By David Morgan, Associate Editor
INDIANAPOLIS – With the laps winding down in Sunday’s 106th running of the Indianapolis 500, Pato O’Ward could do nothing but helplessly watch Marcus Ericsson inch closer and closer to racing immortality.
Sitting in the runner-up position, a few seconds in arears of Ericsson’s Honda, if nothing changed in the closing stages of the race, O’Ward would fall agonizingly short of a career-defining win. All he needed was a chance.
When Jimmie Johnson crashed with six laps to go, bringing out the yellow and subsequently the red, Ericsson’s advantage was erased and O’Ward had his shot.
A two-lap dash to the checkered was all that remained to determine who would be taking home the Borg-Warner Trophy.
As soon as the green flag flew, the battle was on. Juking and jiving, snaking down the straightaways, neither wanted to give an inch to the other with the ultimate prize on the line. Wherever Ericsson went, O’Ward was right in his tire tracks, just looking for his opportunity to strike.
Entering Turn 1 for the final time, O’Ward made his move, flanking Ericsson to his outside, just hoping his Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet would be able to stick. But it didn’t and O’Ward had to back out of it, giving Ericsson firm control of the lead.
Though he still had time to try and gather it back up and make another run at it, he wouldn’t get the chance as the yellow flag came out for Sage Karam’s spin, bringing the race to an end and locking in a runner-up finish for O’Ward.
While he wasn’t able to come home with the trophy, the finish was the best yet for the Mexican-born driver at Indianapolis, improving on a third-place result a year ago.
“Really proud of the team,” O’Ward said. “They gave me a really, really good car. I was so happy with the handling. We did everything perfectly. We did the fuel perfect. No mistakes were done. We positioned ourselves perfectly to have a shot at…
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