By Josh Farmer
INDIANAPOLIS – A career best day for Max Chilton ended so close, but yet so far.
Chilton rebounded from falling a lap down to finish fourth at Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 and lead a race-high 50 laps after starting 15th. He found himself out in front for the first time on lap 84 by way of pit strategy.
“It’s obviously mixed feelings,” he said. “From where we were, I’m really happy but fourth is the third of the losers. It’s not ideal but I’ll take it.”
Chilton fell to 27th during the race’s opening 52 lap stint but a caution for a scary crash between Scott Dixon and Jay Howard allowed Chilton to move back to the lead lap.
The out of sequence strategy allowed for the 26-year-old Britton to retake the lead in the race’s waning stages. He caught a lucky break on lap 167 as the yellow flag flew just one lap after he pitted. That suddenly put the No. 8 Gallagher Honda back in the lead.
That set the stage for Chilton to be in full defense mode. He first thwarted a challenge from James Davison but Helio Castroneves and Takuma Sato soon arrived on the scene.
A chain of yellow flags set up an 11 lap shootout for the win.
Castroneves made an easy pass on Sato and stalked Chilton for two laps before taking the on lap 192. Chilton fell back and was overtaken by Sato and rookie Ed Jones. Chilton ended up fourth while Sato inhaled Castroneves and took his first Indianapolis 500 win.
While he ultimately lost the race, Chilton did not feel intimidated when Castroneves overtook him in the final laps.
“I just knew it was a car behind,” he said. “He couldn’t overtake me particularly easy. He got a run on me. It wasn’t because I lifted. I’m pretty sure I kept it flat so it’s not like I can look back and be angry.”
While he lost a chance at racing immortality, Chilton felt elated given how the race started on a sour note.
“I was struggling like hell on the first stint,” he said. “I had every problem under the sun. In this race, you need a few things to go your way. We got the right calls at the right time. The good thing was I was comfortable up front. I was fast out front. It’s just I lost it with eight laps to go.”
On the whole, Chilton walked away from Indianapolis with his head held high.
“I gave it everything out there,” he said. “To come back from a lap down and lost it by less than a second and a half, that’s how close this race is. I tried everything I had, and I’m really happy with Chip Ganassi Racing.”
