After winning the Indianapolis 500 as a rookie in 2000—then defecting to Formula One and NASCAR—Juan Pablo Montoya paid off his return to IndyCar today by claiming a second victory at the 99th running of the race.
“That was an easy race,” he joked at the start of his post-500 press conference.
Montoya crossed the bricks after battling with Will Power, Charlie Kimball, and Scott Dixon in the last laps. He described his thinking during the tense final moments of competition: “There’s a hundred ways to throw this race away. But there’s only one way of winning it.”
And that’s what he did.