Juan Pablo Montoya rallies from 30th place to win 99th Indianapolis 500
Some early issues saw Juan Pablo Montoya fall back to 30th place in the 99th running of the Indianapolis 500, but the Colombian rallied to claim the checkered flag and win the biggest prize in open-wheel racing.
Montoya, driving the No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, last won The Greatest Spectacle in Racing as a rookie in 2000, setting the record for most time between Indianapolis 500 victories.
It was a rocky start to the race for many, as nine drivers saw some sort of car trouble before the first full green-flag lap. For Montoya, his car was bumped in the back by Simona de Silvestro, leaving him in need of some body work on his car.
Restart waved off, contact under yellow #Indy500 #Montoya pic.twitter.com/gLoPvhgOuG
— Mattzel89 (@Mattzel89) May 24, 2015
On the final lap, Montoya held off teammate Will Power by .1046 of a second in a thrilling finish that saw five lead changes in the final 15 laps.
"It was awesome," Montoya told ESPN in Victory Circle. "This is bigger than the other one. This is what Indy car racing is all about, racing down to the wire."
Here's the top 10:
| Pos. | Driver | Manufacturer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Chevrolet |
| 2 | Will Power | Chevrolet |
| 3 | Charlie Kimball | Chevrolet |
| 4 | Scott Dixon | Chevrolet |
| 5 | Graham Rahal | Honda |
| 6 | Marco Andretti | Honda |
| 7 | Helio Castroneves | Chevrolet |
| 8 | JR Hildebrand | Chevrolet |
| 9 | Josef Newgarden | Chevrolet |
| 10 | Simon Pagenaud | Chevrolet |
Teammates Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan appeared destined to decide the race amongst themselves, but Kanaan was knocked out of the race after crashing on the 152nd lap, and Dixon was taken out of contention when Montoya bumped his rear tire with four laps to go.
The win is team owner Roger Penske's 16th 500 victory and first since 2009.
Montoya is the 19th driver to win the Indianapolis 500 twice, and just the second driver to win two of their first three starts.