Live from Indianapolis: Josef Newgarden wins the 2023 Indy 500, & now on to 2024 next month!

Live from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, on Sunday, May 28th, 2023, was the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500. The world’s most popular race is 500 miles of intense speed and fast-paced action. 33 drivers battled throughout 200 laps around the revered 2.5-mile IMS track.

Josef Newgarden won his first Indy 500 in dramatic fashion. With three laps remaining, a multicar crash broke out as the field came to the green flag, then after a race interrupted by three red flags in the closing 20 laps, Josef passed Marcus Ericsson on the final lap -a one-lap sprint restart and employed the “Dragon,” the move Ericsson employed in the closing laps last year to win the 107th Indianapolis 500! Josef’s average time was 168.193 mph (270.680 km/h)!

This year’s purse of $17,021,500 topped the 2022 payout, which was the largest ever, of $16,000,200 spread across the 33-car field. Josef Newgarden, the winner of the 2023 race, and the two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, who continued his celebration Monday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earned a record payday of $3.666 million at Monday night’s Victory Celebration, for winning the 107th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. The purse and winner’s share both are the largest in the history of the Indianapolis 500. Marcus Ericsson, who took second on Sunday, brought home $3.1 million when he won last year’s race. The winner (see above photo) Josef Newgarden was racing for Roger Penske – the Founder & CEO of Team Penske – one of the most successful teams in the history of professional sports, celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2016. This year’s Indy 500 race makes 19 Indy 500 victories for Team Penske! 

Team Penske is one of the most successful teams in the history of professional sports. Competing in a variety of disciplines, cars owned and prepared by Team Penske have produced more than 620 major race wins, over 680 pole positions and 44 championships across open-wheel, stock car and sports car racing competition. Over the course of its 58-year history, the team has also earned 19 Indianapolis 500 victories, three Daytona 500 Championships, a Formula 1 win, victories in the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring, along with a win in Australia’s legendary Bathurst 1000 race. In 2024, Team Penske will compete in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and the NASCAR Cup Series. Through a Team Penske global partnership, Porsche Penske Motorsport will race in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the World Endurance Championship this season!

Our reporter for Entertainment & Sports Today TV: Richard Marcella, is a racing expert, with over 30 years of covering NASCAR, and The Indy 500, and will bring you all the action from right down on the track at The Indy 500, with 5 full days of news coverage- up close and personal. See this featured news story for video on everything you read in this article, including the practice runs, garage areas, the car displays, the Winner’s Trophy, the race fans, the pit crews practicing and competing, special events and ceremonies, the big race: The Indy 500 on Memorial Day Sunday May 28th, and an exclusive interview with the “Tree Guy” who during Covid built a Tree House that was actually on the property of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway that had a view overlooking the actual track, that provided him with a view of the actual Indy 500 race! You can see this interview on our next show on events at the Indy 500, from Indianapolis, Indiana. Richard personally has raced cars over 40 years ago, in car #508- which is now in a car museum in Southern California!

On Richard’s first day at Indianapolis, Indiana for the Indy 500: Thursday, May 25th: Indy Car officials announced on Wednesday, May 24 that Graham Rahal and Katherine Legge would be given a 15-minute session on Thursday to do installation laps for their cars following the accident the entries had been involved in on Monday. As a shakedown only session, Indy Car ruled that the drivers could not complete full laps around the track and were required to return to the pit lane immediately after leaving.

On our 2nd day: Friday, May 26 was the Carb Day practice—the final practice before the race—was scheduled for two hours from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Several minor incidents dotted the session. Colton Herta locked his tires trying to slow to enter pit lane, which caused one of his tires to fail. Ryan Hunter-Reay was forced out of the session early with a leaking gearbox on his car. Katherine Legge caused a halt in track activities just after noon when a tire came loose on her car, forcing her to stop on track. Devlin DeFrancesco suffered a punctured tire that nearly caused him to crash in turn 2 but avoided an accident. Takuma Sato set the fastest lap of the session at 227.855 mph (366.697 km/h). After the conclusion of practice, participating crews moved onto the annual Pit Stop Challenge.

On our 2nd day in Indianapolis: The annual pit stop competition was scheduled for Friday, May 26 after the completion of Carb Day practice. 16 competing crews were announced for the event the day before. Chip Ganassi Racing won the pit stop competition with Scott Dixon’s car, defeating Team Penske with Will Power’s car in the best-of-three final. It was the fourth win in the pit stop challenge for Chip Ganassi Racing as well as the fourth for Dixon in the competition.

