By David Morgan, Associate Editor
INDIANAPOLIS – The closest Indy 500 finish. Ever.
With a one lap shootout to determine who would race their way into immortality, Felix Rosenqvist took no prisoners in his charge from third to first over the course of Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.5-mile oval to secure the win in Sunday’s 110th running of the Indianapolis 500.
“Holy s***!” team co-owner Michael Shank exclaimed as his driver crossed the line by the closest margin in Indy 500 history, just 0.0233 seconds ahead of David Malukas.
Rosenqvist appeared to be destined for the win well before he and Malukas had their drag race to the finish line when a fuel mileage strategy call put his No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda in the catbird seat and he just needed the final eight laps to run without incident.
But it wouldn’t be an easy Sunday drive for Rosenqvist when rookie Caio Collet’s fiery crash brought out the caution and a subsequent red flag, stacking the field back up for a restart with four laps to go.
On that restart, Rosenqvist’s Meyer Shank teammate Marcus Armstrong took control, ascending to the lead before the caution was back out again – this time for Mick Schumacher making contact with the wall in Turn 1.
As a result, the field would be reset for the final restart, a one lap shootout to determine who would be writing their name into the record book.
Armstrong maintained the lead, followed by Malukas in second and Rosenqvist in third.
Malukas got the jump on Armstrong when the green and white flag waved together, as Rosenqvist was locked in battle with his teammate for second and the two ran side-by-side all the way until the middle of Turn 4 when Rosenqvist finally got the upper hand.
Using his momentum to his advantage, Rosenqvist slipped in behind Malukas as they stormed onto the frontstretch for the final time as was able to slingshot to the outside of Malukas at the perfect moment to propel his Honda ahead of Malukas’ Chevy, beating him to the finish by a nose and securing his place in history.
THE CLOSEST FINISH IN INDIANAPOLIS 500 HISTORY!
IT'S FELIX ROSENQVIST! 🏁 pic.twitter.com/exA3UpH81b
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) May 24, 2026
“I don’t even know what to say. What a car,” Rosenqvist said after climbing from his car in celebration on the frontstretch.
“Massive thanks to the team. We had two cars there in the wind there at the end and that’s a very luxurious situation to be in for a team. So, thanks Meyer-Shank Racing, Sirius XM, Honda.
“I think we were the best car today. In all situations, we kind of had it under control. That last yellow didn’t help us, but it kind of worked out the right way when I got to third. And then I just had a flat-out lap on the high line and it just stuck.
“Just the coolest way you can win an Indy 500.”
As Rosenqvist soaked in the victory celebration, Malukas was utterly devastated, having come so close to not only winning his first NTT IndyCar Series race, but doing it in the Indianapolis 500.
“I don’t know what else we could have done,” Malukas said as he fought back tears on pit road afterwards.
“We were the fastest car that whole race. I just, I don’t know. I gave it 150 percent. I mean, I almost crashed this damn car every lap and we still ended up with a P2, man.
“I just can’t believe it. I don’t know what else I can give…I give everything to this team, man. We’ve had such a stellar season. This whole month, they give me so much support, everything I needed. Yeah, I just can’t believe it. Just so close.
“This place, man. We’re going to come back again though. We’re going to bring in everything. We’re going to give it 160 percent next time…Thank you to everybody at Team Penske and thank you to Roger Penske for believing in me when nobody else did. We’re going to keep going.”
Malukas’ teammate Scott McLaughlin would finish the day in third to round out the podium finishers, followed by Pato O’Ward in fourth, and Armstrong fading back to fifth at the end of the day.
The remainder of the top 10 finishers went to Rinus VeeKay, Alex Palou, Santino Ferrucci, Romain Grosjean, and Takuma Sato.
Other notables further down the running order included all three ECR cars, which finished in 27th, 30th, and 31st, with Alexander Rossi and Christian Rasmussen sidelined by mechanical issues and team co-owner Ed Carpenter crashed out on lap 26.
Josef Newgarden charged his way from the back of the pack to be a player in the second half of the race before a crash on a lap 124 restart.
And then there was the duo of Ryan Hunter-Reay and Katherine Legge, who were involved in a crash on lap 18. In that incident, Hunter Reay spun off Turn 2 and Legge had to take evasive action to avoid him, spinning out herself and dashing her hopes of completing the Indianapolis-Charlotte double.
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