There’s nothing like the Month of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway — and rarely has the Indianapolis 500 been more eventful than the iconic event’s 2025 edition.
Winner: A new Indy 500 champion is crowned: Alex Palou Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing Photo by: Brandon Badraoui / Motorsport Images via Getty Images Yep.
He now leaves the Month of May an Indy 500 champion, with a provisional 118-point advantage in the championship standings.
And no one is happy about any finish other than first at the Indy 500.
The veteran’s 20th Indy 500 run was already hampered by a difficult qualifying weekend that saw him roll off 29th.
Nothing compares to May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the 2025 edition of the venerable Indianapolis 500 has rarely been more exciting.
The 109th running of the race, which was held on a cool Indiana day with cloudy skies and sporadic downpours, was momentarily postponed before its start was cut short by attrition.
This paved the way for a race that featured a lot of plot twists, comers and goers, and 200 agonizing laps of strategy, attrition, and the typical luck of the Indianapolis 500.
The winners and losers from the Greatest Spectacle in Racing are shown here.
Winner: Alex Palou is crowned the new Indianapolis 500 champion.
Chip Ganassi Racing and Alex Palou.
Getty Images via Motorsport Images/Brandon Badraoui.
Yes. Once more, he did it.
On the street and road circuits, Alex Palou has been a beast for the last few years. Ovals, however, provided sporadic opportunities for the field to gain ground in the championship battle, making them a weakness.
That isn’t the case anymore, based on Sunday’s outcome. With his first victory in the Indianapolis 500, Palou exorcised his oval demons and won the most important race of all. This victory swept the month of May.
He now leads the championship standings by a provisional 118 points at the end of May, making him an Indy 500 champion. Nobody is likely to challenge Palou for the Astor Cup this season, barring an injury or a massive collapse.
Marcus Ericsson (as well as everyone else) lost.
Ericsson Marcus, Andretti Global.
Taken by Michael L. Getty Images via Levitt / Motorsport Images.
He was there—in a finish where it was difficult to pass, Marcus Ericsson maintained the lead into the final seconds. He ultimately lost the top spot to Palou, though, and was unable to regain it.
Even though the runner-up finish was his best since the 2024 Detroit Grand Prix, Ericsson, along with the 31 competitors who finished behind him, was left wondering what might have been at the end of the day.
Winner: There are numerous lead changes at Indianapolis.
Andretti Global, Callum Ilott, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Graham Rahal, Patricio O’ward, Arrow McLaren, Colton Herta, and Prema Racing.
Photographer: Michael L. Images from Levitt / Motorsport via Getty Images.
Put it down to Alex Palou’s power. The hybrid unit should be held responsible. Select any justification you’d like. In any case, the IndyCar field had so far this season dealt with a procedural matter. Since the Hybrid unit was introduced in 2024, there have only been two on-track passes for the lead past the opening corner in the eight races held on road and street circuits, including the first five of the 2025 season.
Only twelve laps into the race, the Indianapolis 500 matched that total and then blew it out of the water. Although the race for the lead wasn’t particularly exciting by Indianapolis 500 standards, it was a welcome change from the previous order of things.
Pit road is where Rossi, Veekay, and Shwartzman end their lives.
Prema Racing—Robert Shwartzman.
Geoff Miller/Motorsport Images via Getty Images took the picture.
Although the Brickyard’s pit road is frequently dangerous, it rarely takes a series of casualties like it did during the middle sections of Sunday’s race.
In order to witness a top-five run come to an abrupt end, Alexander Rossi arrived at pit road at the end of lap 73 after his car started to smoke. A few minutes later, on lap 81, Rinus Veekay lost control and crashed into the pit wall as he was approaching the pit. Pole-sitter Robert Shwartzman followed suit just six laps later, sliding into his box and crew members as the race was being watched closely.
Winner: David Malukas of AJ Foyt Racing had a successful day.
Malukas, David A. J. Foyt Enterprises.
Image courtesy of Penske Entertainment.
