Takuma Sato wins the 2017 Indianapolis 500

Takuma Sato won an eventful Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, taking the lead in the final five laps for the win.

Takuma Sato has won the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500. It was an eventful race, with a couple big crashes and plenty of cautions due to debris on the track.

That resulted in pit strategy becoming a key factor in the ultimate result of the race, with those who waited until the yellows to pit having the edge late. A five-car pileup in the final 20 laps of the race also helped shuffle things up near the end.

The final caution was called as a result of that crash, with the green flag resuming at 11 laps to go. The top three at that point was Max Chilton, Takuma Sato, and Helio Castroneves. Chilton fought off a move from Sato, who was then passed by Castroneves.

Chilton was unable to fight off Castroneves, who passed him for the lead. Sato then passed Chilton for second place with six laps to go. With five laps to go, Sato passed Castroneves for the lead, and did not relinquish it. He finished ahead of Castroneves and Ed Jones for the win.

With 39 laps to go, the top three drivers — Chilton, Charlie Kimball, and James Davison — definitely needed another pit stop outside of potential yellows. Castroneves, in fourth, led a pack of drivers that had split strategy and didn’t necessarily need another stop.

A caution was thrown up when Kimball’s car failed, allowing those who needed to to so come in for a pit stop. Chilton, fortunately, came out just in time to not be a lap down and kept his top spot rather than earning the bottom spot.

With 20 laps to go, the third Honda of the race failed, and this one belonged to IndyCar rookie Fernando Alonso, who had a beautiful race up until that point. A massive pileup ensued shortly after things restarted, prompting yet another yellow flag.

The pileup included all of James Hinchcliffe, Josef Newgarden, Will Power, Oriol Servia, and James Davison.

The first cash of the race came on Lap 53, when Scott Dixon and Jay Howard came together in spectacular fashion. It was a scary crash that saw Dixon’s car flip into the air, bounce off a barrier, and come to a rest with about half the bodywork stripped off.

Both Dixon and Howard were out of the race at that point, but it claimed no other cars. Both drivers were able to get out of the car and were fine. Dixon was the pole-sitter for the race.

Officials placed the race under the red flag to fix the safety fence and barrier that Dixon bounced off of. Eighteen minutes later, the red flag came to an end and they got racing again after a round of pit stops.

Rossi overtook Alonso, who eventually dropped to fourth on the grid shortly after the restart. Shortly after, Connor Daly got loose and slid into the outside Turn 2 wall, causing another caution on Lap 66. The third cation came not long after that for a piece of debris on the track.

The fourth caution was quite a bit later, on Lap 122 when Buddy Lazier hit the wall. At that point, Alonso was in second position after overtaking Rossi, trailing behind Ryan Hunter-Reay. It looked like Lazier simply lost the back of the car and he went spinning into the wall. No other car was collected in the crash.

Following that fourth caution, Fernando Alonso made a pair of passes to take the lead in the race, ahead of Hunter-Reay and Rossi. Shortly after the moves, yet another yellow flag comes out for debris on the track.

Upon the restart, Hunter-Reay, Rossi, and Alonso exchanged places, but the worst happens for Hunter-Reay, with the Honda-powered engine failing. His race ended and the new top three was Alonso, Rossi, and Kanaan. The sixth caution flag came out at that time. At this point, the front-runners took a pit stop.

Alonso came out in ninth, Kanaan in 10th, and Rossi in 21st after he locked up the car out of his box. Unfortunately for Alonso, he lost out on several positions right off the start and yet another debris caution flag came out with Alonso in 12th.

That put Chilton on top, with Davison and Charlie Kimball rounding out the top three. Chilton went into the pits not long after and then, unfortunately, Honda suffered another bad engine failure that saw Charlie Kimball’s race ended.

Following pit stops, Chilton, Ed Jones, and Castroneves were the top three, with Alonso down in ninth.

Alonso is an IndyCar rookie, but the 35-year-old Spaniard has as much more experience than most of the drivers in the field. He’s a two-time Formula One world champion and skipped the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday to race in the Indy 500 for the first time.

Unfortunately, Alonso’s car failed with 20 laps to go, yet another Honda engine collapse and another yellow flag. Alonso was in the process of moving up the field from seventh when his engine blew out.