INDIANAPOLIS – Josef Newgarden had a car to win Sunday’s 103rd Running of the Indianapolis 500. He just didn’t have his No. 2 Chevrolet in position to accomplish that feat in the closing stages.

See, Newgarden just steadily remained in the hunt throughout a beautfiul afternoon at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In closing time, he pounced.

With 50 laps-to-go, the Team Penske driver made the first on track pass for the lead of the day when he got by his teammate Simon Pagenaud in Turn 3. Newgarden, would stay in the top spot until he hit pit lane for the final time of the day on Lap 170. He’d cycle back in the top five and in the hunt to earn his first Indy 500 triumph.

Even after we went back to green with 13 laps remaining in the race, he was there. Then, Takuma Sato started his charge which left Newgarden going from third place to fourth. He could never get his car handling right in the final 10 laps to get back by and set his sights on Pagenaud and Alexander Rossi. Newgarden, settle for fourth instead.

“We just fell out of position with 10 to go. (Takuma) Sato got by me, and that hurt us,” said Newgarden. “We needed to be in that top three. I got into third on the restart, which was good, but falling behind Sato, that hurt us.

“Really, the top two is where you had to be. You had to be in the top two on the restart, maintain that position. That was the catbird seat for trying to win the race. (Alexander) Rossi and Simon (Pagenaud) really did a great job of defending there. They were methodical. That’s the style of this race. The top two spots, that’s where you’ve got to be.

“We were just a touch short today. It stinks, but we’ll learn from it and we’ll come back better next year. It was a game of patience today. We were saving fuel, trying to work on our car. We were lacking something at the beginning. I think we got the car a lot better toward the end. It was just a little off. It’s been consistent all weekend. It’s been great having the Shell V-Power car this year. Chevy did a great job. We weren’t lacking everything; it was just a couple of ingredients that were missing. We got better. We just weren’t good enough. We were getting better throughout the race, just not enough to challenge at the end.”

The top five finish was the fourth top 10 result in the last five tries for Newgarden in this race. He also has five top four finishes in six tries in 2019 and trails Pagenaud by just one point in the standings heading to Belle Isle.