Takuma Sato becomes first Japanese winner of Indianapolis 500

INDIANAPOLIS – At the end of 500 miles around Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it was a former Formula One driver who took the checkered flag.

He even drove for Andretti Autosport.

It just wasn't Fernando Alonso.

Takuma Sato became the first Japanese winner of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday when he denied Helio Castroneves a record-tying fourth victory as the two traded the lead in the closing laps.

"I know Helio is always going to charge," Sato said. "But he's just such a gentleman and such a fair player."

The Andretti family has struggled for decades to win this race, but as a car owner, Michael Andretti knows the way to Victory Lane. Sato's victory gave Andretti a second consecutive win in the 500. An Andretti driver has now won the 500 three times in the past four years, and five times overall dating to 2005 with the late Dan Wheldon.

Last year, it was with rookie Alexander Rossi. This time it is with Sato, who joined the team just this season and had largely been overlooked at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Andretti camp expanded to six cars for the 500 to add Alonso, a two-time F1 champion.

"I felt the noise, the engine friction, I backed off and I saw the smoke and, yeah, it's a shame," Alonso said.

But Andretti reveled in the biggest headline for his team on Sunday.

"I'm really happy for Honda. They worked really hard to get us here," Andrett said. "I know how big this news is going to be tomorrow when they wake up in Japan. It's going to be huge. I'm really happy for them, that we were able to give them a win with our Japanese driver here."

Added Sato about the popularity of his victory in Japan: "This is going to be mega big. A lot of the Japanese fans are following the IndyCar Series and many, many flew over for the Indianapolis 500. We showed the great result today and I am very proud of it."

The margin of victory was 0.2011 seconds and the win was redemption for the 40-year-old Sato, who crashed while trying to beat Dario Franchitti on the final lap of the 2012 race.

As for the difference between 2012, when Sato crashed in the first turn of the final lap racing Franchitti, Sato said his strategy this year was perfect.

"I was pointing in the right direction into [Turn] 1," said Sato, who was congratulated in victory lane by Franchitti.

It was only the second IndyCar victory for Sato, who won driving for A.J. Foyt in Long Beach in 2013 — a span of 74 races.

Ed Jones finished a career-best third and was followed by Max Chilton and Tony Kanaan, the highest finishers for Chip Ganassi Racing. Two-time winner Juan Pablo Montoya was sixth.

Honda drivers took six of the top 10 finishing positions.