By Kirby Arnold, Special Contributor
INDIANAPOLIS – Chaotic as it may seem from the drop of the green flag, the Indianapolis 500 typically doesn’t reach a true state of pandemonium until the final 20 laps of the race.
Drivers who gave each other an inch the first 450 miles of the race are more prone to take back that inch – plus a few more – in the last 50 miles.
Playing nice is a temporary thing when the biggest prize in motorsports is at stake.
“The level of courtesy definitely changes,” said Arrow McLaren driver Ryan Hunter-Reay, who will start 22nd Sunday attempting to win his second Indy 500.
His first victory, in 2014, followed a wild battle with Helio Castroneves in the closing laps that saw both drivers make moves they never tried during practice or earlier in the race.
“The last stint is a completely different animal,” Hunter-Reay said. “You can replicate what you think you might do in those scenarios should it be the last bit. But in practice, everybody is giving that bit of wiggle room when it comes to errors. You want to maintain your car; you don’t want to put it in a tough spot.”
The race tends to be tame in the early laps compared with the final stint when the fangs come out.
“The level of courtesy definitely changes in the last bit,” Hunter-Reay said. “At that point, you’re going on your instinct, your natural ability and experience.”
Last year, for the first time in his career, Team Penske driver David Malukas found himself in a late fight for the lead behind winner Alex Palou and Marcus Ericsson. He was third at the finish but moved up to second after the race when Ericsson was penalized.
“In previous Indy 500s before last year I would never really race at the front towards the end,” Malukas said. “Last year it was a completely different ballgame. Those last 20-30 laps, very different race. I learned a lot from that race about where to position the car, where you want to be, strategy from that perspective. If we end up in a similar situation now, I know a little bit more of what to do.”
Hunter-Reay’s 2014 clash with Castroneves after a late restart was a battle of savvy veterans that became one of the 500’s greatest finishes.
With six laps to go, Castroneves juked near the inside wall down the main straight and passed Hunter-Reay for the lead entering Turn 1. Marco Andretti, lurking behind in third place, tried a similar move at the end of the backstraight but backed out after pulling near Hunter-Reay’s sidepod.
With four to go and Castroneves still leading down the backstraight, Hunter-Reay made one of most gutsy moves in Indy history.
Castroneves hugged the inside white line and Hunter-Reay pulled to his gearbox, then made a quick flick as if he were beginning an outside pass. Castroneves faded slightly to his right, opening just enough room for Hunter-Reay to dive left and fill the hole – with his left-side tires below the white line near the grass entering Turn 3.
“I couldn’t believe that pass I put on him in 3,” Hunter-Reay said. “I was pretty trimmed (light on downforce) at that point. But I had Marco closing from behind and I knew I had to get back in front. Otherwise I was risking being third in line and that might be the race for me. At that point, you’ve just got to get up and go.”
About halfway down the back straight, Hunter-Reay knew he had to try something dire, especially with Andretti gaining from behind. Trying anything but an inside pass might have left him in third place when they came out of the turn.
“I was closing on Helio but I could also see Marco closing on me,” Hunter-Reay said. “If I pop to try an outside maneuver around Helio and it didn’t work, I knew Marco would fill that gap and I’d be stuck on the outside. I knew I had to make it on the inside.
“There wasn’t really room for it, but as he (Castroneves) saw my nose coming right, he drifted up just enough to where I could make the over-under and just fit it in that parking spot.”
Castroneves recovered and made an outside pass into Turn 1 to take the lead with two laps remaining. One lap later, just after taking the white flag, Hunter-Reay made a similar outside pass into Turn 1 and held off a fast-closing Castroneves their last trip down the main straight to win the race.
“We were doing things and putting the cars in places that we didn’t actually know if we would come out the other side,” Hunter-Reay said. “That’s the desperation for winning this race. When it matters that much, you dig deeper than anybody else. Helio and I were doing that.”
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