INDIANAPOLIS — It came down to the final lap. Strike that. It came down to the finish line.
On the final restart with one lap to go, David Malukas overtook Marcus Armstrong going into Turn 1. Exiting Turn 4, Felix Rosenqvist pulled up to him and juked to his outside. They drag raced down the frontstretch to the finish line, and Rosenqvist edged Malukas out by 0.0233 seconds. Which made history as the closest finish in Indianapolis 500 history, and 17th closest in NTT INDYCAR SERIES history.
“What an incredible finish, first of all,” Rosenqvist said. “That’s the way I’ve always pictured it in my head for some reason. It was almost like muscle memory when it happened because I’ve been dreaming about that last lap move. It’s kind of weird, you never really get that last lap move in the Indy 500, and it just played out perfectly.”
It’s his second career win in 120 IndyCar starts and first since 2020 at Road America.
Malukas sat in his car with his head held down. When he climbed out of the car, the tears flowed from his eyes. After losing the lead on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in the closing laps, two weeks ago, he once again lost out on his first career victory.
When he came into the media center, teammate Scott McLaughlin got up and hugged him. His emotions were just pure disappointment.
“I just don’t know what else we could have done,” Malukas said. “We were driving 150% that whole race. The guys did a fantastic job getting the car where it needed to be. We had the fastest car out there that whole race. It was ours to win, and I knew that.”
McLaughlin rounded out the podium.
“I mean, I’m happy,” McLaughlin said. “I went from 10th to third in two laps. I mean, I had an awesome — I had so much adrenaline going through my body right now, but ultimately congrats to Felix. I saw him up high in the last two corners and I was like, how is this going to work out, but the draft is incredible. It’s really tough to lead this race now.”
Pato O’Ward and Marcus Armstrong, who fell backwards on the final lap, rounded out the top-five.
Rinus VeeKay, pole sitter Alex Palou (who led a race high 59 laps), Santino Ferrucci, Romain Grosjean and Takuma Sato rounded out the top-10.
Felix Rosenqvist edges David Malukas in drag race to finish line to win the Indianapolis 500
Race summary
Palou led the field to green at 12:47 p.m. ET. Alexander Rossi wasted no time and overtook Palou into Turn 1. Palou returned the favor into Turn 3 and edged him at the line to lead the first lap. Then Rossi overtook him into Turn 1, again, to lead the second lap. After leading a lap, Palou took the lead back. Rossi passed him into Turn 1 on Lap 6 for the lead, which he officially led, but Palou passed him back in Turn 1 on Lap 7. Not content to settle in, Rossi passed him again into Turn 1 on Lap 8. Palou did the same on Lap 9. This cycle repeated for several laps. By Lap 15, both Palou and Rossi accounted for nine lead changes. Caution flew on Lap 18 when Ryan Hunter-Reay got loose off Turn 2 and spun out and up into the path of Katherine Legge. She turned down to avoid, lost control and hit the inside wall. VeeKay — along with Grosjean, Caio Collet and Jack Harvey — stayed out to take the race lead.
Back to green on Lap 27, Grosjean edged VeeKay at the line to lead the lap. Caution flew moments later, when Ed Carpenter drifted up into the side of Sato, got loose and hit the Turn 1 wall.
Back to green on Lap 32, Collet edged VeeKay at the line to lead. While he edged Palou at the line, Palou took it back into Turn 1 on Lap 33. Conor Daly overtook Palou into Turn 1 for the lead, but Collet edged him at the line to lead Lap 35. After Collet pit from the lead on Lap 40, Daly inherited the lead. Which didn’t last long, as Palou returned to the lead into Turn 3 on Lap 41. Afterwards, the race settled into a green flag rhythm. Several cars pitted on Lap 61. Palou followed suit and pitted from the lead on Lap 62. Scott Dixon pitted from the lead on Lap 63. Christian Rasmussen pitted from the lead on Lap 66, and Palou cycled back to the head of the field.
After taking third from Malukas and second from Rosenqvist, Dixon overtook Palou into Turn 3 to take the lead on Lap 69. After two laps, Palou edged Dixon at the line to retake the lead on Lap 71. This started a cycle of Dixon and Palou trading the lead back and forth for several laps. Caution flew on Lap 91 when Will Power spun out in the Turn 1 acceleration lane with fluid trailing his car. At the same time, Rossi came down pit lane as his car let off smoke. During this caution, the field completed 101 laps. Which made this an official race. Coincidentally, drivers radioed reports of rain in Turns 3 and 4. After 104 laps, IndyCar displayed the red flag.
After 12 minutes and 23 seconds, drivers re-fired their engines and the field rolled back onto the track.
Back to green on Lap 110, Palou and Malukas overtook Dixon in Turn 1. Malukas powered by Palou down the backstretch to take the lead. After two laps, Palou edged Malukas at the line to retake the lead. Down the backstretch, Malukas passed Palou again to retake the lead on Lap 113. Caution flew on Lap 116 for rain.
Back to green on Lap 126, caution flew just before the field reached the line when Josef Newgarden clipped the Turn 4 rumble strip, got loose and slammed the outside wall.
Back to green on Lap 133, Daly dove inside Malukas for the lead into Turn 1. McLaughlin cleared him into Turn 3, but Daly edged him at the line to hold the lead. The next lap, McLaughlin powered down the frontstretch past Daly to take the lead. Palou pulled the same play on Lap 135 to retake the lead. McLaughlin edged him at the line to retake the lead, the next lap. Daly, who followed McLaughlin around Palou, overtook McLaughlin at the line on Lap 138. In a three-wide battle, Palou goes to the outside to retake the lead on Lap 139. McLaughlin overtook him into Turn 3 to retake the lead on Lap 142. Over the next several laps, the two of them repeated this cycle. Malukas threw his hat into that cycle when he overtook Palou into Turn 1 for the lead on Lap 147. He pitted from the lead on Lap 147, and exited behind McLaughlin. Palou pitted from the lead on Lap 148, and while he blended out ahead, Malukas overtook him on the frontstretch. Dixon pitted from the lead on Lap 150.
Felix Rosenqvist pitted from the lead with 35 laps to go, and Malukas cycled back to the lead. Pato O’Ward, who pitted two laps earlier, cycled out ahead of Rosenqvist.
With 33 to go, Palou powered by Malukas down the frontstretch to retake the lead. With 32 to go, Malukas returned the favor. With 26 laps to go, he pitted from the lead with a 7.7 second stop. Palou pitted from the lead with 25 to go. As everyone else made their final stop, O’Ward, Rosenqvist and Marcus Armstrong were told to save their fuel. With 16 laps to go, Rosenqvist’s team told him he was good to the finish. So he pressed the attack and passed O’Ward for the lead at the line.
The fuel strategy went up in flames with nine laps to go, when Collet got loose and pounded the outside wall in Turn 2. IndyCar red-flagged the race with seven laps to go, which lasted 10 minutes.
Back to green with four laps to go, caution flew when Mick Schumacher hit the wall in Turn 1. Which set up the run to the finish.
Felix Rosenqvist edges David Malukas in drag race to finish line to win the Indianapolis 500
Nuts and bolts
The race lasted three hours, five minutes and 15 seconds, at an average speed of 162.021 mph. There were 70 lead changes among 14 different drivers, and nine cautions for 51 laps.
Palou leaves The Brickyard with a 35-point lead over Malukas.
The NTT INDYCAR Series returns to action, Sunday, May 31, on the streets of Detroit.
