The Indy 500 came down to a one-lap shootout and it did not disappoint.
The race was red-flagged with eight laps to go after Ciao Collet crashed in Turn 2 and his car caught fire. The Brazilian was OK, but his car was badly damaged and caught fire, which required a lengthy clean-up period.
Felix Rosenqvist took the restart ahead of Pato O’Ward with five laps to go, but the yellow flag came out again on lap 196 when Mick Schumacher hit the wall.
Marcus Armstrong took the lead just before the caution and was up front for the restart with one lap left, followed by David Malukas, Rosenqvist and O’Ward.
Malukas drove to the front as they crossed the yard of bricks to start the lap as Meyer Shank Racing teammates Armstrong and Rosenqvist drove side-by-side all the way into Turn 4 where Rosenqvist found speed and slingshotted to the outside of Malukas down the final stretch and beat him to the line by .023 seconds, which was the closest margin of victory in Indy 500 history.
“I don’t even know what to say, what a car, what a car,” he said after the race. “Massive thanks to the team, we had to cars there in for the win at the end and that’s a very luxurious situation to be in for a team.”
Malukas’ Team Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin, who crashed out of the 2025 Indy 500 during the warm-up lap, finished third ahead of Arrow McLaren’s O’Ward and Armstrong.
Malukas was in tears in pit lane after the race.
“I don’t know what else we could’ve done, we were the fastest car the whole race,” he said. “I gave it 150%, I mean, I almost crashed this damn car every lap and we still ended up with a P2, man, I can’t believe it, I don’t know what else I could give.”
The margin of victory beat the old record of .043 seconds, which was set in 1992 when Al Unser Jr. edged out Scott Goodyear.
The IndyCar Series heads next to the streets of Motown for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix on May 31.
