It was a great day for racing as the overcast sky was clearing and the sun coming out and the prediction of good weather was fulfilled.
The race started on time but before the first lap was completed, Rookie Sage Karam, also the youngest driver in the field of 33, brought out the first of several yellow flags. Karam squeezed AJ Foyt's driver Takuma Sato into the wall damaging Ryan Briscoe's car too. Karam's day was done, however, Sato and Briscoe's after pits stops were able to continue.
Connor Daly, however, finished last because of a fire that required him to pull off the track shortly after getting the green flag.
After running the first dozen laps under caution, the green flag came back out and most of the early laps were dominated by Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan , driving for Ganassi Racing, and Will Power, Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Popular favorite Kanaan crashed on lap 153 and a three-car crash on lap 176 after clean up left only 16 laps of green flag racing.
These final laps were the most exciting of the race with the lead changing multiple times each lap between Penske drivers Power and Montoya and Ganassi driver Scott Dixon. It then became a two-car race between the Penske drivers as they officially traded the lead four times in 12 laps. Montoya, having been as far back as 30th on lap 170, took the lead for good with 3 laps remaining and on the last lap was able to pass a slower car insuring a win. The margin of victory was the fourth closest in track history and the first 4 cars all finished within 1 second.
This was Montoya's second Indy 500 win in only his third attempt. Montoya returned to Indy car racing in 2014 after little success racing in NASCAR and finished second in Indy Car points last year. Montoya has two Indy 500 victories, won the CART championship and rookie of the year the same year, seven Formula 1 victories in six years including the Monaco Grand Prix, three Dayton Rolex 24 hour titles, 10 wins in 40 CART races, and was NASCAR Sprint Cup rookie of the year.