There’s nothing just like the Month of Could at Indianapolis Motor Speedway — and infrequently has the Indianapolis 500 been extra eventful than the long-lasting occasion’s 2025 version.
Ran on a cool Indiana day amid overcast skies and occasional spurts of rain, the race’s 109th operating was briefly delayed after which instantly chaotic, hit with attrition earlier than the inexperienced flag might even fly.
That set the stage for a race that noticed quite a few plot twists, comers and goers as attrition, technique and the standard luck of the Indy 500 performed out for 200 painstaking laps.
Right here’s a have a look at the winners and losers from the Best Spectacle in Racing.
Winner: A brand new Indy 500 champion is topped: Alex Palou
Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing
Photograph by: Brandon Badraoui / Motorsport Photographs by way of Getty Photographs
Yep. He did it, once more.
For the previous few years, Alex Palou has been a beast on road-and-street circuits. However ovals had been a weak spot, providing intermittent probabilities for the sector to shut floor within the championship combat.
If Sunday’s result’s any indication, that’s not the case. Palou exorcised his oval demons together with his first win and did it on the largest race of all of them, sweeping the Month of Could together with his first triumph within the Indianapolis 500.
He now leaves the Month of Could an Indy 500 champion, with a provisional 118-point benefit within the championship standings. In need of an harm or historic collapse, it’s unlikely that anybody will chase down Palou for the Astor Cup this season.
Loser: Marcus Ericsson (and everybody else)
Marcus Ericsson, Andretti World
Photograph by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Photographs by way of Getty Photographs
He was proper there — in an ending the place passing proved difficult, Marcus Ericsson held the lead into the closing stretch. However he wound up shedding the highest spot to Palou and couldn’t get it again.
So Ericsson – just like the 31 rivals that completed behind him – was left questioning what might have been at day’s finish, even when the runner-up outcome was his finest because the 2024 Detroit Grand Prix.
Winner: Lead modifications aplenty at Indianapolis
Patricio O’ward, Arrow McLaren, Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Colton Herta, Andretti World, Callum Ilott, Prema Racing
Photograph by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Photographs by way of Getty Photographs
Blame it on Alex Palou’s dominance. Level the finger on the hybrid unit. Select no matter cause you’d like. However by any measure, it had been a procedural affair up entrance for the IndyCar discipline within the season up to now. There had been solely two on-track passes for the lead past the opening nook within the eight road-and-street circuit races because the Hybrid unit was launched in 2024 – together with the opening 5 races of the 2025 season.
The Indy 500 matched that whole simply 12 laps into the race and proceeded to blow it out of the water. It wasn’t a spectacular race for the lead by Indy 500 requirements, however a pleasant shakeup from the established order beforehand.
Loser: Rossi, Veekay and Shwartzman finish their days on pit highway
Robert Shwartzman, Prema Racing
Photograph by: Geoff Miller / Motorsport Photographs by way of Getty Photographs
Pit highway is commonly treacherous on the Brickyard, however hardly ever does it declare victims in succession prefer it did within the center parts of Sunday’s race.
Alexander Rossi got here to pit highway on the finish of lap 73 after his automobile started smoking simply to see a top-five run finish in flames. Rinus Veekay was coming to pit minutes afterward lap 81 when he misplaced management and slammed into the pit wall. Simply six laps after that, pole-sitter Robert Shwartzman did the identical whereas sliding into his field — and crew members — whereas the race was underneath warning.
Winner: A great day for David Malukas, AJ Foyt Racing
David Malukas, A. J. Foyt Enterprises
Photograph by: Penske Leisure
Previous to Sunday, it had been a quiet yr for David Malukas. The Chicagoan had completed 4 of 5 races, however come dwelling no higher than thirteenth in a spring spent within the midpack. However on the day the place probably the most eyes are drawn to IndyCar, Malukas made his presence recognized.
Piloting the No. 4, Malukas led two laps and located himself third within the race’s closing levels. The quirky ending behind lapped visitors meant that the highest contenders stayed locked in place for the ultimate 10 laps, conserving Malukas out of actual competition for the win. However the third-place outcome was the 23-year-old’s finest exterior of World Huge Expertise Raceway.
