'Pretty badass': Drivers enjoy finishing a thrilling Indy 500 in twilight

INDIANAPOLIS – Scott Dixon napped his way through part of the storm-forced delay of Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, his only worry that when he woke up, the juice of the day might have bled out a bit.

Then he stepped outside.

“Sometimes,” Dixon said, “it can kind of suck the energy out of you, but as soon as I snapped out of my nap and saw people in the stands, I thought, ‘Holy cow, this is awesome.’”

What followed was one of the most thrilling races this storied track has seen in recent memory, a twilight shootout featuring passes in each of the final two laps between Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, to take the lead into the final lap, and Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden in the penultimate turn, to become the 500’s first repeat champion in more than 20 years.

Newgarden climbed into the crowd for a second straight year, celebrating just the second back-to-back from a driver in the last half century with those fans who stuck through the wind and rain to pack the grandstand — and the rest of Indianapolis Motor Speedway — after a four-hour delay.

They were treated to something IMS doesn’t normally see: racing at twilight. Long, creeping shadows, and unfamiliar flickers in turns painted a panel of colors uncommon to this race by the late hour.

Normally, this track — which does not have lights for financial reasons — doesn’t see racing much past 6 p.m. Because of the 4:44 p.m. start Sunday, officials instituted a hard 8:15 p.m. cutoff, no exceptions, for safety reasons.

Even practice and on-track sessions building up to race day typically end by 6 p.m. So, by the time Newgarden and O’Ward were battling for the checkered flag Sunday, the entire field was racing on a track it had never quite driven before.

No one was complaining.

“I thought it was cool,” said O’Ward, who led 12 of 200 laps en route to his second runner-up race finish. “It’s like a sunset Indy 500. Pretty badass.”

Newgarden spent the rain delay on his own, away from his team. It wasn’t until his phone pinged with a text message from Team Penske managing director and race-day strategist Jonathan Diuguid (into a group thread titled “Indy 500 Domination”) letting him know the delay was winding down that Newgarden zeroed back into the day’s work.

He led 26 laps, second only to Scott McLaughlin. Newgarden’s head-to-head with O’Ward in the final minutes included a pair of passes from each driver inside the race’s last five laps, including Newgarden’s decisive move angling into Turn 3 of lap 200.

Diuguid said post-race that Team Penske handled strategy well enough through the afternoon “to be on offense the last 60 laps.” From the driver’s seat, Newgarden navigated a frantic finish made more aggressive by the weather conditions.

Once the afternoon sun began to fade and the post-storm humidity with it, the track temperature cooled.

Newgarden estimated the effect arrived across the race’s last 50 laps. A cooler track meant more forgiving tire wear, maintaining better grip. Where drivers would normally have to protect tread all the way to Lap 200, by late afternoon Sunday they could race without worrying about normal wear.

His team kept Newgarden apprised of the unfamiliar track conditions as the race wound down, and he adjusted accordingly.

Doyel: Newgarden edges O'Ward in classy duel for second straight Indy 500 win

“I could really tell the difference 50 to go. It started rapidly cooling,” Newgarden said. “No one’s really fading within a tire run. Everyone’s able to stay pretty flat-out.”

The result was a fantastic finish, and even for runners-up a memory distinct to the others they’ve made at this famous old track.

O’Ward even went so far as to endorse a nighttime race at the Speedway, something unlikely to happen due to the lack of lights. The wider experience, though, was welcomed as something new. Different. Fun.

Dixon said the shifting glare in Turn 4 took some adjustment, but nothing too serious. After a weekend spent fretting over various forecasts to figure out when — or if — the race might find a dry window, the unfamiliarity was a small price to pay to reach 200 laps.

“Conditions were good. There were no issues out there,” Dixon said. “Great job by the Speedway. Timing-wise, how you get it with the rain mother nature, you can’t do much about that. But it was cool to get this race in today.”

Follow IndyStar reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: 2024 Indy 500 finishes in twilight, drivers enjoy thrilling late laps