Complete Indy 500 results: Simon Pagenaud wins on special anniversary for Team Penske

Sights from the action at the 2019 Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Sunday, May 26, 2019

Simon Pagenaud came up with the perfect anniversary present for team owner Roger Penske on Sunday, winning the Indianapolis 500 in one of the more dramatic finishes in Indy 500 history.

Pagenaud, the Chevrolet-powered pole sitter, beat 2016 Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi’s Honda to the yard of bricks by 0.2086 second – the seventh-closest finish in race history. The finish capped a thrilling final 13-lap shootout the saw Pagenaud and Rossi exchange leads until Pagenaud took the lead for good with one lap and a turn to go.

Takuma Sato, the 2017 race winner, was also in the thick of things in that final shootout. He finished third, 0.3413 second behind Pagenaud. Team Penske’s Joseph Newgarden and defending race winner Will Power rounded out the top five.

Simon Pagenaud’s victory was No. 18 in the Indianapolis 500 for Team Penske.

“It’s hard to believe, right now,” Pagenaud said after the traditional chug of milk in victory lane. “It’s was such an intense race. Man, wow! It’s a dream come true, a lifetime of trying to achieve this.

The storybook ending came on the 50^th anniversary of team owner Penske’s first trip to the 500 in 1969.

Pagenaud, who gave Penske the May sweep after win the IndyCar Grand Prix on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway two weeks earlier, led 116 of the 200 laps. Rossi led 22 laps.

The final dash was precipitated by contact between Graham Rahal and Sebastien Bourdais that also gathered Felix Rosenqvist. Bourdais appeared to initiate contact while squeezing Rahal low on the track with 24 laps to go. Rahal and Bourdais were both running in the top 10 at the time, and Rossi had just passed Pagenaud on the track.

Simon Pagenaud led 116 laps on Sunday.

IndyCar officials called for a red flag with 20 laps to go to clean up debris that parked the field in the pits for 18 minutes.

“Obviously very disappointing,” Rahal said. “It’s another year you get to sit and think about this. I respect Sebastien a lot, but I don’t respect that move. I do respect him as a driver tremendously. I’m sure he feels the same way, but at those speeds, that’s how you kill somebody.”

Bourdais was cited by stewards for “avoidable contact.”

“I thought he was us going to back off and we’d be OK,” Bourdais said.

Pagenaud grabbed the lead at the start-finish on the restart, but he did give up the least twice to Rossi over those final 13 laps. Rossi was asked about the difference in those final laps.

“Horsepower,” Rossi said. “That’s unfortunately the way it is. They did a great job. Obviously, he was on the pole and led the most laps, but I think we had the superior car. We just didn’t have enough there at the end.

“This one will be hard to get over, but at the end of the day, it was a great showing for the team and good for the points overall. But today will suck for a while.”

For Penske, it was his record 18^th win in the 500 and second consecutive sweep in May at Indianapolis. Will Power won both races at Indianapolis last year.

For Pagenaud, 35, the race win was No. 13 in his NTT IndyCar Series career. None were any bigger.

“Great race, great day,” Penske said.

Simon Pagenaud enjoys carrying on a tradition at Indianapolis on Sunday.

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