On our our 4th day in Indianapolis: Memorial Day Sunday- May 28th- was the big race: The Indy 500. The Indy 500 is a racing tradition unlike any other. For the last 49 years, it’s become an annual fixture on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. In fact, you can’t think of the holiday weekend without BBQs, family and friends, summer’s official kickoff, and racing.  Álex Palou qualified on pole position with a new pole speed record:Prior to the race start, Graham Rahal suffered problems with the battery of his car. His crew was able to get the battery changed, but not before two laps of the race had already been completed. At the start, Álex Palou took the lead of the race ahead of Rinus VeeKay and Felix Rosenqvist, while Scott Dixon moved into fourth. As the first run progressed, Palou and VeeKay swapped the lead with each other several times. Behind, Dixon began to suffer a vibration in one of his tires after 20 laps, which caused him to drop down to 16th position before finally making a pit stop to change the tires at lap 27. Shortly after, the first round of scheduled pit stops occurred, with the top two runners emerging in the same order, while Santino Ferrucci moved into third. During the pit sequence, Katherine Legge lost control of her car leaving her pit stall, spun, and hit the inside pit wall. Legge attempted to continue in the race for a few more laps, but was ultimately forced to retire after the incident. The second sequence of pit stops came beginning at lap 60, during which Arrow McLaren teammates Rosenqvist and Pato O’Ward moved into the lead of the race as the result of better fuel mileage than the cars ahead of them. O’Ward and Rosenqvist then swapped the lead with each other during the duration of the stint.

Josef Newgarden drives around turn four of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 in Indianapolis, May 28, 2023. Newgarden, an American racing driver who competes in the IndyCar Series for Team Penske, took the win in Sunday’s race. The cars on the sixth row of the starting grid: #20 Conor Daly, #2 Josef Newgarden, #23 Ryan Hunter-Reay: 

The cars rolled from the pit with six laps to go. After two laps under yellow, the green came out with four laps to go. Ericsson immediately passed Newgarden, but another accident occurred just as Ericsson moved ahead. As cars exited turn four coming to the green flag, a five- car accident involving Christian Lundgaard, Ed Carpenter, Benjamin Pedersen, Graham Rahal, and Marco Andretti occurred, bringing out another caution period. IndyCar officials made the decision to red flag the race for a third time – the first time in Indianapolis 500 history that three late-race red flags occurred. As the red flag came with only two laps remaining in the race, officials decided that the race would restart as soon as cars reached the start finish line again for the final lap.  Newgarden in victory lane with Roger Penske after winning: The cars rolled from the pits one last time with two laps remaining. This provided them with just one lap to warm up their car and warm up their tires. The first time around racing resumed with the green flag and white flag flying together. It was the final lap with Ericsson getting an initial jump on Newgarden going into turn one. Newgarden was able to catch up to Ericsson and made a slingshot pass for the lead down the backstraight. He stayed in front for the remainder of the lap to win, securing his first Indianapolis 500 victory in his 12th start in the event. Newgarden’s victory was the first for an American driver since 2016, while it was the 19th Indianapolis 500 victory for Team Penske. After winning, Newgarden stopped on the front straight, climbed from his car, then climbed through a gap in the catch fencing to celebrate with fans before returning for the official celebration ceremony in the winners circle.  In winning, Newgarden became the first driver from Tennessee to take victory in the 500. Newgarden earned $3.666 million for winning from a record purse of $17,021,500. Second-place finisher Marcus Ericsson became the first defending winner to finish second since Hélio Castroneves in 2003. Santino Ferrucci in third place achieved his career best finish in the race and achieved the best finish for A. J. Foyt Racing since 2000. Despite being involved in the final accident, Benjamin Pedersen was the highest finishing rookie in the race on the 21st and was named Rookie of the Year for 2023.

The decision to red flag the race for a one-lap run to the finish was met with criticism from runner-up finisher Marcus Ericsson, who called the ruling “unfair and dangerous” and cited that IndyCar had never done a restart in that way any time prior. Other competitors, such as 3rd place finisher Santino Ferrucci and 16th place finisher Tony Kanaan felt that IndyCar’s decision was the correct one, citing complaints from previous editions of the race about ending under caution periods.

On Monday May 29th- the day after the big race- made our 5th and final day in Indianapolis, Indiana for the Indy 500. On this show you can see the photo opportunities for the Press, with the winner Josef Newgarden, and his wife and family, along with his entire team and Pit Crew. Josef gave us a final hello from Indy, and we can expect him to be up there challenging for the victory at next month’s 108th running of the Indianapolis 500!

The Indy 500 was loaded with many exciting drivers and their unique quests to win the race, and then experience the tradition to get drenched with milk! The tradition to pour milk on the Indy 500 winner, started at the Indianapolis 500^® by driver Louis Meyer simply requesting buttermilk to quench his thirst after the 1936 race, and he then drank buttermilk in Victory Lane because his mother said it would refresh him on a hot day, according to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A dairy industry executive saw a marketing opportunity and milk has been part of every race since 1956. “Winners Drink Milk” is considered one of the most beloved phrases and traditions in Indiana and all of sports.

According to RACER, IndyCar has banned Josef Newgarden’s “aggressive” defensive move off Turn 4 that he made at the end of the 2023 Indianapolis 500. Newgarden made a hard left turn when exiting Turn 4 and dove into the lane that is used to slow down for pit road speed. Graham Rahal was bumped out of Indianapolis 500 field by teammate Harvey. There were five big crashes, 14 different leaders, 39 lead changes, and a controversial finish, created a fascinating 2023 Indianapolis 500.