IndyCar
Alex Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing win the 109th Indianapolis 500
SPEEDWAY, IN (May 25, 2025) – Alex Palou’s historic 2025 is continuing after winning the 109th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. The win was Palou’s fifth victory in six races and is the best start to a season since INDYCAR legend A.J. Foyt won the first five races in 1964.
Palou passed Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson on the inside going into Turn 1 with 14-laps-to-go and never looked back, using the draft from lap traffic up ahead to keep Ericcson behind the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
“It’s amazing,” said an exuberant Palou. “The guys on this team make me look so good. I can’t thank them, HRC (Honda Racing), DHL and all of our supporters enough.”
“It was just an incredible day,” said team owner Chip Ganassi. “This is a big deal. The Indianapolis 500 is a big damn race. He (Palou) will always be known now as an Indianapolis 500 winner. He’s just an incredible driver. Look at the last five, six races we’ve had.”
Palou’s win extended his Championship points lead to 115-points over O’Ward.
Ericsson finished second in the 500 for the second time in his career.
“I was trying to manage the dirty air and Alex got a run on me,” Ericsson explained. “I didn’t think Alex was going to go for it. That’s going to keep me up at night, what I could’ve done, what I didn’t do. Right now I’m disappointed.”
A.J. Foyt Racing’s David Malukas finished third, his best career 500 finish.
“All the credit goes to the A.J. Foyt team and crew,” said Malukas. “What an incredible car. Everyone did an incredible job. We really needed this and it will be great morale booster. Alex was able to get a run and then he got behind those lap cars and use their tow.”
Pato O’Ward finished fourth in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet followed by Felix Rosenqvist in the No. 60 Creed Sirius/XM Meyer Shank Honda.
The victory also continues Honda’s winning streak as they have powered every NTT INDYCAR SERIES winner in 2025.
The second half of the race was much cleaner than the first half of the race, which was delayed roughly 45-minutes by a light sprinkle and featured a number of incidents on track and on pit lane.
Scott McLaughlin crashed the No. 3 Pennzoil Chevy on the final pace lap while trying to warm up his tires on a day where the ambient temperature was 63-degrees at the start of the race.
While crews were cleaning up McLaughlin’s car, fire broke out on the left rear of Scott Dixon’s No. 9 PNC Bank Honda. The team elected to keep Dixon on the track and the fire went out and he was able to start the race. Unfortunately Dixon’s crew had to change a brake caliper during a caution for weather losing 3-laps in the process. Dixon rallied for a 23rd place finish.
Marco Andretti’s race was short-lived as he was on the receiving end of a Jack Harvey hip check that sent him into the wall on Lap 5. “Whoever was next to me crowded me and I ran out of room,” said the third-generation driver, who was credited with a 32nd place finish.
Alexander Rossi’s day ended on Lap 75 when the Java House Chevy began to smoke, forcing him to pit road. Fire broke out while the crew was checking out the problem ending their day with which turned out to be a gearbox problem. Rossi finished 31st.
Rinus Veejay’s day ended on Lap 82 when he was coming into the pits but when he when to hit the brakes, the car spun sending the Ask ROI Honda into the pit wall. VeeKay finished 30th.
Polesitter Robert Shwartzman’s day ended during the same sequence of pit stops when he locked his brakes up coming into the pits and hit his crew and the wall. Shwartzman finished 29th.
The subsequent restart led to more chaos when Kyle Larson, attempting to do ‘The Double’ of racing in the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day, lost it in Turn 2 and spun collecting Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson. Sting Ray Robb was also an innocent victim going high to avoid the spinning Larson, only to get into the tire marbles, hit the outside wall and then came back across the track and smacking the tire barrier against the inside wall. All the drivers were okay.
Josef Newgarden’s hope for three-in-a-row ended with 65-laps to go when the No. 2 Shell V-Power Team Penske Chevy was forced to pit road with a fuel pressure problem.
The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix June 1, 2025 on the streets of Detroit.
DETROIT, MI (June 1, 2025) – Kyle Kirkwood is the winner of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. The win was Kirkwood’s second of the season and fourth of his career.
Kirkwood started third on the grid and moved up to second early in the race and took advantage to grab the lead from teammate Colton Herta who finished third.
“This AWS Honda was on rails all weekend long,” said Kirkwood. “There were some challenges out there, that’s for sure. We had to pass our way back through a handful of times, and it was definitely not a walk in the park.”
This 100-lap race on the notoriously bumpy and tight nine-turn, 1.645-mile circuit on the streets of downtown Detroit came down to strategy and survival.
