INDYCAR

TAKUMA SATO WINS THE INDIANAPOLIS 500 FOR THE SECOND TIME AS RACE ENDS UNDER CAUTION!!

Takuma Sato earned his second Indianapolis 500 championship Sunday, holding off Scott Dixon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Sato passed Dixon after the last round of pit stops and held him off as Spencer Pigot crashed hard with 5 laps remaining. The race finished under caution.

Sato also won the race in 2017. Dixon won in 2008. Graham Rahal — Sato’s Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing teammate — finished 3rd, with Santinio Ferrucci 4th and Josef Newgarden 5th. Pole sitter Marco Andretti finished 13th.

This is the Rahal team’s second Indy 500 title, having won with Buddy Rice in 2004.

Among other former race champs: Ryan Hunter-Reay is 10th, Helio Castroneves 11th, Will Power 14th, Tony Kanaan 19th, defending champ Simon Pagenaud 22nd and Alexander Rossi 27th

The Sato win helped Honda snap Chevrolet’s two-year Indy 500 winning streak. Santino Ferrucui finished fourth as Honda took the fist four spots.

Reigning series champion Josef Newgarden was fifth, the highest-finishing Chevrolet driver and best of the four-car Team Penske group. Chevrolet lagged behind Honda in speed the entire buildup to the 500 and had just one driver start in the front nine.

Mired in traffic, the Chevy group never contended.

No one did, really, as Dixon seemed to have it under control after casually passing pole-sitter Marco Andretti in the first turn of the first lap and pulling away. Andretti was seeking to end the 51-year losing streak for his famous family and had a shot with the first Andretti pole in 33 years. After Dixon took command, Andretti slid back into the field and ultimately finished 13th.

Fernando Alonso, attempting to win the final leg of motorsports’ version of the Triple Crown, was 21st and never contended. This was his third attempt at winning Indy and the two-time Formula One champion is returning to that series in 2021.