() The countdown is on for the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 where drivers will start their engines in two days at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday. Who will etch their name into Indy immortality?
About 350,000 race fans are expected to fill the grandstands in Indianapolis, the first sellout for the race in nearly a decade.
Alongside the excitement, controversy also surrounded this year’s race. Two Team Penske drivers received major penalties after facing a cheating scandal.
Back-to-back champ Josef Newgarden and teammate Will Power were each found to have an illegally modified part on their cars. Three executives from Team Penske were fired, and the two drivers were moved to the back of the field for Sunday’s race.
Newgarden is hoping to make history this weekend by becoming the first driver in history to win three consecutive Indy 500s, but to do that, he’ll have to do the impossible; no driver since the first race in 1911 has ever won starting from the last row.
“I feel really good about our car. For Sunday, I feel great about our team. I’ve always got the best of the best around me when I go into a race,” Newgarden said at a news conference. “So it’s a bigger mountain starting from the back, but you know, that doesn’t discourage me. I think we can climb it together.”
Newgarden is one of 33 drivers who will compete.
