IndyCar
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson wins the 106th Indianapolis 500 and Tony Kanaan finishes third
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson drove flat out after a restart following a red flag to win Sunday’s 106th running of The Indianapolis 500.
Ericsson was driving away from Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward in the final laps when Ericsson’s teammate Jimmie Johnson spun and wrecked in Turn 2 bringing out the caution. NTT INDYCAR SERIES officials made the decision to red flag the event to insure a green flag finish.
“We had it covered,” said Ericsson. “The only thing that could stop us was a caution, and of course that caution came. Those were the longest 10-minutes of my life sitting in the car waiting for the restart. It’s not supposed to be easy to win the 500. Those 10 minutes sitting there in the pit lane during that red flag was some of the hardest 10 minutes of my life probably, thinking what to do, thinking that I’m leading the biggest race in the world, and I’m that close to win it.”
When the green flag dropped the O’Ward got a run on Ericsson going into Turn 1 but the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Honda driver put his foot down and drove the most epic laps of his career.
“Pato had a really good run on me,” explained. “I wanted to put him on the outside because I knew it was going to be hard to go around my outside. I was not going to lift. There was no way I was going to lift. I just kept my foot down and that was the race-winning move.”
“I knew I had to go for it,” said O’Ward. “I got up beside Marcus but just couldn’t make the pass. It’s so frustrating.”
Once Ericsson was out front he deftly maneuvered his car back on forth on the long straightaways to break the draft O’Ward was hoping to use to gain enough momentum to make a potential winning pass. Ericsson’s margin of victory was 1.7929-seconds ahead of O’Ward.
“I was actually sitting during dinner here at the Speedway on infield last night talking with Dario (Franchitti) about this type of scenario, if I’m leading when it’s towards the end of the race the last couple laps, what to do, how to break the tow of the car behind, how to place the car,” said Ericsson. “We had that very conversation last night. That was in my mind when I was sitting there during that red flag.”
Ericsson’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Tony Kanaan, who was closing on O’Ward before the red flag, finished third in the No. 1 American Legion Honda.
“A great month!,” said Kanaan. “I can’t thank the American Legion enough. What a great cause? The ‘Be The One’ campaign. I can’t thank the team enough.”
Kanaan says he would like to back at the 500 and has a year to try to get back but the day however belonged to Ericsson, who notched his first oval win, third career win and kind of flew under the radar a bit all month.
“When you have Scott (Dixon) and Alex (Palou) is the defending champion and JJ and TK on your team, I get it,” said Ericsson.
Team owner Chip Ganassi offered a different assessment.
Marcus’ sponsor (Huski Chocolate) in not in the U.S. so he doesn’t get the PR push from the sponsor like the guys do from PNC, NTT, Carvana and the American Legion,” said Ganassi.
Ericsson heads to the Detroit Grand Prix after grabbing the points lead with the victory.
“We’ve won the 500, now we have to go out and win the Championship,” said Ganassi.
LEBANON, TN (July 18, 2026) – Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood is sitting atop the speed chart after the first NTT IndyCar Series practice at Nashville Superspeedway.
Kirkwood’s No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda turned a fast lap of 23.7447 (197.097 mph) around the 1.33 mile oval to best Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou, who turned a fast lap of 23.7605 (196.996) in the No. 10 DHL Honda.
Team Penske’s David Malukas was third quick with a 23.8362 (196.340) in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet. Malukas’ car however got loose in Turn 2 and slammed backwards into the wall.
Malukas exited the vehicle under his own power and walked to the AMR Safety Vehicle. Malukas was taken to the infield care center. NTT IndyCar Series officials issued an update a short time later saying he was being taken to a local hospital by private vehicle for further testing. He has not been cleared to return to the cockpit at this point.
Malukas was also assessed a nine-place grid penalty for an unapproved engine change entering this weekend.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon rounded out the Top 10 with a quick time of 23.9932 (195.055) in the No. PNC Bank Honda. Palou and Dixon’s CGR teammate Kyffin Simpson was 20th at 193.346.
Qualifying takes place at 3:00 p.m. on Fox and the IndyCar Radio Network.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (July 2, 2026) – Six-time Series Champion Scott Dixon is leaving Chip Ganassi Racing following the conclusion of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series Season the team announced in a statement Thursday before the series races at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Complex this weekend.
MADISON, IL (Sunday, June 7, 2026) – The king of World Wide Technology Raceway has returned to his throne.
