{"id":52263,"date":"2025-05-25T22:02:07","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T03:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=52263"},"modified":"2025-05-25T22:04:22","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T03:04:22","slug":"palou-wins-indianapolis-500to-earn-first-oval-victory-immortality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/25\/palou-wins-indianapolis-500to-earn-first-oval-victory-immortality\/","title":{"rendered":"Palou wins Indianapolis 500 to earn first oval victory, immortality"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Alex Palou. Photo courtesy of the NTT IndyCar Series<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Courtesy of the NTT IndyCar Series<\/em><\/p>\n

INDIANAPOLIS \u2013 Alex Palou\u2019s place among the legends is now secure.<\/p>\n

Three-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Palou earned the first oval victory of his career, capturing the biggest race of them all, the 109th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n

\u201cBest milk I\u2019ve ever tasted,\u201d Palou said on the Victory Podium after a hearty swig from the traditional winner\u2019s bottle of milk. \u201cIt tastes so good. What an amazing feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palou won under caution when \u201c500\u201d rookie Nolan Siegel crashed his No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet in Turn 2 on the final lap of the 200-lap race, which started 43 minutes late due to passing sprinkles. Two-time defending series champion Palou passed the No. 28 Allegra Honda of Andretti Global\u2019s Marcus Ericsson on Lap 187 and never trailed thereafter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot believe it,\u201d Palou said. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing to win. There were some moments that I felt really good in the race, but at the end I didn\u2019t know if I was going to able to pass Marcus or not, but Imade it happen. First oval win. What a better place?\u201d<\/p>\n

Palou earned his fifth win in six series races this season in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi RacingHonda, padding his championship lead to a whopping 115 points over Pato O\u2019Ward of Arrow McLaren. But more importantly for his legacy as one of the great all-time champions of the sport, he gained a spot on the Borg-Warner Trophy \u2013 the first Spaniard to earn that distinction \u2013 and immortality.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to make Alex Palou\u2019s career, it\u2019s going to make his life, and it certainly has made mine,\u201d winning team owner Chip Ganassi said.<\/p>\n

Chip Ganassi Racing earned its sixth victory in \u201cThe Greatest Spectacle in Racing\u201d and first since Ericsson won in 2022.<\/p>\n

Ericsson finished second for the second time in the last three years, as he also was the narrow runner-up to Josef Newgarden in 2023. Newgarden\u2019s drive to become the first to win three consecutive Indianapolis 500s ended with a mechanical problem in his No. 2 Shell V-Power Nitro+ Team Penske Chevrolet, as he ended up 25th after completing 135 laps.<\/p>\n

David Malukas, who missed last year\u2019s race with injury, finished a \u201c500\u201d career-best third in the No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet of A.J. Foyt Enterprises.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Ward finished fourth in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, his fourth top-four \u201c500\u201d finish in the last five years, but with none ending on Victory Podium. Felix Rosenqvist rounded out the top five in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda of Meyer Shank Racing w\/Curb-Agajanian.<\/p>\n

Robert Shwartzman, the first rookie pole sitter since 1983, ended up in 29th place. He was eliminated from the race during a pit lane mishap on Lap 87 when his No. 83 PREMA Racing Chevrolet skidded through his pit box, hitting the inside wall and a few crew members.<\/p>\n

The race, which took place under cloud cover in unseasonably cool air temperatures in the low60s, featured a chaotic first half with six of the race\u2019s seven caution periods in the first 108 laps. That attrition eliminated seven cars, including in separate incidents marquee drivers such as Team Penske\u2019s Scott McLaughlin, Marco Andretti of Andretti Herta w\/Marco & Curb-Agajanian and NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, who was attempting to complete the \u201c500\u201d and the Coca-Cola 600 this evening at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the same day.<\/p>\n

But once the race settled into a groove, it became a furious contest of dueling pit strategies and breathtaking passes amid thick traffic.<\/p>\n

Palou made his final pit stop on Lap 168, playing a potentially dangerous game with fuel mileage, as 32 laps was around the maximum fuel mileage on one tank.<\/p>\n

Malukas took the lead on Lap 169 when 2014 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay pitted in the No. 23DRR CUSICK WEDBUSH SECURITIES Chevrolet, the last of his 48 laps led. Only two-time\u201c500\u201d winner Takuma Sato led more laps, with 51 out front on the 2.5-mile oval. Hunter-Reay stalled on pit exit, ending his chance to contend for a second win.<\/p>\n

Chicago native Malukas then made his final stop on Lap 170, handing the lead to Ericsson. Malukas exited the pits ahead of Palou, giving him perhaps a chance to contend for the win once Ericsson made his final stop.<\/p>\n

But Palou then hustled past Malukas for position, taking advantage of lapped traffic that slowed Malukas. Ericsson made his final stop on Lap 175 with slick and quick service from Andretti Global and exited the pits in front of Palou and Malukas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to lie: I was crying coming into the pits (after the race),\u201d Malukas said. \u201cMan, we were just so close to getting it. Lappers came in, and he (Palou) was able to get a run. We were leading, so he had a good tow, and he timed that perfectly. It\u2019s bittersweet because we didn\u2019t get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palou sat in second while in Ericsson\u2019s aerodynamic draft, saving fuel, stalking and presumably waiting until the last five to 10 laps to pounce. Ericsson was trying to navigate the turbulent air from the cars of Rahal Letterman Lanigan teammates Devlin DeFrancesco and Louis Foster, who were battling for 15th place on the tail end of the lead lap ahead of Ericsson.<\/p>\n

But Palou surprised the sellout crowd of 350,000 on Lap 187 by using the aerodynamic tow from Ericsson\u2019s car and diving under the Swede entering Turn 1 for the last of the 22 lead changes in the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had those lappers ahead of us that were making it difficult,\u201d Ericsson said. \u201cHe got a run on me. I didn\u2019t know if he was going to go for it or not. That\u2019s the thing that I\u2019m thinking about constantly now \u2013 I should have covered that inside, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ericsson stayed close to Palou for the next 13 laps but never got close enough to make a run for his second spot on the Borg-Warner Trophy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was painful,\u201d Ericsson said. \u201cTo miss out, so close again. Second time second place here, and this is a winner-takes-all kind of place. It\u2019s really painful. We kept fighting. Congrats to Alexand Chip Ganassi Racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear on Sunday, June 1 on the streets of downtown Detroit (12:30 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Courtesy of the NTT IndyCar Series INDIANAPOLIS \u2013 Alex Palou\u2019s place among the legends is now secure. Three-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Palou earned the first oval victory of his career, capturing the biggest race of them all, the 109th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. \u201cBest milk I\u2019ve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":52266,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[824,230,421,125,22,672],"class_list":["post-52263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indycar","tag-alex-palou","tag-indianapolis-500","tag-indianapolis-motor-speedway","tag-indy-500","tag-indycar","tag-ntt-indycar-series"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/109th-Running-of-the-Indianapolis-500-Sunday_-May-25_-2025_Ref-Image-Without-Watermark_m133004.jpg?fit=1080%2C720","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-dAX","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52263"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52268,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52263\/revisions\/52268"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}