The 27-car field divided into two strategic camps at the start, with 12 cars beginning the race on Firestone’s grippier but less durable Firehawk alternate tires and 15 on the slower but more durable primary tires. The top nine starters, which included pole sitter Herta and teammate Kirkwood, opted to start on the softer alternate tire and shed it as soon as possible for the durability of the harder tire. INDYCAR rules require that all drivers must use both tire compounds for at least two laps per race.
That divided the field into separate pit cycles, with drivers on both strategies being forced to fight their way through the field after each stop while waiting for drivers on alternative tactics to pit.
The win has Honda Racing’s seventh of the season, continuing a season-long lockout of victories among engine manufacturers and gave Honda a weekend sweep after their Acura brand won the IMSA race on Saturday in the Motor City.
“ Amazing weekend for Honda, HRC, and also Acura,” said Kevin Fu, Vice President, Honda Racing Corporation USA. “Between our IndyCar and IMSA programs we got two poles and two wins in Detroit, and our seventh victory in a row in IndyCar. This is unprecedented start to the season for us. As always, thanks to the teams and all the folks back at HRC in Santa Clarita for all their continuous hard work, and the work they’ve done off season to get us to this point.”
The win moved Kirkwood up to second in the Championship points standings, 78-points behind leader Alex Palou, who was taken out by David Malukas going into Turn 1 on a restart.
AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci came home second for his best career finish and the team’s best finish of the season and best road or street course finish in a decade.
“It feels great,” said Ferrucci. “Honestly, the strategy plays into everything that we do, especially at road and street courses it’s very tough, and I can’t thank the team enough. This is more deserving of them than it is even of me. We probably drove to 11th minus the strategy just running our race.”
Team Penske’s Will Power finished fourth in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet followed by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson in fifth. The fifth place finish was a career best for Simpson, the second-year driver from the Cayman Islands.
“It was a great, great race for us in the #8 Ridgeline Honda,” said Simpson. “I think we had a lot of pace, especially when running on the green tires, and we were able to really make strong gains through the field on that strategy.”
The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES event is the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline on Sunday evening, June 15 at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis.
DETROIT, MI (June 1, 2025) Alex Palou’s race on the streets of Detroit is over early after contact on a restart from David Malkus sent the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda into the tire barriers at the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.
The Indianapolis 500 winner was running fourth on Lap 72 when the race restarted following a caution and entering Turn 1, Malukas came in too fast, made contact with Palou ending his day and his almost perfect season.
Palou came into the race with five wins in six event with a worst finish of second at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Detroit ended that streak and Palou was credited with a 25th place finish.
“We were just biding our time there in fourth,” explained Palou. “Hoping to sneak onto the podium there at the end but we were hit from behind. Not much we could do there.”
Palou came into the race with a 112-point lead in the season long Championship over Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward.
DETROIT, MI (May 31, 2025) – Andretti Global’s Colton Herta is on the pole position for Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, the 1.645-mile, nine-turn temporary street course run on the streets of downtown Detroit.
Herta’s fast lap of 1 minute, .4779 of a second in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda was good enough to claim his first pole of 2025 and 15th of his NTT INDYCAR SERIES career.
“I was happy with it,” said Herta. “Friday was pretty bad from us as far as what we’re used to on street courses, just the feel of the race car. So it kind of — Friday night to go over everything and turn everything around. The engineering group did a great job.”
David Malukas, coming off a strong finish at the Indy 500, continued the momentum grabbing the second starting spot at 1:00.6492 in the No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet for A.J. Foyt Enterprises.
“Everything just clicked,” said Malukas. “We kept our heads down and just committed. I thought we had a good car, and clearly it went out and showed that.”
Herta’s teammate Kyle Kirkwood lines up third after a fast lap of 1:00.7312 in the No. 27 Siemens AWS Honda. Kirkwood led practice Friday, while Herta paced the Saturday morning practice session.
Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard will start beside Kirkwood in the fourth position after a quick lap of 1:00.8938 in the No. 7 Chevrolet.
Rahal Letterman Laningan Racing’s Graham Rahal will start fifth after posting a 1:01.0651 in the No. 15 JJ Curran Crane Company Honda.
Lining up beside Rahal will be Championship points leader and 109th Indianapolis 500 winner Alex Palou who put up a 1:01.4680 in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Palou, who’s won five of the six races this year, holds a 112-point lead over Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, who will start 18th after failing to advance out of the first round of knockout-style qualifying.
Palou’s CGR teammate Scott Dixon qualified 10th in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda after turning a 1:01:1595.
Dixon and Rahal however will have those qualifying efforts nullified after being penalized for unapproved engine changes prior to the Sunday, May 25 race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Rahal and Dixon will receive a six-position starting grid penalty for violating the INDYCAR rule. Rahal now rolls off 11th and Dixon 16th.
The 100-lap race starts Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET (FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).
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