Juan Pablo Montoya, Penske outduel Ganassi at Indianapolis 500

A high intensity, ferocious back-and-forth exchange is exactly what you’d expect out of the two titans of open-wheel racing fighting for supremacy on the grandest stage. And Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing delivered exactly that in Sunday’s Indianapolis 500.

In a race where neither held a decided advantage until the end, Juan Pablo Montoya and Will Power delivered a Penske 1-2 over Ganassi teammates Charlie Kimball and Scott Dixon.

Power and Dixon exchanged the lead six times over the final 25 laps. Montoya took the point for the final time with three to go when he executed an audacious pass to the inside of Power barreling towards Turn 1. It was the kind of maneuver Montoya’s been known for in a career that spanned multiple disciplines -- IndyCar, Formula One and NASCAR. He returned to IndyCar last season.

Seeing an opportunity, he pounced and never looked back.

“That was fun racing -- probably the best racing,” Montoya said. “Between Will and Dixon, we have a lot of respect for each other. We understand the risk and we understand when they got you. So it makes it fun.”

That Montoya was the Roger Penske wheelman who toppled Ganassi would seem to offer some poetic justice. After all, Montoya only came back to open-wheel racing when Ganassi jettisoned him at the end of 2013, following seven mostly underwhelming seasons in NASCAR. Montoya ended up signing with Penske, Ganassi’s chief IndyCar rival.

But while the competition between the organizations is strong, it’s also filled with mutual admiration. Each pushes the other to be exceedingly better. Nowhere is that more evident than at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the powerhouses have combined to win 10 of the past 16 Indianapolis 500s. Sunday’s duel may have been the best.

Just as they have throughout the month of May, Penske and Ganassi were dominant. Cars flying the banner of either operation led 193 of a possible 200 laps. The distinction between IndyCar’s most successful teams and everyone else was as clear as the blue sky that shown over the track Sunday.

For much of the race, Penske and Ganassi held the top seven positions. Their superiority was such that it was only a matter of which of their drivers would claim victory. Ganassi initially seemed to hold the edge with Dixon -- who started on the pole and led a race-high 84 laps -- and Tony Kanaan -- who led for 30 circuits -- acting as wingmen.

But the scale tipped towards the Penske camp when Kanaan couldn’t maintain control of a loose car and crashed hard in Turn 4. All of sudden Ganassi was down one of its main bullets.

“What really worked in our favor was when [Kanaan] had a problem,” Penske said. “That really opened it up because we had at least two strong cars working against [Dixon], then [Kimball] kind of got in there at the end.”

Sunday was Montoya’s second Indianapolis 500 victory, the first coming in 2000 when he was driving for Ganassi. That day the Colombian blitzed an overwhelmed field, which included no Penske entries, leading 83 percent of the race and winning by a seven-second margin.

This triumph was substantially harder -- not only because of the amplified competition, but because of an earlier incident where Montoya got rear-ended by Simona de Silvestro under the first yellow flag, causing damage to the wing and wheel guard. He fell to 30th after repairs, necessitating a scramble to recoup the lost track position.

“When you have to work for it that hard, it’s exciting,” Montoya said. “When you come out on top of races like this. ... That was a hell of a race.”

And as Montoya prepared to embark on a victory celebration in the back of a convertible, who came over to stop the car? Of course it was Ganassi, who offered congratulations.

“We’re still good friends,” Montoya said. “He made a business decision. That’s what it was. He brought his A-game. We did, as well.”

Both sides most certainly brought their best Sunday, but when it mattered the most, the Penske game was just slightly better.