Before Sunday, David Malukas’s year had been uneventful. Despite finishing four of five races, the Chicagoan finished the spring in the middle of the pack and finished no higher than 13th. However, Malukas made his presence known on the day that IndyCar attracts the greatest number of spectators.
Taking the No. 4. In the final stages of the race, Malukas finished third after leading two laps. The top competitors remained stationary for the final ten laps due to the peculiar finish behind lapped traffic, excluding Malukas from any serious competition for the victory. The 23-year-old’s best performance outside of World Wide Technology Raceway, however, came in third place.
Santino Ferrucci, his teammate, did not provide many of the daring, thrilling moves he has overseen at Indianapolis in the past. However, to give AJ Foyt Racing two top-10 finishes for the day, the Connecticut native stealthily advanced to seventh place.
Josef Newgarden’s attempt at a three-peat fails.
Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden.
Photographer: Brett Farmer via Getty Images/Motorsport Images.
Making possible history in Indianapolis was a pressure Josef Newgarden was prepared to meet. Regretfully, the Tennessee driver’s vehicle was less ready.
On Sunday, the Team Penske star was attempting to accomplish two historic firsts: winning from the last row.
and winning three straight games. It also appeared to be feasible for a while. Having a quick No. and being helped by the race’s high attrition. 2 Chevrolet, Newgarden moved up into the top ten and had enough time to pass the leaders and earn a spot in the race’s history books.
Ultimately, however, it was not meant to be. On lap 135 because of a fuel pump problem, Newgarden’s car lost fuel pressure and had to leave the pits early. This year, lady luck wasn’t on his side.
Winner: Good days for champions.
Arrow McLaren and Christian Lundgaard.
Photograph courtesy of Motorsport Images/Brandon Badraoui via Getty Images.
Look, it’s likely that nobody will catch Palou now. Additionally, nobody is pleased with a finish other than first at the Indianapolis 500. In an unpredictable race like Indianapolis, however, it is crucial for drivers who want to catch up to him or at least contend for second place.
Even though Pato O’Ward, Kyle Kirkwood, Christian Lundgaard, and Felix Rosenqvist’s top-10 runs aren’t particularly noteworthy, they did assist the team in losing to Palou by four spots as they left Indiana.
The loser is Mother Nature once again.
The Indianapolis 500 grid.
Photograph courtesy of Motorsport Images/Phillip Abbott via Getty Images.
This week has been cool and cloudy in Indiana. Therefore, it was not shocking when the race day forecast called for cloudy skies and a slight chance of rain.
Fortunately, there wasn’t much rain that day. However, the small amount that did fall did so right before the start of the pre-race celebrations.
Kyle Larson, whose limited margin of error for his intended IndyCar-NASCAR double evaporated as moisture hit his aeroscreen, had to endure a brief but agonizing wait as the weather passed and the track dried. Larson’s race would later come to an end due to an unusually poorly executed restart.
Rain prompted a quick caution a few minutes later, and before that
�that margin of error only grew smaller.
Loser: Before the green, everyone goes crazy.
Andretti Global, Marco Andretti.
Getty Images/James Gilbert took the picture.
Early on at Indianapolis, it was reminiscent of 1992.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s capacity crowd had risen to a fever pitch by the time the engines started and the pace laps started. Drivers were on edge and eager to compete.
They might have been a little too prepared, actually.
On the last lap before the scheduled green flag, Scott McLaughlin, the only Team Penske driver who did not have to start from the back, made a huge error going into turn 1. As he warmed up his tires, the Kiwi lost control of his number. His race ended before it could start when he collided with the inside wall at the end of the front stretch of a 3 Chevrolet.
This resulted in a cautious start to the race. In the conventional three-wide formation, however, the field still received the first green flag, which resulted in another collision in turn one when Marco Andretti received the worst of a four-wide move.
The veteran’s challenging qualifying weekend, which saw him finish 29th, had already impeded his 20th Indianapolis 500 run. But after just one straightaway of green flag racing, it ended even lower in 32nd place.
