A sold-out Indy 500 packed with drama, from firings to Larson’s double to Newgarden threepeat bid

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — There has been so much drama ahead of the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 that Kyle Larson’s attempt to complete the 1,100-mile NASCAR double doesn’t even crack the top attention-getters.

Roger Penske’s credibility was tested this week and he fired the top three executives of his IndyCar team because the cars of two-time defending race winner Josef Newgarden and Will Power failed inspection. The team had modified a spec safety part — something IndyCar insists provided no competitive advantage — and it forced Penske to act.

The second major infraction in just over a year at Team Penske put The Captain’s reputation at stake. He owns his team but also IndyCar, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy 500 — the most important race in the world to him, and one that the 88-year-old Penske has won a record 20 times.

“We had an organizational failure not once but two times. It hurts me in my gut,” Penske told new TV partner Fox Sports. “There’s a certain amount of credibility you have to have. We let people down. We’ll move on and our goal is to win the race.”

The grandstands are sold out for the first time since 2016 and the Indy 500 is slated to run hours before the Indiana Pacers host Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals a few miles away. The speedway is expecting 350,000 people will attend.

“The downside is that most of the talk going into our biggest race of the year is about that,” 2008 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon said of the Team Penske scandal. “There’s so many cool stories going into it.”

First Israeli driver will lead field

Robert Shwartzman will become the first Israeli driver in the 33-car field when he leads it to the green as the first rookie pole-winner since 1983. The 25-year-old is both Russian and Israeli, though he races under the Israeli flag.

He won the pole with Italian team Prema Racing, a dominant European organization that this season expanded to IndyCar. Shwartzman has never before raced on an oval and will start alongside two-time winner Takuma Sato and Pato O’Ward, who lost to Newgarden on the last lap year.

Shwartzman has been embraced by the crowd in Indianapolis.

“It’s been since the moment I felt like we were fast and people start noticing us that we were actually not too bad, we’re pretty competitive, it started picking up this level of people just, cheering, cheering, cheering,” Shwartzman said. “When we took the pole, it’s unbelievable, the roar, how loud it is. It’s been a long time since I heard that.”

What about the Penske cars?

The three Team Penske cars did not participate in the final day of qualifying. Scott McLaughlin crashed earlier that day, before Newgarden and Power were disqualified, and his car did not have the illegally altered piece on it.

McLaughlin will start 10th and is motivated to help Penske repair the team image. Newgarden, seeking to become the first driver to win Indy in three consecutive years, will start 32nd and Power in the final spot following the penalties.

No driver has ever won from the last row but Newgarden believes it can be done. The field won’t be surprised.

“The Penskes are freaking missiles,” O’Ward said. “It’s going to be fun watching Josef carve his way through traffic.”

O’Ward’s takeover

The Mexican driver has become IndyCar’s superstar, and he has twice had his heart broken at Indy with runner-up finishes. O’Ward’s third-place starting position is the best of his career and momentum for a victory has been building.

His energy vibrates around the speedway, where his purchasing of a bomber jacket at the infield merchandise tent caused the item to sell out online and boost Indianapolis-brand Homefield to a national level. There were only five jackets, all size XL, still available Friday morning.

O’Ward also got the Indiana Dairy Association to bring a cow to the speedway Friday so he could milk it — a rookie tradition at the Indy 500 that he missed because his first appearance was during the pandemic.

“We need more guys like Pato in NASCAR,” said Larson, his Arrow McLaren teammate at Indy.

Hole in the resume

Alex Palou has won four of the first five IndyCar races this season but has flown under the radar this month. The Spaniard will start sixth. His best finish is second and he’s been inside the top nine the last four years.

Palou is the two-time reigning IndyCar champion and has three titles in the last four years. He admitted if he never wins the Indy 500, his career would not be complete — and the 14-race winner has yet to earn a victory on an oval.

“In that race, you don’t think about the championship at all,” Palou said. “A third place is not good enough. A second place is not good enough. It’s only first that counts.”

Larson doing The Double

The NASCAR star is attempting to complete the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 in North Carolina on Sunday, an accomplishment that he fell short of last year because of rain.

A long delay in Indianapolis made Larson late to Charlotte Motor Speedway, and the race had not only started by the time he arrived but been stopped by rain. He didn’t turn a single lap of the NASCAR leg.

He’s not shown the same speed at Indy as he did a year ago, and being teammates with O’Ward has dulled some of the spotlight on him. Larson will make the NASCAR race his priority.

“I feel like I get a lot of attention in everything that I do and race, and I don’t really like that because I feel like it takes away from the spotlight of others,” Larson said. “This year has been better because I feel like I’ve kind of flown under the radar. Last year I felt, like, crazy. It’s been more normal, and I like it that way.”

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