He won the pole with Italian team Prema Racing, a dominant European organization that this season expanded to IndyCar. Shwartzman has never before raced on an oval and will start alongside two-time winner Takuma Sato and Pato O’Ward, who lost to Newgarden on the last lap year.

Josef Newgarden thinks he still can win a third straight Indy 500, even after this week's penalty. "I just see a bigger mountain," he says.

There has been so much drama ahead of the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 that Kyle Larson’s attempt to complete the 1,100-mile NASCAR double doesn’t even crack the top attention-getters. Roger Penske’s credibility was tested this week and he fired the top three executives of his IndyCar team because the cars of two-time defending race winner Josef Newgarden and Will Power failed inspection.