INDIANAPOLIS – A supersize banner featuring 107th Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden hangs high above the Gate 2 entrance into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
It measures a whopping 89 feet by 20 feet and features the driver slugging down a few gulps from the iconic “Bottle of Milk” in Victory Lane.
The Team Penske driver casts the appearance of a superhero in an iconic display of raw emotion from his victory in last year’s Indy 500.
Every other driver who is competing in this year’s Indy 500 is greeted by Newgarden’s likeness on the massive banner as they arrive at the tunnel to enter the most famous racing facility in the world.
“It’s crazy,” Newgarden told NBCSports.com Wednesday during a break in the scheduled first day of the two-day Indianapolis 500 Open Test. “I really love this place, and I love it even more now having experienced a victory here and knowing what that’s like with the team and to see our victory on display here as we roll into the gates is very surreal.
“It’s just a dream come true in a lot of ways.”
What makes the Indianapolis 500 different from any other race is the lasting impact a driver casts over the event.
A victory in nearly every other race on the NTT IndyCar Series schedule fades quickly into memory, but a win in the Indianapolis 500 is eternal as a part of the rich history of the most famous race in the world.
The face of the winner is everywhere.
It’s on the Borg-Warner Trophy, the iconic, bigger-than-life monument that features 110 sculpted faces of every driver who has ever won the race that dates to 1911, along with former IMS owner Anton “Tony” Hulman. It is a permanent trophy that, for the most part, remains at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The winning driver and winning team owner also get a “Baby Borg” – a miniature version of the Borg-Warner Trophy that they get to keep.
The winning driver is also featured on the ticket to the next year’s Indianapolis 500. Last year, Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske said 330,000 fans came to the Indy 500, and this year’s race is 13,000 ahead of the ticket sales from last year at this time.
That means a lot of face time for Newgarden on all those tickets.
In recent years, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has created mega-sized banners that hang on the back of the grandstands as traffic on 16thStreet is reminded of the epic magnitude of this grand sporting spectacle.
Newgarden has put a new meaning on “Face Time” as an Indianapolis 500 winner.
Instead of a full day of racing high speeds on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the 34 drivers at Wednesday’s Indianapolis 500 Open Test ran just enough laps to be teased.
The session was supposed to run from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. ET but was halted for rain at 2:06 p.m.
By 4:01 p.m., the rain was heavy and IndyCar Series officials ended the test session, after 34 car/driver combinations ran a total of 1,327 laps around the Speedway.
IndyCar hopes to complete the two-day test on Thursday with a session scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The forecast, however, calls for several inches of rain on Thursday, casting a sense of gloom for many of the teams that had hoped to run through a thorough checklist of areas in the only major test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway before teams return for the 108thIndianapolis 500 at the end of May.
But it was far from a futile day, according to some drivers, including 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson. The racing star is hoping to compete in his first Indianapolis 500 in a combined effort with Arrow McLaren and Hendrick Motorsports.
Although he intended to run more than 47 laps in testing, Larson believed it remained a very productive day in his effort to compete in his first Indy 500.
The fastest driver of the session was Newgarden. For the third year in a row, he was the fastest driver in the Open Test with a lap at 228.811 miles per hour in the No. 2 PPG Chevrolet for Team Penske.
“It was nice, it was nice to be on track,” Newgarden said. “The car felt good, but today’s an easier day with the temperature. It’s cool track, cool ambient. I think the car always just feels nicer in these conditions, so I’m not getting too excited, but definitely first indications look good.”
Team Penske’s three drivers also include 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner Will Power and New Zealand ace Scott McLaughlin.
Team Penske is one of the best prepared teams in racing history and all three drivers had a long checklist they hoped to get through during the scheduled two days of testing.
A fast test, however, doesn’t always equate into a fast car in qualifications.
Newgarden is the first to admit his effort in Indy 500 Time Trials is far from “Penske Perfect.”
Since 2020, Newgarden has qualified 13th, 21st, 14th and 17th in the last four Indy 500s.
Despite that mid-pack starting position, Newgarden was able to fight, and scratch and claw his way to victory in last year’s controversial ending that featured two red flags in the final seven laps, including a hurried restart with one lap to go.
“Just because we were quick out of here doesn’t mean we are going to be quick in qualifying,” Newgarden warned. “We’re making steps forward; it just isn’t transferring completely.
“Let’s see if we can get there this year.”
Larson was the second fastest at 226.384 miles per hour but was quick to admit his fast speed was aided by a “tow” from another car in the draft.
Scott Dixon, a six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion and winner of the 2008 Indianapolis 500, was third at 226.346 mph in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing. Two-time and defending IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou was fourth at 226.201 mph in the No. 10 DHL Honda for CGR.
Colton Herta of Andretti Global rounded out the top five at 225.907 mph in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda.
The important thing to remember about Wednesday’s activity is it’s only a test. The real competition begins in May when the intensity level increases dramatically as teams prepare for what they hope is a race-winning effort during the 108th Indianapolis 500 on May 26.
Wednesday was supposed to be 9 1/2 hours of available track time. Instead, it was limited to 3.2 hours of green-flag racing.
Newgarden ended up on top of a test session that never really hit its stride. IndyCar officials are hopeful to get some serious running on Thursday, but the weather forecast is worse than the downpour that closed the track on Wednesday.
IndyCar officials have not determined if they would use Friday as a potential day of testing, but that puts some of the teams in a time crunch as they have to prepare their cars for a trip across the country to Long Beach, California, for next week’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
If the 1,327 laps run on Wednesday is all the 34 car/driver combinations get in this year’s Indy 500 Open Test, it will be one big “tease.”
And as the transporters pull out of the Gate 2 Tunnel onto 16th Street in Indianapolis to head back to their respective shops, they will be directly in the line of sight of Newgarden’s steely gaze from his milk-stained face from the giant banner that has put new meaning in the term “Face Time.”
