Juan Pablo Montoya, of Colombia, celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the 99th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday. His career has seen ups and downs since 2000, when he last won the race.Rob Baker/The Associated Press
Juan Pablo Montoya insisted he had the best car in the Team Penske stable – even to his three teammates, who all believed they were legitimate contenders to win the Indianapolis 500.
As they ribbed one another during a Penske event about the traditional victory swig of milk, Montoya interrupted the debate with an emphatic declaration: "I don't understand why you are arguing – I'll win it, and I'll let you drink the milk."
In the end, he kept that whole bottle for himself.
Showing the same confidence he did 15 years ago when he routed the field, Montoya sliced his way from the back to the front twice on Sunday to win his second Indianapolis 500.
"This is too much," he said in the victory lane, the winner's wreath around his neck and the traditional bottle of milk in his hand. Flanked by his three children, he looked everywhere for his wife.
It was a far different scene from 2000, when the fearless Colombian was single, childless and using Indy cars as a stepping stone to Formula One. But his career has been a series of ups and downs since then – through F1, NASCAR and finally back to IndyCar with motorsports icon Roger Penske.
His win gave Penske his 16th Indianapolis 500 win, and the first since Helio Castroneves in 2009. Penske also joined Chip Ganassi as the only owners to win the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500 in the same year. Ganassi did it in 2010; Joey Logano won the Daytona 500 for Penske in February.
The 15 years between Indy 500 victories are a record for a driver, surpassing A.J. Foyt, who needed 10 years between his third and fourth wins. That first win for Montoya? It came when he drove for Ganassi.
This victory was almost certainly going to go to a Team Penske or Chip Ganassi Racing driver. With a combined nine cars in the field, the two owners showed over the past two weeks that their organizations are head and shoulders above the competition and Indianapolis is their own personal playground.
Penske and Ganassi drivers led the majority of the laps on Sunday – 193 of the 200 – and turned the final restart with 15 laps to go into a three-car thriller between Penske teammates Montoya and Will Power, and Ganassi driver Scott Dixon.
Power finished second and Ganassi driver Charlie Kimball was third, ahead of teammate Dixon. The two team owners embraced on pit road as Montoya headed to grab his bottle of milk. Later, as Montoya began the traditional victory lap around the 2.5-mile track in a convertible, Ganassi stopped the car to give Montoya a hug, smile and thumbs up.
Canadian Alex Tagliani of Lachenaie, Que., finished in 17th place.
Chevrolet, which has dominated both the entire month at Indianapolis and this IndyCar season, took the top four spots and eight of 10. Graham Rahal and Marco Andretti finished fifth and sixth to represent Honda, which grossly underperformed the entire month in the speedway debut of the new aerokits.
The body work designs by the two manufacturers have been under scrutiny since three cars – all Chevys – went airborne during practice last week. The driver, James Hinchcliffe of Oakville, Ont., suffered a life-threatening leg injury in an unrelated crash and he has been hospitalized since Monday.
But the race had no issues aside from typical racing accidents, including one that gave Sebastian Saavedra a contusion to his foot. There were some pit road incidents involving crew members, and one of Dale Coyne Racing's crew members went to a local hospital with an ankle injury after he was struck by James Davison during pit stops.
Rosberg wins Monaco GP
Nico Rosberg won the Monaco Grand Prix for the third straight year after a late crash involving teenager Max Verstappen undid Lewis Hamilton's bid for a fourth win of the season.
Hamilton looked set to take his 37th career win after leading from the start, until the 17-year-old Verstappen rammed his Toro Rosso into the back of Romain Grosjean as he tried to overtake the Lotus driver.
That meant a safety car had to come out at the start of the 64th lap, and when Hamilton was then called in for a pit stop, he suddenly found himself behind both Rosberg and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.
When the safety car finally went off track, Hamilton had only a few laps to try and get past Vettel and Rosberg on the most difficult track to overtake on F1.
It was Rosberg's second win of the season following his victory two weeks ago at the Spanish GP, and he became the first driver since Ayrton Senna to win the Monaco race three straight times. The others to do it were Frenchman Alain Prost and Briton Graham Hill.
Rosberg was 4.4 seconds ahead of four-time F1 champion Vettel, and six clear of Hamilton.