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Nascar

Munoz and Newgarden crushed after Indy 500 defeat

Associated Press
Published | Updated
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Lady Gaga, center, poses for a photo with members of the Carlos Munoz pit crew during the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Sunday, May 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) (The Associated Press)

INDIANAPOLIS – Carlos Munoz has twice been a bridesmaid in the Indianapolis 500.

After losing to Andretti Autosport teammate Alexander Rossi on Sunday, the Colombian was crestfallen.

He also wanted to know how Rossi beat him to the checkered flag in the historic 100th running of the Indy 500.

Rossi used fuel strategy and stretched his final tank almost 90 miles. Munoz, who was much faster, couldn't make it to the finish and had to stop for gas. It allowed Rossi to inherit the lead and Munoz couldn't catch him as Rossi coasted on fumes to the finish.

"I knew I didn't have enough fuel," he said. "I don't know how my teammate did it without stopping. If I'm honest, I want to know what he did. I will look. I am second, why he's not stopping? He's supposed to stop. I have to look and see what he did. I don't know what he did."

Munoz, who qualified second and finished second as a rookie in 2013, thought he was going to battle Josef Newgarden over the closing laps for the win, only to see Rossi steal it with his strategy.

"I think me and Newgarden had the win, we were so strong," said Munoz, who did help Andretti Autosport and Honda to a 1-2 finish. "I cannot say I'm really happy. I'm just really sad and disappointed."

Newgarden was just as frustrated as Munoz after finishing third.

"It's really heartbreaking, to be honest," he said. "The reason is because I think we had a car to win. I'm not saying we should have won the race definitely because we had the best car, I just think we had a car that could have won."

But after he also had to stop for fuel, he never got a shot at Rossi.

"What I wanted was an opportunity to try to race those guys at the end," he said. "We didn't get that. That's no fault to my guys. I think that's just how the race fell. Sometimes it doesn't fall your way."