Helio Castroneves claimed a historic fourth Indianapolis 500 victory on Sunday after overtaking Alex Palou in the closing laps to win a gripping race at the Brickyard.
The Brazilian joined A.J. Foyt, Al Unser Sr and Rick Mears, who last joined the club in 1991, as the only four-time winners of 'The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.'
At 46 years old, in his first season no longer driving for Team Penske, Castroneves won in front of 135,000 fans - the most at any sports event in the world since the pandemic began 18 months ago - before his iconic 'Spider-Man' celebration and a victory run down the home straight.
"I love Indianapolis! You guys don't understand it! The fans, you give me energy," said Castroneves, who won his third 500 in 2009 and had been chasing win number four ever since, even after being dropped by Penske.
It was a stark contrast to the recent theme of young drivers taking over IndyCar, which now has six different winners through six races this season. Three of them have been first-time winners and four are drivers aged 24 or younger.
"I don't know if this is a good comparison, but Tom Brady won the Super Bowl and Phil Mickelson won the golf [PGA Championship] so here you go," added Castroneves. "The older guys are still kicking the younger guys' butts."
Castroneves found himself in a closing duel with one of the young stars, 24-year-old Spaniard Palou, but he passed him for good with two laps remaining and beat him by 0.4928 seconds for the victory.
Former Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud, the 2019 Indy winner, was third, followed by Pato O'Ward, the 21-year-old budding IndyCar star and Arrow McLaren driver.
Returning racing legend Juan Pablo Montoya finished ninth in one of the other McLaren cars.
A year ago, no fans were allowed for the race that was delayed from May to August. This year, fans were everywhere and they were treated to a win by one of the most popular drivers in Indy 500 history.
The race's first major incident came on Lap 119 when Rahal pitted from the lead, and his pit crew left the left-rear tyre loose. The wheel popped off as Rahal exited the pits, sending his Dallara-Honda into a hard impact with the Turn 2 wall.
The wheel then ricocheted back into traffic and dramatically struck the front of Conor Daly's Chevrolet.
"It's famous last words, but we had them," Rahal said. "We were in the perfect spot. We were just cruising. Our strategy was playing right. I was doing a good job in the car. We had them today.
"This one is hard to accept."
While the nose damage didn't end Daly's race, the hometown hero wasn't in the mix for the win afterwards.
Scott Dixon started on the pole position but led only three laps after Herta took the lead on Lap 1.
While Herta and VeeKay traded the lead, Dixon conserved fuel in third - which seemed a smart strategy when the caution flew on Lap 33 as Dixon inherited first when Herta, VeeKay and several other lead-lap drivers had pitted.
But the pits were closed for multiple laps under yellow because Briton Stefan Wilson had spun into the wall on entry, which left Dixon in a predicament. Choosing to make an emergency stop while the pits remained closed on Lap 36, Dixon's Dallara-Honda coasted in out of fuel and wouldn't re-fire.
The same situation happened to Alexander Rossi on an emergency stop for fuel a lap later, and both former Indy 500 winners were a lap down when the race restarted because of the timing of Wilson's crash. Race over.
Castroneves, however, was in the mix at the front throughout - and after the final pit-stops it seemed to be a three-horse race between him, Palou and O'Ward.
Castroneves and Palou exchanged the lead several times, including on the penultimate lap after a superb and daring move around the outside of Turn 1 from the 46-year-old.
As the Brazilian encountered traffic it looked like Palou was going to have a shot at a maiden Indy 500 win - but Castroneves held his nerve, and Palou had no answers.
