All told, Newgarden led five laps of the 200. Newgarden started the race 17th on the grid. For Tim Cindric, President at Team Penske, it was the ninth Indianapolis 500 win and the 19th for Roger Penske as team owner; the first came in 1972. However, it was Roger Penske’s first as the owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since he bought it three and half years ago. (AutoInformed.com: Chevy Versus Honda in Fastest Field Ever at Indy 500)

“With the red flags, everything, it could have been anybody’s race. But I think Newgarden showed what he’s really made of today. He was, I think, confident but yet cautious there at the end, and when it was time to go, he made it happen. We can’t thank him enough from the team,” said Roger Penske at the post-race press conference.

Newgarden was the First American to win since Alexander Rossi in 2016. Marcus Ericsson, who finished second, claimed it was unfair the way the red flags were managed and that the final red flag should have been flown earlier and that one lap wasn’t enough for a shootout to finish the race. For the record, Newgarden lost the lead on an earlier restart. Ferrucci shrugged off the red flag ending. “What are you going to do? You want to finish under green for the fans, which we did. At the end of the day, it’s about the fans,” Ferrucci said.