Palou Wins 109th Indy 500

By Jeff Thornton

Memorial Day weekend is always the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”, the Indianapolis 500! This year there were all kinds of storylines. Could Josef Newgarden win his third race in a row. Could Rookie, Robert Shwartzman win his first race from the pole position? Could Kyle Larsen complete all the laps at Indy and then fly to Charlotte and complete all laps in Coca Cola 600 like Tony Stewart did? Could Helio Castroneves win his fifth INDY 500 races. Would the race be completed on Sunday? Keep reading, we will answer the questions!

A couple new twists happened this year at the Racetrack. The first was on Friday with the Wienie 500.  This was a two-lap race between all 6 of the Wienermobiles. Top speed of 65 these big Wieners were fun to watch as 50,000 plus fans cheered them on. Wiener four had the lead until smoke came out and ended Four’s chances of the win. The race came down to the final seconds when “Slaw Dog” from the Southwest passed “Chi Dog” from the Midwest and won by half a bun.  We did not see any mustard or ketchup in the pits.

Another new twist took place at the start of the race when two military helicopters took a lap after the military flyover of fighter jets. It was a fitting way to honor the Military and all the sacrifices the Military does to protect us. The playing of “Taps” is also a moving performance in addition to America the Beautiful and the National Anthem. Thanks for all the past and present Service Men and Women in this Country!

The weather was chilly and mixed with drizzle at the start of the race. The race was delayed as the track dryers and track officials need to make sure the track was ready for racing at 200 miles per hour. When the race finally began, Scott Mclaughlin had a mishap during the parade lap and crashed. This ended his day with 0 laps recorded. After the wreck was cleared the race began green on the fourth lap, Marco Andretti crashed in the first turn ending his day. The race finally restarted. On laps 20 another caution came out when there was additional drizzle forcing the race to go to caution. After this delay there were no more weather-related issues.

There were several pit related issues that ended hopes of winning for several drivers. Alexander Rossi was a race leader and went into the pits for fuel his car caught on fire and luckily no one was injured but his day was done. Other pit stop issues were Takuma Sato had a good start leading several laps but overshot his pit stop causing a lot of lost time. The biggest pit stop mistake was by pole setter, Robert Shwartzman, who hit the pit wall in the pit area damaging the car and made contract with a pit crew member. The good news is no one was hurt from these incidents.

Kyle Larson’s did not have a good day. He crashed on lap 92 and took out Sting Ray Robb and Kyffin Simpson on a restart. Larson’s day was over, and he headed to Charlotte from the track. His NASCAR race went a little bit better he led 34 laps but also was involved in an accident on lap 245 ending his day. He finished 27th at INDY and 37th at Charlotte.  Josef Newgarden the reigning INDY 500 champion also did not have a good week. He qualified 11th but started 32nd due to some alteration penalties to his race car. Newgarden did a good job of getting up to 7th position but a pitstop and next a fuel pump issue ended is day on lap 140.  Helio Castroneves had a good day finished on the lead lap but was 13th place.

Palou was the star of the day. He is three-time INDY series champ (2021,2023, 2024). He had won four of first five INDY Series races this season including the INDY road Course race on May 10. But Palou has never won an oval race in the INDY series until today. The crown jewel of the INDY Series has always eluded him. This was his year when he passed race leader Marcus Ericsson with 14 laps to go and won the race under caution when Nolan Siegel crashed his car on the final lap. He was the first Spanish driver to win since 1911.  “It means so much to win here. I am so grateful to be able to celebrate with my family! Said Palou. Palou was able to drink the bottle of milk and kiss the yard of bricks and take the drive in the pace car around the track with his family. “Words can explain the thrill this is,” said Palou.

Marcus Ericsson, the 2022 INDY 500 finished second in 2023 and now second in 2025. “I am disappointed we did not win we had a good pitstop to get out in front, but Alex passed us and we never got a good chance to pass him. Hats off to his team,” said Ericsson.

David Malukas was out of a job last year during the INDY 500 and posted a very good day and finished third. “We made the most of the day and had a strong car. I glad I was in the car today and not like last year,” quipped Malukas.

It was an exciting day of storylines but the biggest fairytale ending to come true was Palou winning the INDY 500!

UPDATE:   2nd place Marcus Ericsson, 6th place Kyle Kirkwood and 12th place Callum Ilott were penalized for failing post-race technical inspection.  All 3 were moved to the last 3 positions in the field and forfeiting their higher (original) prize money.   Each team was fined an additional $100,000 and the team/ competition manager for each was suspended for the next Indycar race.