Indy 500: Josef Newgarden’s three-peat attempt undone…

Josef Newgarden entered Sunday with a chance at two different firsts in the Indianapolis 500 - trying to score the race’s first three-peat and claim a victory from the deepest starting position in the event’s history.

Rolling off 32nd after his No. 2 Team Penske team was penalized for an inspection failure in qualifying, winning seemed to be an impossible task. But for a time, Newgarden looked like he might just have a chance to rise into contention.

Unfortunately for the two-time IndyCar champion, it wasn’t meant to be. A fuel pump issue left Newgarden as one of more than 350,000 spectators at Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the race entered its closing stages.

“It’s tough to not have a shot here at the end,” Newgarden said of his run. “I felt really good, was trying to be methodical today.”

Newgarden spent the bulk of Sunday’s race keeping his head down and marching forward. Aided by an attrition-filled race, the Tennessean steadily marched forward and found himself inside of the top-10 in the second half of the race. He still had ground to make up, but with the final third of the race to run, the two-time defending race winner found himself on the periphery with a chance to contend for the win.

But just as the opportunity to compete began to appear, mechanical misfortune reared its ugly head. Newgarden was forced to pit road for an unscheduled stop without fuel pressure on lap 135. Initially he was upset to be losing a lap, but the fuel pump issue ultimately left Newgarden out of the race in 25th.

Newgarden was happy to have had another chance to contest the Greatest Spectacle in Racing at day’s end, but he was left to wonder what could have been.

“I’m still immensely grateful to run at Indianapolis,” Newgarden said. “That’s how I felt going into it today. I love the race the most. I love the opportunity to be on the grid. So as tough as it is to take, I still feel thankful to have been out here today.

“I just wish we’d had a chance to fight for it, you know? We didn’t even get to see what we had there. We were just slowly working forward. Thank you to our partners, our whole team. Everybody puts so much into this. It’s a big team. It’s just a shame to not be there in the fight.”