Indy 500: The last time the race ended under caution

By Asher Fair | Aug 24, 2020

Takuma Sato and Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, and Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, IndyCar, Indy 500 (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

It had been quite some time since the Indy 500 ended under caution like it did on Sunday, but sometimes that is just how things pan out.

A 42-lap green flag stint, the second longest of the day, ended with just five laps remaining in the 104th running of the Indy 500 due to a nasty crash involving the #45 Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing with Citrone/Buhl Autosport’s Spencer Pigot, leaving not enough time for IndyCar to get the track cleaned up for a restart.

With a few more laps remaining in the race, a red flag may have been in order, as was the case in both 2014 and 2019 after late wrecks.

But with only five circuits remaining around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana and a ton of debris to clean up, primarily due to the fact that the #45 Honda slammed into the pit lane attenuator, this race was over.

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Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Takuma Sato led Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon and teammate Graham Rahal across the finish line to take the checkered flag claim his second Indy 500 win in the last four years.

Dixon, who has led the third most laps in Indy 500, was left with a third runner-up finish and seeking his first win since 2008 while Rahal tied his career-best result of third from 2011. We hadn’t seen a race end in this fashion since 2013, when a crash following a restart with three laps remaining sent the race into a caution flag period from which it would never emerge.

Back in 2013, Tony Kanaan had just taken the lead away from Ryan Hunter-Reay on the restart, with Carlos Munoz having followed him through to second place, when Dario Franchitti wrecked in turn one.

In 2014, Ryan Hunter-Reay held off Helio Castroneves by 0.060 seconds to secure the victory. In 2015, Juan Pablo Montoya held off Will Power by 0.105 seconds, and in 2016, Alexander Rossi won on fumes by 4.498 seconds ahead of Carlos Munoz.

In 2017, Sato won by 0.201 seconds over Castroneves before Power won by 3.159 seconds over Ed Carpenter in 2018 and Simon Pagenaud won by 0.209 seconds over Rossi in 2019.

A six-race streak of green flag finishes was the longest since seven races in a row ended under green flag conditions from 1995 to 2001. This six-race streak followed four consecutive years of finishes under caution from 2010 to 2013, although the race to the victory itself in 2011 was not marred by a caution.

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The 105th running of the Indy 500 is scheduled to take place with 300,000+ spectators in attendance on Sunday, May 30, 2021, marking the shortest break between two Indy 500 races (280 days) in race history.

Let’s hope it stays that way.