INDYCAR: Driver Rankings For The 107th Indianapolis 500, Won by Josef Newgarden

Crash INDYCAR journalist Chad Smith goes through the field to hand out driver ratings for the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500.
Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, Indianapolis 500
Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, Indianapolis 500

Josef Newgarden: 10

Finally, the two-time series champion is now an Indy 500 winner♔.

Marcus Ericsson: 9

Some would argue♍ that Eᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚricsson should be a back-to-back Indy 500 winner, but the last red flag gave Newgarden a shot at him, and it just didn't work out.

Santino Ferrucci: 9

Ferrucci delivered the best run for AJ Foyt's team at ♔Indianapolis 💟since their win in 1999.

Santino Ferrucci
Santino Ferrucci

Alex Palou: 8

The pole sitter had a car capable of winning the🐬 race, but the contact with Rinus VeeKay on pit lane set h꧙im back and ultimately cost him dearly.

Alexander Rossi: 8

He may not have been the strongest of the four Arrow McLaren cars tod🔴ay, but he was the only one to finish inside the top five.

Scott Dixon: 8

It was a strange and quiet day for the six-time champion, who man✱y thought would finally get his second Indy 500 win.

Takuma Sato: 7

A solid finish for Sato but expecꩵtations were hig꧙h for the two-time Indy 500 winner heading into this event.

Conor Daly: 8

An 8th place finish for the hometown hero, who was once again the best of thre🍌e cars for Ed Ca🍬rpenter Racing.

Colton Herta: 6

He recovered to finish 9th but the costly mistake on pit road that e💮arned him a penalty is one ꦬthat he will be regretting for quite some time.

Rinus VeeKay: 4

Another brilliant qualify🙈ing effort, and another bone-headed mistake in the race.

Ryan Hunter-Reay: 8

After being o𒉰ut of the series last year, Hunter-Reay stepped right in and nearly produced a top-ten result for the one-off Dreyer & Reinbold Racing team.

Callum Ilott: 6

With a little strateg🉐y and a bit of luck, Ilott was able to secure a solid 12th place result for the Juncos Hollinger Racing team.

Devlin DeFrancesco: 6

Not many people would have predicted a top 15 finish for the Andretti Auto♕༺sport driver.

Scott McLaughlin: 6

McLaughlin was now🐈here to be found, but it still went much better than last year.

Helio Castroneves: 6

In ꦐwhat has been a brutal season fo🎃r Meyer Shank Racing, their one spot to shine ended up with a dud.

Tony Kanaan: 6

His final Indy 500 did not go as planned, bu🥂t he finished the race and got the warm embra🎀ce he so deserved.

Tony Kanaan
Tony Kanaan

Marco Andretti: 6

He was near the back of the fiel🦩d for most of the race, but still won't be pleased with a 17th place finish.

Jack Harvey: 6

T♑here was only one way to go🦩 for Harvey, who started on the last row.

Christian Lundgaard: 6

Same as his teammate above.

Ed Carpenter: 5

Another costly ꧒penalty hurt him ꦏlate in the race, as another opportunity for the team owner went down the drain.

Benjamin Pedersen: 5

The fastest qualifying rookꦏie in Indy 500 history was unable to maneuver his way through the fie♑ld today.

Graham Rahal: 8

Considering he started the race two laps down from pit lane, it was a herculꦇean effort for Rahal to improve 11 positions in๊ the race.

Will Power: 5

The former 500 winner was n🐼owhere to be found in this race, which stings even🌠 more with his teammate winning.

Pato O'Ward: 6

Patience has always been the Achilles heel for O'Ward, who s🌸imply made༺ a bold and unnecessary move at the wrong time.

Simon Pagenaud: 4

His terrible tenure at Meyer Shank Racing continued with ♑a disap🎀pointing 25th place finish.

Agustin Canapino: 7

Before the speeding penalty on pit l൩an𒆙e, Canapino was showing very well, and had a solid month overall.

Felix Rosenqvist: 7

As one of the cars to beat, Roꦇsenqvist was positioned well until his accident late in 𒊎the race.

Felix Rosenqvist
Felix Rosenqvist

Kyle Kirkwood: 7

He was collected in Rosenqvist's crash, and was thankfully uninjured when his car went upsiꦯde down.

David Malukas: 5

He too was involved in💯 a scary incident that could have been much worse.

Romain Grosjean: 4

He showed signs of🔥 speed early, but another crash le💦ft Grosjean fuming.

Sting Ray Robb: 3

Call it a rookie mistake, and just move on.

RC Enerson: 6

The mechanical issue aside, it was a fantastic month of May for Enerson and the Abel Motorsports group, and they sꦺhould be very proud of their performance throughout the event.

Katherine Legge: 3

A bad week just kept getting worse, and it finally came to a head with multiple inܫcidents in thi🎐s race.

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