Sato wins 2nd Indianapolis 500 under caution at empty track
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - AUGUST 23: Takuma Sato, driver of the #30 Panasonic / PeopleReady Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Augus
INDIANAPOLIS - Takuma Sato snatched a second Indianapolis 500 victory at empty Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday as the Japanese racer held off Scott Dixon and ultimately won under caution.
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - AUGUST 23: Takuma Sato, driver of the #30 Panasonic / PeopleReady Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, wins under caution ahead of Scott Dixon, driver of the #9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, and Graham Rahal, driver of
IndyCar officials declined to throw a red flag after a violent crash by Spencer Pigot with just a handful of laps remaining. Pigot needed medical attention on the track, the crash scene was a debris field and there was no way the race could resume without a stoppage.
Dixon, the five-time IndyCar champion who had dominated the race, asked on his radio if IndyCar was going to give the drivers a final shootout to the checkered flag, NASCAR style.
"Are they going red?" Dixon asked. "They've got to go red. There's no way they can clean that up."
IndyCar never threw the flag and Sato led Dixon across the finish line under yellow.
Sato became the first Japanese winner of the Indy 500 in 2017. Dixon was second and Graham Rahal, Sato's teammate at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, was third.
It was Pigot, the third Rahal driver, who crashed for the controversial finish.