Pagenaud arrived at the 2019 Indianapolis 500 as an established champion — he had won the 2016 IndyCar Series title with Team Penske — but had gone without a win throughout 2018. His 2019 season showed renewed form: he won the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and had already demonstrated pace at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway before the 500-mile race itself.
The 2019 season featured Team Penske's Josef Newgarden as Pagenaud's primary championship rival. Pagenaud took the championship lead from Newgarden after the Indianapolis 500 victory, though Newgarden retook the lead one race later in Detroit. Pagenaud would go on to take pole and win at the 2019 Honda Indy Toronto and take pole at the 2019 Iowa 300, but ultimately finished the season in second position behind Newgarden.
Pagenaud started from pole and ran the 2019 Indianapolis 500 competitively from the front, converting his starting advantage into the race victory. The win represented the pinnacle of his IndyCar career, coming from the front of the grid at the world's most famous single-seater race.
The result carried significant historical weight. No French driver had won the Indianapolis 500 since Gaston Chevrolet's victory in 1920, a 99-year drought. Pagenaud's father was in attendance — the elder Pagenaud had watched his son win the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis in 2014 at the same venue, making the 2019 victory a second shared milestone at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Born on May 18, 1984, in Montmorillon, France, Pagenaud had built his path to IndyCar through Formula Renault and then Champ Car Atlantic, which he won in 2006 in his rookie season with Team Australia. After the Champ Car collapse in 2008, he moved to sports car racing, winning the 2010 American Le Mans Series top-class championship with the Patron Highcroft Racing team. He joined IndyCar full-time with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports before moving to Team Penske in 2015.
His move to Penske preceded the 2016 championship win, achieved with five race victories and eight podiums. The 2019 Indianapolis 500 came during a period when Pagenaud was one of the fastest drivers in the field on the IMS oval, combining his championship experience with the resources of the dominant Penske organization.
The 2019 Indianapolis 500 win cemented Pagenaud among the race's historic winners and represented France's return to the Indianapolis winner's circle after a century-long absence. The result also confirmed Penske's continued dominance at Indianapolis — Castroneves had won the race three times for Penske, and Pagenaud's win extended the team's remarkable record at the Brickyard.
Pagenaud continued to race in IndyCar with Team Penske through 2021, then joined Meyer Shank Racing alongside Helio Castroneves in 2022. A serious crash during practice for the 2023 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio — in which his car flipped multiple times — ended his 2023 season and ultimately his IndyCar career. He subsequently joined the Cadillac Formula One Team as a simulator driver in 2025.