Alex Palou wins the 2025 Indy 500, first oval in IndyCar

Yahoo

25-05-2025

INDIANAPOLIS – Alex Palou remembered vividly what Helio Castroneves did to him in 2021 and repaid the favor.
With the help of a pair of drivers fighting to stay on the lead lap, Palou snagged the lead late from Marcus Ericsson and fended off the Swede to hold onto victory in the 2025 Indianapolis 500 – the IndyCar championship leader's first win on an oval, and likely the first of many.
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The Chip Ganassi Racing driver, who now leads the 2025 title race by 118 points over Pato O'Ward, took the lead from Ericsson on Lap 187 and would not surrender it, leading the final 14 laps after starting sixth on Sunday and looming the whole race. Just before Palou crossed the start-finish line, the caution flag flew for a crashed Nolan Siegel, but it wouldn't matter, as Ericsson had fallen a few too many car lengths back to pounce on Lap 200.
'I cannot believe it. What an amazing day. What an amazing race,' said a hoarse Palou to Fox Sports' Jamie Little. 'I cannot believe it. It's amazing. Amazing to be here. Amazing to win.
'I already lost my voice, and I haven't even stopped celebrating.'
For the second time in three years, an A.J. Foyt Racing driver took third, as David Malukas surged toward the front but dropped off over the final couple laps. After finishing runner-up two of the last three years, Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward finished fourth, with Felix Rosenqvist (5th), Kyle Kirkwood (6th), Santino Ferrucci (7th), Christian Rasmussen (8th), Christian Lundgaard (9th) and Conor Daly (10th) rounding out the top 10.
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A dozen-driver duel approaching the leaders' final stop was trimmed a bit after Daly, who ran in the top-three for a large chunk of the race's middle stage, began to battle a severe tire vibration laps short of being able to pit and make it home on one more stop. The Juncos Hollinger Racing driver slowed by more than 20 mph before his team was able to finally call him in on Lap 166, and the Noblesville native – who was attempting to snap Hoosier drivers' 85-year Indy 500 drought, dropped four spots in that sequence alone and fell out of the top-5.
In that final sequence, 2014 Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, who returned this year for his third consecutive one-off effort with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, stalled on pitlane after having led 48 laps in the second-half of Sunday's race and then dropped out of the race with an unknown mechanical issue.
2025 Indy 500 winner: Alex Palou holds off Marcus Ericsson to win Indianapolis 500
After climbing as high as seventh after starting 32nd due to IndyCar's stiff penalty for his team's illegally modified attenuator discovered ahead of Fast 12 qualifying, Josef Newgarden's quest to become the first driver in Indy 500 history to win three straight came to a close on Lap 135 with a fuel pressure issue just one lap after pitting.
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Only 25 of the 33 cars made it to the race's halfway point, with a flurry of crashes and incidents eliminating six cars in the span of just 18 laps midway through. The chaos began just past Lap 70 as smoke – and then fluids – began spewing out the back of Alexander Rossi's No. 20 Chevy, forcing the 2016 Indy 500 winner to pit. Not long after his team began examining the issue with the car sitting in his box, the left side of Rossi's car burst into flames, leaving a crew member slightly injured before the fire could be extinguished.
Rossi leapt out of the car seemingly unharmed, but his day would end in 31st.
Rinus VeeKay would spin violently on Lap 81 while entering the pits and simultaneously complaining of a lack of brake pressure. The Dale Coyne Racing driver's car would slam into the pit wall, ending his day in 30th. As the bulk of the field pitted on Lap 88 under the caution for VeeKay's pitlane incident, rookie polesitter Robert Shwartzman also appeared to suffer brake issues and twice locked up his tires on pitlane. The final moment saw him skidding through his pit box, his car slamming into the wall and making contact with a contingency of his crew members in the process – at least one of whom was loaded onto a stretcher with what appeared to be a foot injury.
The race again restarted on Lap 92, where Kyle Larson, nearly midway through making his second Indy 500 start as he attempted 'The Double', spun midway through Turn 2, and his pirouette collected Kyffin Simpson and Sting Ray Robb in the process.
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Scott McLaughlin, last year's Indy 500 polesitter, spun on the pace laps while weaving back and forth on the front straight as he attempted to warm up his tires after the start of Sunday's race was delayed more than 40 minutes due to sprinkles throughout the facility. The race began under caution, and soon after the Lap 4 throw of the green flag, Marco Andretti got shoved up high and spun in Turn 1, ended his 20th Indy 500 just one turn into green flag running.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: 2025 Indy 500 winner: Alex Palou picks up first Indianapolis 500