Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden has backed IndyCar’s controversial call to finish the race under green flag.
Marcus Ericsson, who Newgarden overtook on the final lap, was left fuming over the decision to restart the race,
With just an out lap instead of the usual practice of giving drivers at least a full lap to warm up again, the 2022 Indy 500 winner called the finish “unfair and dangerous”.
The restart in question followed the third red flag in quick succession, as officials worked to ensure that the 200-lap contest reached a climax under green flag conditions.
“I’m happy they did it to give a good finish,” said Newgarden, post-race.
“Obviously, if I was in Marcus’ situation, I would have said, ‘Yeah, just end it. That’s great. I’ve got to the line and they’re not going to go to a…’
“I’ve also been in a lot of races where you get ahead of somebody like that and the yellow just comes out, and you’re going back to the timing line of Turn 4 and I’m like, ‘What are you talking about? We’ve been sitting here for about five seconds where I’m in front of this person.’
“There’s so many different ways that this could have played out and you could have said this is fair or that’s fair. I’ve seen it all.
“At this point I’m just really thankful they did it the way they did. I’m glad I had the car.
“I don’t really care. I’ve seen a lot of situations where it didn’t go our way. Today went our way, and I’ll take it. I’ll take it all day.”
Tony Kanaan, whose Indy 500 triumph in 2013 came with a finish under Caution conditions, backed IndyCar.
“It’s funny because obviously like you have guys like Santino [Ferrucci, who finished third] and Marcus that are mad, and you have Josef that’s happy, but we need to think about the show,” said the now-retired driver.
“The biggest complaint we have every year was we shouldn’t finish a race under the yellow. That’s going to hurt someone. Actually, 33 guys are pissed right now and one guy is happy. That’s the reality.
“Could have they called it earlier? Yes. Could have, should have, would have, but we ended under green, and that’s what the fans kept asking us every time.
“I won under yellow, and everybody hated it at some point. Easy for me to say because I’m not in his [Ericsson’s] shoes.”
Newgarden’s team owner is Roger Penske, who also nowadays owns IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
‘The Captain’ attempted to sidestep questions about the finish, but declared that there is a broad desire to finish races under green flag conditions.
“Really I don’t have any thoughts,” said Penske.
“I had nothing to do with it, obviously. We have a group that is certainly the officials of the track, and to me, we’ve said this before, I think all of you had said, we want to see a chequered flag, not a yellow flag.”
Team Penske President Tim Cindric, who calls strategy for Newgarden’s #2 entry, said, “I think it’s more of a race control programme.
“Obviously, you’re sitting there and it’s really hard to determine how that’s all going to play out.
“Each restart could have played out a different way, and I think Josef, when you look at the fact that we lost the lead on one of the restarts, as well, it can kind of go either way, and that’s kind of the way this place is now.
“I think somebody has got to win and somebody doesn’t. We’ve been on the other side of that, too.”
The 2023 IndyCar Series continues this weekend at Detroit.
Every IndyCar race is streamed live and ad-free on Stan Sport in Australia.
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