Here are the closest finishes in Indy 500 history

Indianapolis Star

24-05-2025

The closest finishes in Indianapolis 500 history brought a lifetime of joy for Al Unser Jr., Ryan Hunter-Reay, Sam Hornish Jr., Juan Pablo Montoya, Gordon Johncock and Josef Newgarden. The memories are not so sweet for Scott Goodyear, four-time winner Helio Castroneves, Marco Andretti, Will Power, Rick Mears and Marcus Ericsson.
Here's how those thrilling races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway unfolded, with coverage from IndyStar's archives:
How it played out: Michael Andretti appeared to have the race in hand until his engine failed on Lap 189, forcing a caution flag. The race resumed on Lap 194, with Unser leading and Goodyear trailing closely.
Coming off the final turn of the race, Goodyear sized up Unser and made a move to the inside, but couldn't get by before the finish line.
But if the race had been 500 miles and 100 yards?
"I almost took it a little too easy coming off of (Turn) 4 and Scott got a run on me," Unser said. "If the race would have been 100 yards longer, he would have probably won it."
"I just didn't have enough to get past him," Goodyear said. "I knew it was going to be very, very close. I just wish the start-finish line had been another hundred yards down the straight."
What the winner said: "You just don't know what this means," said Unser, who battled Emerson Fittipaldi for the lead late in the 1989 race before crashing out. "This is my life and it's everything I thought it would be."
Almost worst to first: Goodyear had not initially qualified for the race, but Derrick Walker's team put him in the car qualified by Mike Groff, leaving Goodyear at the rear of the 33-car field at the start. He left the Speedway proud and profoundly disappointed.
"I was flat out," he said. "There wasn't anything left. Today was the race of my life. I just hope the momentum carries on."
109th running: Indy 500 start time, 2025 race day schedule, TV channel, stream, radio
How it happened: Hunter-Reay led coming out of a Lap 194 restart, but Castroneves — seeking a record-tying fourth Indy 500 win — got by him on Lap 196. Hunter-Reay retook the lead one lap later in Turn 3. "I thought I didn't leave him room," Castroneves said. "But he found room."
Castroneves acknowledged he and Hunter-Reay straddled a line between "stupid and bravery" late in the race.
American pride: Hunter-Reay's victory snapped a seven-year winning streak by international drivers. "I'm a proud American boy," he said.
"This was the granddaddy of them all," he added. "This is where history is made. To even have a shot at it, to just come down pit lane giving these guys five that I looked up to when I was a kid — I looked up to the Andrettis, I looked up to Foyt, the Unsers, the Mears — it was always (about) trying to get there."
Well, yeah: "Second place sucks," Castroneves said. "I tried, man, trust me. I really tried. You can't question destiny."
How it played out: Hornish tried to get around Andretti in Turn 3 on Lap 199, but he couldn't complete the pass.
"I kind of thought I blew it," Hornish said. "I had a good run on him, got to the inside ... and sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.
"(But) I figured I came all this way, I ought to give myself one more shot at it. I kind of looked at it as, I was going to drive over him if I had to."
Hornish didn't have to do that. He slipped by Andretti just before the finish line.
"I think I could have moved to the inside, but at that time he would have already made his move," Andretti said. "It would have been a big (crash)."
Hornish's reaction: "Thank goodness it's 500 (miles) instead of 497½."
Andretti's reaction: "They don't remember people who finish second here."
Andretti, 19 at the time, joined the family legacy of just missing Indy 500 glory. Though his grandfather, Mario Andretti, won in 1969, both Mario and Michael Andretti — Marco's father — have been in position to win the race only to be struck by bad fortune.
Marco has also finished third in the Indy 500 on three occasions. Michael Andretti finished second in 1991 and his engine failed with a late lead in 1992. Mario Andretti finished second to Bobby Unser in a disputed result in 1981, and his ignition failed in 1987 as he held a huge lead with 20 laps to go.
How it happened: The race comes down to a one-lap shootout after three red flags in the final 15 laps. Marcus Ericsson leads at the restart, but Newgarden overtakes him on the back straightaway and holds him off with a move called the "Dragon," driving serpentine down the final straightaway, which Ericsson had used to win in 2022.
Relief for the winner: Newgarden gets his first win in 12 tries. 'Everyone has been asking me why I hadn't won this race, and they look at you like you're a failure when you haven't. I'm so glad to be here. It's just pure emotion.'
Runner-up doesn't like the shootout: 'I don't think that was a fair way to end the race,' Ericsson said once, twice, every time anyone asked the runner-up for his thoughts on the race. 'I don't think it's safe to go out of the pits on cold tires.'
Results in a rule change: After two straight years of drivers using the "Dragon" down the final straightaway to hold off challenges, IndyCar officials made the move illegal.
How it played out: Montoya and Power, teammates on Roger Penske's team, jockeyed for the lead out of a late restart. Montoya got around Power on Lap 197 and maintained a slim edge the rest of the way.
There were 37 leads changes, the second-most in race history (68 in 2013), so Power thought he had a chance to overtake Montoya late.
"Oh, absolutely," he said. "I had him. I just needed more room. Just a little more room."
Montoya wouldn't let it happen.
"You're older, you're wiser, you understand where the races are won, where they're lost," Montoya said.
Greater appreciation: Montoya won the Indy 500 as a brash 24-year-old rookie in 2000 and he figured there would be plenty of time for more. His career veered in different directions, including NASCAR and Formula 1, for more than a decade. So this win felt different.
"(This) is the proper experience of the month," he said. "When you go through everything, you start to understand what it means to win here."
A common sentiment: "Anywhere else, I'd be happy with second," Power said, "but here? It sucks."
Power got rid of that sour taste by winning the 2018 Indy 500.
How it happened: Johncock appeared to have the race in hand, but Mears charged, pulling alongside the leader as they crossed the Yard of Bricks with one lap remaining. Johncock held off Mears heading into Turn 1 and maintained a slim edge the last trip around the 2½-mile oval.
"When he came up next to me as we took the white flag, I thought that might be it," said Johncock, who also won the race in 1973. "I figured we would probably go into the first turn side-by-side because I sure was hell wasn't going to back off."
Mears desperately wanted that edge late.
"I had trouble with the turbulence running behind him," he said, "but if I'd have ever gotten out ahead, I think I would have run away."
A true winning experience: "There will never be a thrill like this today because of the way it ended," Johncock said. "Last time we were sitting in pit lane when they decided to call the race. It seemed like it was nothing at all."
The 1973 race was called after 133 laps by rain.
Always unfazed: Mears, who earned his first of four Indy 500 wins in 1979, was never one to show a lot of emotion.