Felix Rosenqvist Wins Epic in Closest-Ever Indianapolis 500 Finish – IndyCar Photo
INDIANAPOLIS (Sunday, May 24, 2026) – Felix Rosenqvist capped his
magical May by edging David Malukas in a last-lap drag race to the Yard
of Bricks with the highest stakes, winning the 110th Indianapolis 500
presented by Gainbridge on Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the
closest finish in the century-plus history of “The Greatest Spectacle
in Racing.”
Rosenqvist rode the high line against the concrete wall exiting Turn 4
on Lap 200 in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda of Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb
Agajanian and powered past the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet of
David Malukas to prevail by .0233 of a second. The previous closest
finish in “500” history came in 1992, when Al Unser Jr. held off a
charging Scott Goodyear by .043 of a second.
“Unreal; I still don’t believe it,” Rosenqvist said. “It kind of
worked out the right way when I got back to third, and then I just had
to flat-out lap on the high line, and it stuck,” Rosenqvist said.
“It was just the coolest way you can finish and win an Indy 500.”
The breathtaking race featured an event-record 70 lead changes over its
200 scintillating laps, breaking the previous mark of 68 set in 2013.
With his second career NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory, Rosenqvist became the
third Swedish driver to win “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,”
joining Kenny Brack (1999) and Marcus Ericsson (2022).
Meyer Shank Racing also earned its second NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory –
both coming in the most prestigious race in the world. Helio Castroneves
captured his record-tying fourth Indianapolis 500 victory in 2021 for
the Ohio-based team.
The victory capped a remarkable month for Rosenqvist. He and his wife,
Emille, welcomed their first child, a daughter named Stella, on May 4.
“I really miss my wife and my newborn child, Stella,” Rosenqvist
said. “I wish they were here with me. This whole month, becoming a dad
and winning the ‘500’ … We joked about it in the beginning:
‘Maybe you’ll win the ‘500’ and have a baby.’ It’s just
unreal.”
Scott McLaughlin finished third in the No. 3 Pennzoil Team Penske
Chevrolet, as the fabled team placed two drivers in the top three but
fell just short of a record-extending 21st Indy 500 victory.
Pato O’Ward placed fourth in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, his
fifth career top-four finish in seven “500” starts without a
victory. Marcus Armstrong rounded out the top five in the No. 66 Acura
Honda of Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian despite taking the green
flag in the lead on a one-lap shootout for the victory after a late
caution.
An incredible .4360 of a second separated the top-five finishers.
Rosenqvist’s average speed was 162.021 mph.
The one-lap dash to the checkered flag and immortality was set up when
rookie Mick Schumacher brushed the SAFER Barrier in Turn 2 in his No. 47
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda on Lap 197.
Racing resumed at the end of Lap 199, with Armstrong leading to the flag
stand with the white flag in the air and one lap remaining, with Malukas
in second and Rosenqvist third. Malukas powered to the lead entering
Turn 1 and started to pull away on the backstretch of the 2.5-mile oval
with teammates Armstrong and Rosenqvist running side by side in a joust
for second.
Rosenqvist, running the high line around the oval, nosed ahead of
Armstrong in Turn 4 and set his sights on Malukas. With the checkered
flag in the air ahead, Malukas drove his car toward the pit wall to try
and break Rosenqvist’s aerodynamic tow. Malukas then moved toward the
center of the track, and Rosenqvist quickly swung his machine back
toward the top of the racetrack, just barely avoiding contact.
The two cars were side by side yards from the finish line when
Rosenqvist nosed ahead and crossed the Yard of Bricks first by about a
half-car length, the capacity crowd of 350,000 pulsating in delight.
It was the most important of the 629 on-track passes in the race,
including 567 for position.
“I don’t know what else we could have done,” Malukas said as he
choked back tears in his pit box. “We were the fastest car that whole
race. I gave it 150 percent. I mean, I almost crashed this damn car
every lap, and we still ended up with a P2.
“I just can’t believe it. I don’t know what else I can give. So
close. This place, we’re going to come back and bring it everything.
We’re going to give it 160 percent the next time.”
Said Rosenqvist: “Good job to Marcus and David at the end. They raced
really cleanly. It’s because of drivers like that you get really good
racing. Unbelievable.”
McLaughlin, O’Ward and Armstrong then crossed the Yard of Bricks
three-wide in the sprint for third, capping a race for the ages.
The spellbinding finish was the final act of a dual-strategy drama that
unfolded over the closing laps. O’Ward, Armstrong and Rosenqvist made
their final pit stops on Laps 164, 165 and 166, respectively, right at
the edge of the fuel window to finish the race without another stop
under green-flag racing.
Meanwhile, Malukas, McLaughlin and pole sitter Alex Palou in the No. 10
DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda were among a group of cars that were on a
different sequence and had to make their final stops on Laps 175
(Malukas) and 176 (Palou and McLaughlin).
Malukas took control of that chasing group, but they were more than 20
seconds behind O’Ward, Rosenqvist and Armstrong with less than 25 laps
to go. Rosenqvist, with two more laps of fuel than O’Ward, was content
to ride in the draft of the Mexican and save even more fuel as both
lapped nearly 10 mph slower than the chasing pack to ensure they could
make it to the finish.
Rosenqvist finally pounced past O’Ward for the lead on Lap 185 and was
headed toward Easy Street.
The chasing trio of Malukas, McLaughlin and Palou appeared to be running
out of laps to catch O’Ward, Rosenqvist and Armstrong, but the field
was bunched on Lap 192 when rookie Caio Collet slammed the SAFER Barrier
in Turn 2 in the No. 4 Combitrans Amazonia Chevrolet of A.J. Foyt
Enterprises, triggering the sixth of seven caution periods in the race.
Race officials immediately red-flagged the event for accident cleanup,
with all cars pulling into the pits.
“It was the perfect situation for us before that,” Rosenqvist said.
“We kind of had everything lined up. Pato was struggling with fuel,
and we were pretty rich (on fuel) to the end. I was like: ‘This is
going to be great. At some point you’re just going to pass him and
hopefully cruise to the win.’ But then in the end, everything flipped
upside-down.
“But you just have to reload. I was a little negative at first. I was
like, ‘Of course, this happened.’ But then you just had to think
forward. It actually was good when I got back to third because it felt
like I was hunting instead of being hunted.”
Rosenqvist led the field to green flag on the Lap 196 restart after the
10-minute red flag period, with O’Ward second and Armstrong third. But
Armstrong powered to the front in the four-wide restart with a bold
outside move in Turn 1, with Malukas riding his aerodynamic coattails to
second. But then Schumacher made contact with the SAFER Barrier to bring
out the final caution on Lap 197, setting up the one-lap dash for glory.
NTT P1 Award winner Palou led a race-high 59 laps but finished seventh.
Adding his 12 bonus points for earning the Indy 500 pole, Palou leads
the series standings by 42 points over Malukas entering the next event,
the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear on Sunday, May 31 on
the streets of Detroit.