Tony Kanaan has won the 97th Indianapolis 500, the fourth straight year the race has ended under yellow. It’s undoubtedly going to be an emotional moment for Indy’s crowd favorite, who has taken his first Indianapolis win in 12 attempts.
“This is it, man. I made it,” Kanaan told ABC’s Vince Welch in victory lane. “I got a little bit of luck today…This is for all the fans. This is for my dad who’s not here.”
Fourteen drivers combined to produce a record 68 lead changes – double from the previous record of 34 – set last year. It was also the fastest Indianapolis 500 history, at an average speed of 187.433 mph. That beats the record of 185.981 mph set by Arie Luyendyk in 1990. The win is also the first for KV Racing Technology in IZOD IndyCar Series competition.
The race ended under yellow when Dario Franchitti crashed on lap 198. Kanaan passed Ryan Hunter-Reay on the prior restart, lap 197, to take the victory.
Rookie Carlos Munoz finished second, Hunter-Reay third, Marco Andretti fourth and Justin Wilson fifth. Wilson was the top Honda finisher, driving for Dale Coyne Racing, behind the trio of Andretti Autosport drivers. Munoz is likely to be awarded the race’s Rookie-of-the-Year honors during the Indianapolis 500 banquet on Monday night.
Franchitti’s crash dropped him to 23rd at the finish, and the other driver challenging for a fourth ‘500 race win, Helio Castroneves, finished sixth after a largely quiet race.
AJ Allmendinger had undoubtedly the best race of the three he’s done in his IndyCar return, leading 23 laps and ultimately ending seventh, with Simon Pagenaud, Charlie Kimball and polesitter Ed Carpenter completed the top 10.
The day’s biggest mover was Ana Beatriz, 29th to 15th in Coyne’s second car. Only seven drivers: Franchitti, Graham Rahal, Sebastien Bourdais, Pippa Mann, Buddy Lazier, Sebastian Saavedra and JR Hildebrand, failed to finish.
The last two cautions in the last seven laps muted what had been a stellar display of driving from the field of 33 otherwise, as after three cautions in the first 60 laps, the race ran green from lap 61 to 193. All told five cautions flew for 21 laps.
See the live blog of the race on MotorSportsTalk here.