Josef Newgarden won for the sixth time in 11 starts at the 1.25-mile oval just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, enduring two rain delays during the race Sunday night to win a feverish, fascinating Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline. The victory was Newgarden’s second this season, as he also won in March at the 1-mile Phoenix Raceway oval.
SEE: Race Results
The two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion has captured 15 of his 34 career victories on ovals shorter than 1.5 miles. This win came as he was still recovering from a lower leg injury suffered two weeks ago in the 110th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.
“Great job to the group,” Newgarden said. “Just a methodical night. We had a good car to start. It wasn’t perfect, but it really came to us just when we needed it. It was a track position day.”
Newgarden, who started eighth, drove his No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet to victory by .6613 of a second over the No. 28 Delaware Life Honda of fellow Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson, who still managed a season-best finish. Christian Rasmussen finished a season-best third in the No. 21 Splenda Chevrolet of ECR.
Rinus VeeKay continued the trend of season-best finishes by ending up fourth in the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, with Scott McLaughlin rounding out the top five in the No. 3 DEX Team Penske Chevrolet that featured a throwback livery honoring the 2009 Indianapolis 500-winning car driven by Helio Castroneves.
Newgarden took the lead for good on Lap 221 after a spirited duel with Rasmussen that began almost immediately after a restart on Lap 212. Rasmussen dove under Newgarden in Turn 1 for the lead on Lap 215, but Newgarden drove past Rasmussen in Turn 3 for the top spot on Lap 219.
One lap later, Rasmussen again drove under Newgarden for the lead in Turn 1, one of his race-high 38 on-track passes. But Newgarden countered again in Turn 3 one lap later for a lead he would not surrender. It was the most decisive of an event-record 268 passes for position in this frantic race.
Ericsson sped under Rasmussen for second in Turn 3 on Lap 225 and set his sights on Newgarden. But one lap later, a plume of smoke trailed from the No. 4 Combitrans Amazonia Chevrolet fielded by A.J. Foyt Enterprises for Caio Collet, who was enjoying the best race of his rookie season by leading seven laps and running consistently in the top five in the second half of the race.
That triggered the last of four caution periods, with another wrinkle to concern Newgarden and the lead pack. A host of trailing cars entered the pits for fresh Firestone Firehawk tires, while the top eight cars stayed out.
McLaughlin made a spirited charge toward the front on the restart on Lap 234, climbing from ninth to fifth in just four laps. But the Kiwi and the other cars that pitted for tires didn’t have enough traction from the fresher rubber or speed to challenge the top four down the stretch.
Meanwhile, Newgarden maintained a gap of around one-half of a second over Ericsson over the closing 10 laps and never was threatened.
“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to Marcus,” Newgarden said. “I thought he was incredibly strong. I don’t really think there was much between us, so it was a matter of who was going to get position on each other, and that was going to seal the deal. He drove a great race.”
Said Ericsson, seeking his first win since March 2023 at St. Petersburg: “I’m very proud of our performance, but at the same time it’s tough to lead that many laps … I thought we had it at some points, but Josef is the best in the business on these short ovals.”
Two red-flag periods totaling 50 minutes kept strategists’ heads spinning on the pit wall as various permutations and fuel options were considered.
Chip Ganassi Racing rolled the dice earlier in the race by calling NTT P1 Award winner Alex Palou and his teammate Scott Dixon to the pits to top off fuel as soon as the pits opened after the first red flag period, which lasted 38 minutes. The hope was to get enough caution to need one fewer fuel stop than rivals or be out front when a race-ending rain shower arrived.
But neither happened, and Palou paid the price dearly.
The four-time series champion entered the pits on Lap 203, two laps after Dixon had to enter a closed pit for emergency service as his No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was running out of fuel. Palou’s No. 10 HRC Chip Ganassi Racing Honda sputtered when it entered the pit lane and ran out of fuel, and he was forced to coast to his pit box for a stop made even longer when his engine wouldn’t refire.
Palou’s car restarted, and he returned to the track to finish 17th. The two short oval races this season have been Palou’s Achilles’ heel. He finished 24th after contact in March at Phoenix, and that result and tonight’s disappointing showing are his only finishes outside of the top seven all season.
Reigning series champion Palou’s lead in the standings was trimmed to 49 points over Kyle Kirkwood, who finished sixth in the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda of Andretti Global.
The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America on Sunday, June 21 at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
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