I saw two races today. The 110 lap race was caution filled and filled with chaos in the pits. The second one was an intriguing chess game in which several drivershad a chance to win.

Alex Palou won the 109th Indianapolis 500, taking the lead from Marcus Ericsson with 14 laps to go.

“Pretty painful,” Ericsson said.

It is Palou’s first win on an oval, and Palou’s fifth win six IndyCar series races in 2025. He now leads Pato O’Ward by 118 points, more than two races of maximum points.

Pit Chaos

Pit Lane played a role in the outcome as several contenders had incidents which ended either their day or their chances to win. Rinus VeeKay slid into the pit wall after entering the pits. the contact knocked him out of the race.

Takuma Sato, who looked to be in control of the race, overshot his marks, and the crew had and the time lost took him out of the running.He finished 11th.

Robert Shwartzman made contact with his pit crew as stopped too close to the wall. One crew member was taken by ambulance to the infield care center with severe foot pain.

Ryan Hunter-Reay was leading the race and appeared to be in position to battle for the win.. His car stalled on his final stop and the team couldn’t restart it. Hunter-Reay placed 24th.

Tough Day for Former Winners

Other than Marcus Ericsson’s second place finish, former 500 winners had a difficult time. Helio Castroneves finished 13th and was the only other past winner on the lead lap at the end.

Two time defending champion Josef Newgarden had climbed as high as fifth from his 32nd starting spot only to have the fuel pump fail. he finished 25th.

Will Power started 33rd and quietly rose to 19th at the end.

Alexander Rossi led 14 laps but retired after a brake fire.

Scott Dixon suffered a brake fire on the parade lap and spent the entire day three laps down.

What Might Have Been

Conor Daly looked like he would become the first Indiana born winner of the 500 since Wilbur Shaw in 1940. A worn tire caused him to pit early and he finished 10th. Still. it was one of Daly’s best 500 drives

David Malukas was in the fight but settled for third place. It was his first podium since a second place at Gateway in 2022.

In Summary

The race got off to a disjointed start with Scott McLaughlin hitting the outside pit wall on the parade lap, and Marco Andretti’s crash in turn 1 just after the green flag. 18 laps of caution in the first 29 laps was not a great start. A back to back set of yellows on laps 82 and 92 kept the first half of the race crawling. After the caution which ended on lap 108, the race was green until Nolan Siegel’s crash on lap 200.

The second half of the race was fascinating, and the winner was in doubt until inside the last 20 laps.

I will post my thoughts on the race tomorrow. I have a few, not just on the race, but on the ceremonies as well. Thanks for following along this weekend and all through May.