his car and went over the fence and into a parking lot, striking a car.

O'Ward was aggressive on the next restart, but pushed it too car and put himself into the wall. He was frustrated with how everything unfolded, but it was not meant to be for the driver from Mexico. All four Arrow McLaren cars showed signs of strength this month, but their two 500 winners were never able to establish themselves at the front of the field today. This was the final Indy 500 start for popular 2013 race winner Tony Kanaan.