By ZECH YODER
I can’t remember an Indianapolis 500 with more storylines or excitement than this year. There is so much to unpack from the last two weeks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The Race
It was one of the crazier races in recent years. There was anxiety during pre-race ceremonies as raindrops began to fall. The rain was just heavy enough to delay the start by approximately 45 minutes.
As brighter skies prevailed and the track workers gave the thumbs up, cars were on track and coming to one to go when Scott McLaughlin lost control of his car warming up his tires and hit the inside wall of the front stretch. His day ended before the drop of the green flag.
(Joshua Herd)
After clean-up of the McLaughlin crash and coming to the green flag, Jack Harvey pushed Marco Andretti high going into turn 1. Andretti spun, hitting the wall, and his day was also done.
When the green flag dropped again there was finally sustained green flag racing.
Polesitter Robert Schwartzman could not maintain his qualifying magic. He struggled on handling and was never in contention for the lead of the race. Veteran, Takuma Sato, showed why he was a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, dominating the early part of the race. However, a miscue on pit road caused Sato to fall through, dashing his hopes of a third Indy 500 title.
As the race reached the midway point, alternative pit strategy became a factor. Drivers on the primary strategy included David Malukas, Alex Palou, and Conor Daly. Drivers on the alternate strategy included Ryan Hunter-Reay, Devlin DeFrancesco, and Marcus Ericsson. With the laps winding down, one-off driver Hunter-Reay (2014 Indianapolis 500 winner) appeared to be in a great position to challenge for the win. His final pit stop cost him, as his car ran out of fuel entering the pits and he struggled to get the car refired. 2022 Indianapolis 500 winner, Marcus Ericsson, grabbed the lead of the race after his final pit stop. He was followed closely by Alex Palou.
With 13 laps remaining, Palou made a spectacular move, diving to the inside of Ericsson and taking the lead for the final time. Though Ericsson and Malukas were close to Palou, lap traffic in front of Palou made a pass for the lead nearly impossible.
Palou held off Ericsson and Malukas and took the checkered flag under yellow for his first Indianapolis 500, which also happened to be the first oval win of his career. With the win, Palou continues to elevate himself to INDYCAR greatness. He has now won five of the first six races in the 2025 INDYCAR season, a feat that has not been accomplished since A.J. Foyt did so in 1979. Palou has been utterly dominant and has an average finish of 1.17.
Kyle Larson
Kyle Larson’s Month of May was one he would soon like to forget.
Two practice crashes at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A dismal qualifying effort. A mistake on pit road. And ultimately a lap 92 crash that also collected Kyffin Simpson and Sting Ray Robb.
Much of Larson’s woes seem to stem from the addition of the hybrid motor in the car. Many in the field struggled to find comfort with the addition of the hybrid, but Larson in particular. Larson was candid throughout practice and qualifying that he did not feel comfortable in the car and felt that the car this year was much more on edge of spinning out of control. His night did not get any better when he arrived in Charlotte for the NASCAR race as he spun from the lead and was caught up in a wreck later in the race.
The obvious question is whether Larson comes back next year. INDYCAR is anticipating having a new spec design for next year. That will have the advantage of incorporating both the aeroscreen and the hybrid into the design from the ground up. This should lead to a better-balanced car and may put him on more even footing with the other drivers.
On the other hand, the logistics between the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 continue to be difficult. With NASCAR refusing to give waivers for failing to start the Coca-Cola 600, a rain delay like Sunday would jeopardize a driver’s ability to complete the Indy 500 and make it to Charlotte in time to start the Coke 600. If I had to guess, Larson is not back next year. Indianapolis got the better of him this year and I think it takes him a couple years to recover from that.
If Larson doesn’t do the double, I would expect another NASCAR driver to step up and make an attempt. Kyle Busch, perhaps?
Conor Daly
Noblesville native Conor Daly continues to impress at Indianapolis. While his qualifying effort was ever-so-slow to miss out on the top 12, his race craft at Indy has been first-rate. Daly methodically moved his way up through the field, eventually making his way to second on a brilliant move to the outside of turn 1 on a restart. When the leader pitted for fuel, Daly assumed the lead.
With less than 40 laps to go, Daly was in front of both David Malukas and eventual winner, Alex Palou, in the perfect position to fight for the win. Seemingly out of the blue, however, excessive tire wear ruined his dreams of Indianapolis immortality, and he was relegated to eighth place, still the best of his season.
Over the past five years, Daly has become a threat at Indianapolis. Though his finish may not paint the full picture, this was the best Indianapolis performance of his career.
Penalties
If there was one word to describe the 2025 Indianapolis 500, it would be penalties. The 2025 Indianapolis 500 was saturated in penalties and none more seismic than the attenuator penalties handed out to Josef Newgarden and Will Power of Team Penske.
While we will never know the full depth of the attenuator crisis, its impact on INDYCAR will be significant. It appears that team owner, Roger Penske, who also owns Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the INDYCAR Series, will be looking to assemble an independent third-party to handle to regulation and enforcement of the rulebook.
This is the second time in as many years that Penske Racing has been penalties for violating INDYCAR rules. As a consequence, Newgarden and Power were sent to the rear of the 33-car field. Even more astounding, Team Penske parted ways with its long-time team president, Tim Cindric, and other top Penske personnel.
This is a wound that will cut Team Penske deep and could mean a dip in performance over the next several months.
The penalties did not end with Penske. After the race, it was announced that Marcus Ericsson, Kyle Kirkwood, and Callum Illott would lose their finishing positions and finish 31st, 32nd, and 33rd, respectively, for unapproved changes that were made to the car. For both INDYCAR and Ericsson, finishing second may have been a blessing in disguise. Can you imagine if Ericsson would have gone on to win only to have it taken away after inspection?
Television Rating
Finally, perhaps the best news of the weekend. Television rates were up nearly 40 percent over last year’s numbers with more than seven million people tuning in to watch the largest single-day sporting event in the world. These television numbers show the impact the FOX team is having on INDYCAR.
FOX pumped out celebrities such as Tom Brady, who rode in the two-seater prior to the race, Michael Strahan, who drove the pace car, and Rob Gronkowski, who was the grand marshal for the Snake Pit. FOX News also hosted its morning show at the track, paying special attention to all the festivities and traditions of the Indianapolis 500.
FOX has invested a great deal into the success of INDYCAR and it is beginning to pay dividends. I’m excited to see what next year brings.
Conclusion
Only 362 days until the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500. There was so much to digest from this year’s race. I can’t wait to find out what happens next year.
Zech Yoder is a local resident, an attorney at Adler Attorneys in Noblesville, and a lifelong race fan.
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