By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Following 200 of his hardest laps ran in his racing career, Simon Pagenaud was relieved when the checkered flag flew. Not only was he the pole-sitter and the dominator of the day, but he was then a champion of the Indianapolis 500.
And sometimes, you just can’t hold in the emotion.
Instead of taking the traditional straight drive to Victory Lane for an Indy 500 race winner, Pagenaud broke the mold by parking his No. 22 Team Penske Chevrolet on the frontstretch. The reason? To celebrate with the fans.
“It wasn’t planned. We didn’t discuss it on the radio,” Pagenaud said. “When I got to pit entry, I’m like, ‘Oops. I think I should have went to pit lane.’ I was crying a little bit on the (cool down) lap.”
“The fans were going so crazy, I thought I have to share this with the fans.”
With members of his Menard’s crew joining him along the yard of bricks, the car was soon pushed from the start/finish line to begin the ceremonial celebration from Victory Circle. The time on the front straightaway was a small token given to the fans by the Frenchman.
“There’s no racing without fans,” he said. “Obviously I wanted to go to Victory Lane and we did. But I wanted to share with the fans — they filled this place up. It’s incredible. It’s incredible to be part of this sport as a driver, and it wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t have 300,000 people in the grandstands.”
Leading a race-high 116 laps from pole, Pagenaud beat second-place Alexander Rossi to the checkered flag by 0.209 seconds. The two had a back-and-forth fight in the final 15 laps and Pagenaud was glad to give the fans a show.
“It was my way of saying thank you for your support and please come back,” he said. “We’ll give you more of this, and that’s what I did.”
Sunday was Pagenaud’s second straight win in the NTT IndyCar Series and most importantly, his first in the Indy 500. The postrace emotions were rich.
“It’s amazing. It’s another dream come true, and the biggest dream of my life come true,” he said. “It’s hard to fathom really. It’s really hard to process it right now, but I’m just filled with a lot of joy.
“I drove really spirited today, but it’s just incredible. I can’t take all the credit because I think I definitely — and I think it showed I had the best car out there. What a day. Wow, incredible.”