Teammate Santino Ferrucci didn’t provide most of the daring, thrilling strikes he’s managed previously at Indianapolis. However the Connecticut native quietly marched as much as seventh to present AJ Foyt Racing a pair of top-10s on the day.
Loser: Josef Newgarden’s three-peat try stalls
Josef Newgarden, Workforce Penske
Photograph by: Brett Farmer / Motorsport Photographs by way of Getty Photographs
Josef Newgarden was able to dwell as much as the stress of constructing potential historical past in Indianapolis. Sadly for the Tennessean, his automobile wasn’t as ready.
The Workforce Penske ace was making an attempt to set two historic firsts on Sunday — successful from the final row
And scoring a third-straight victory. And for a time, it appeared potential. Aided by the race’s heavy attrition and sporting a quick No. 2 Chevrolet, Newgarden rose up into the top-10 and had time to chase down the frontrunners for an opportunity at racing immortality.
However in the long run, it wasn’t meant to be. Newgarden’s automobile misplaced gas stress and a visit to the pits on lap 135 ended with an early exit as a result of a gas pump challenge. Woman luck wasn’t on his aspect this yr.
Winner: Stable days for title hopefuls
Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren
Photograph by: Brandon Badraoui / Motorsport Photographs by way of Getty Photographs
Look, the percentages of anybody catching Palou at this level are slim. And nobody is joyful about any end apart from first on the Indy 500. However for these drivers hoping to catch him, or at the very least compete for second, bringing dwelling a great end in an unpredictable race like Indianapolis is essential.
So whereas top-10 runs for Pato O’Ward, Kyle Kirkwood, Christian Lundgaard and Felix Rosenqvist are nothing to write down dwelling about, they did assist the group depart Indiana with the 4 spots behind Palou within the standings.
Loser: Mom Nature’s at it once more
Indy 500 grid
Photograph by: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Photographs by way of Getty Photographs
It’s been a cool, overcast week in Indiana. So, there was no shock when cloudy skies and a lightweight menace of rain popped up on the race day forecast.
Fortunately, there was little rain to deal with on the day. However the little bit that did drop got here down simply as pre-race festivities had been kicking into gear.
What ensued was a short, however painful, wait because the climate moved by way of and the observe dried – particularly for Kyle Larson, who noticed the little wiggle room he had for his deliberate IndyCar-NASCAR double evaporate as moisture hit his aeroscreen. Later, Larson’s race would finish after an uncharacteristically botched restart.
That margin for error solely bought thinner from there, as a result of rain compelled a short warning minutes later and earlier than that…
Loser: Everybody loses their minds earlier than the inexperienced
Marco Andretti, Andretti World
Photograph by: James Gilbert / Getty Photographs
It was shades of 1992 early on at Indianapolis.
By the point engines had been fired and tempo laps bought underway, the capability crowd at Indianapolis Motor Speedway had reached a fevered pitch. Feelings had been excessive and drivers had been able to race.
In reality, they might have been a bit too prepared.
The lone Workforce Penske driver that didn’t have to start out from the rear, Scott McLaughlin, made a colossal mistake heading into flip 1 on the ultimate lap earlier than the scheduled inexperienced flag. The Kiwi was warming his tires when he misplaced management of his No. 3 Chevrolet and clobbered the within wall on the finish of the entrance stretch, bringing his race to an finish earlier than it might start.
That led the race to start out underneath warning. However the discipline nonetheless took the primary inexperienced flag within the conventional three-wide formation, which led to a different crash in flip 1 as Marco Andretti bought the worst of a four-wide transfer.
The veteran’s twentieth Indy 500 run was already hampered by a troublesome qualifying weekend that noticed him roll off twenty ninth. However it ended even deeper in thirty second, having solely seen one straightaway of inexperienced flag racing.
Scott Dixon wasn’t concerned in an accident, however suffered a setback of his personal. His automobile briefly went ablaze in the course of the tempo laps. The 2008 race winner ultimately required a brake change because of the mechanical challenge, trapping him three laps down and out of competition early in his twenty third Indy 500.
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