Josef Newgarden’s bid at the 2026 Indianapolis 500 ended in the wall after a spin in Turn 4 on Sunday at the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval. The four-time champion had climbed as many as 20 spots from his starting position before the crash, then came to rest after hitting the outside wall.
The race was already unfolding in bursts. Conor Daly, who started 9th, surged to 3rd in a matter of laps and took the lead at Lap 34. Scott Dixon later passed Alex Palou for the lead on Lap 69, after Palou had started from pole position in search of a second consecutive race win. David Malukas and Palou then got by Dixon heading into Turn 1, with Malukas taking the lead, while by Lap 135 Scott McLaughlin was out front with Palou and Daly behind him.
That front-running shuffle came in a race that had 33 drivers on track and little room to settle in. Katherine Legge, the first woman attempting the Indy 500-NASCAR Double, crashed early. Will Power pulled off track entering Turn 1 and spun. Alexander Rossi left a smoking car on pit lane for the second straight year, was helped out of his car and over the wall after the incident in Kyle Kirkwood’s stall, and later left pit lane on crutches to a cheering crowd.
Weather kept interrupting the rhythm. Sprinkles in Turn 4 brought out a caution while cars stayed on track, and a red flag flew at 2:23 p.m. for rain as spotty showers sat to the southwest of the racetrack. The race was official, and officials expected it to resume after the rain moved out quickly.
Helio Castroneves supplied the day’s quiet milestone. After 112 laps, he reached 4,910 career race laps and passed A.J. Foyt for the record, a mark that underscored how much experience remained in the field even as the front changed hands again and again. Dixon entered the day with a race-record 677 laps led, and his move past Palou on Lap 69 only added to a race that kept reshaping itself with every restart, spin and exchange at the front.
For Newgarden, the result was a stark reminder of how thin the margin is at Indianapolis. He had already recovered from 23rd to 6th before the crash, but the wall ended any further climb. With weather, cautions and crashes all changing the order, the race had already become less about control than survival.
