Winners and Losers: Indianapolis 500
- Morgan Holiday
- 4 hours ago
- 6 min read
The 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 was a beautiful example of why they call it “the greatest spectacle in racing”. 250 laps of chaos, drama and hard racing ended in a one-lap shootout that saw Felix Rosenqvist take David Malukas to the end of the line in the shortest win margin the race has ever seen–just 0.0233 seconds.
No race has happier winners or more heartbroken losers than the Indy 500. DIVEBOMB takes a look at who is walking away from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) with a smile on their face, and whose race ended in tears.
Winner - Meyer Shank Racing
Meyer Shank Racing first tasted glory at Indianapolis back in 2021, when Helio Castroneves took his fourth Indy 500 win with the team. Since then, the team has been pushing to get back to the front.
Despite being one of the fastest drivers on track all month, Rosenqvist missed out on pole position on qualifying weekend and instead lined up fourth for the start of the race. His teammate, Marcus Armstrong, lined up in 16th a few rows down.
But it was Armstrong who was in the lead coming into the final restart on the last lap of the race. The New Zealander had worked his way up to the top 10 and gotten himself in contention, and as the final lap of the race began he was leading Malukas and Rosenqvist in the one-lap shootout for the win.
As Malukas took the lead, Armstrong was left to battle with his teammate, a battle that Rosenqvist ended up winning. As the Swedish driver went on to battle Malukas, Armstrong was engulfed by a three-driver fight for third place, which eventually went to Scott McLaughlin by a slim margin.
Armstrong was devastated to finish fifth in the end, but with his teammate taking his maiden Indy 500 win, the team was overjoyed to not just have a second win at IMS but to have both drivers in the top five.
Winner - Scott McLaughlin
No driver needed a redemption Indy 500 like McLaughlin, who spun out on the parade lap of last year’s 500 and didn’t even get to see the start of the race.
While McLaughlin qualified ninth, he was on the pace throughout the entire race, working his way up and spending the majority of the race in the top six, lined up next to his Team Penske teammates, Malukas and Josef Newgarden.
On Lap 125 of the race, Newgarden made a rare error and put his car into the wall, ending his day and leaving McLaughlin with one less driver to compete with. By the final restart, he was still far up the order and ready to fight on the last lap.
While no one could compete with Rosenqvist and Malukas, McLaughlin surged forward from sixth at the restart and overtook Rinus VeeKay into Turn 1. With O’Ward and Armstrong still in front of him, McLaughlin waited until the final straight to make his move, and the trio went three-wide over the bricks to finish the race. While it was unbelievably close, third place went to McLaughlin ahead of O’Ward and Armstrong.
After a devastating experience at IMS last year, McLaughlin’s redemption is satisfying for the driver and fans alike.
Winner - Mick Schumacher
The coveted Indy 500 Rookie of the Year honours went to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Mick Schumacher. Despite being the only one of three rookies with no experience racing on ovals, the German driver both qualified highest the weekend before the Indy 500 and finished highest in the race.
Schumacher started on the ninth row, with rookie Dennis Hauger a row behind him and the third rookie, Caio Collet, a row behind him. The other two rookies were arguably closer to being in contention for a good finish, but both suffered misfortune in the closing stages of the race.
Hauger was running around the top 10 when he picked up a drive-through penalty for speeding in pit lane, which lost him the chance at a good result. He ended up finishing 19th.
Collet was running in 11th with 10 laps to go when his car hit the wall and he came to rest in the grass with his AJ Foyt Racing car on fire. He was the final retirement of the race, and was classified 26th.
Schumacher’s race may have been a little anonymous but he avoided trouble and gained nine positions throughout the race to finish just above Hauger in 18th. As the driver at the bottom of the rookie standings and as the rookie with no oval racing experience, picking up Rookie of the Year at the Indy 500 is an achievement worth celebrating for the 27 year-old.
Loser - Ed Carpenter Racing
Alex Rossi’s Month of May got off to an incredible start, he qualified second behind Álex Palou and was set to make a strong bid to win his second Indy 500, 10 years after his first win. But a big accident in practice after qualifying put Rossi on the back foot.
Running the backup car and not able to run at all out of the car due to the crutches, while Rossi was still medically cleared to race, it was clear that neither he nor his car were at full strength.
Rossi did run at the front with Palou for the opening stint of the race, but his first pitstop dropped him down the order and he struggled to get back up to the front. Then, on Lap 92, in a stunning display of déjà vu from last year, he pulled his Ed Carpenter Racing (ECR) car into the pits where he vacated it as the pit crew put out a fire at the back.
That was one ECR car out of the mix. The other, piloted by Christian Rasmussen, continued on for a while longer, but he retired quietly with a mechanical issue on Lap 144.
Rossi was classified 30th, Rasmussen 27th. The Indy 500 is the last race where you want your full team to retire from the race, and ECR was the only team to suffer that particular heartbreak. They’ll be trudging away from this historic weekend wondering what could have been.
Loser - Katherine Legge
On Sunday, Katherine Legge officially became the first woman to attempt The Double, a feat where a driver tries to complete all 500 laps of the Indianapolis before flying straight to Charlotte, North Carolina, and trying to complete all 600 laps of NASCAR’s Coca Cola 600.
Only six drivers (Legge included) have ever attempted this exhausting and demanding feat, with only one (Tony Stewart) ever successfully completing the full 1,100 miles. Legge’s Indy 500 ended quickly and painfully on Lap 17 when she was caught up in an incident caused by fellow one-off entrant, Ryan Hunter-Reay. Hunter-Reay lost control and spun into Turn 2, and Legge was unable to avoid his spinning car.
She was classified last and, with no time to lick her wounds, headed off to Charlotte. She fared slightly better in the Coca Cola 600, finishing 31st of 39 drivers, albeit 12 laps down on the leaders.
Legge fought hard at Indianapolis and was just unable to avoid unlucky contact early in the race, a heartbreaking end to what could have been a historic attempt at The Double.
Loser - David Malukas
No one was more devastated by the final lap of the 2026 Indy 500 than Malukas, the driver who finished second now two years in a row at IMS.
2025 was a second chance for Malukas, who missed out on the 2024 Indy 500 after a wrist injury saw him miss the first half of the season and lose his contract with Arrow McLaren. When he came back full-time in 2025 with AJ Foyt Racing, just getting to take part in the Indy 500 was not something he could take for granted. His third place finish on track turned into second place when Marcus Ericsson was penalised post-race.
While his second place finish in 2025 was a triumph, Malukas returned to IMS in 2026 with Team Penske and the knowledge that he had what it took to go for the win. Malukas set the pace strong by qualifying third and establishing himself as a threat to his more experienced rivals.
He ran in contention for the entirety of the race, and seemed the likely winner heading into the final laps. When he overtook Armstrong at the start of the final lap, it seemed like it might all be over. But it wasn’t to be for Malukas, and Rosenqvist took the chequered flag, the glory and the milk.
In a drastic contrast to his attitude from last year, Malukas was outwardly devastated as he got out of the car and took in the result. It just goes to show how much a win at Indy means, that an incredible result like second place at the biggest race in the world can be so miserably received. While it seems clear that a win at the speedway could easily be coming Malukas’ way in the future, his near-miss this year will be the heartbreak highlight of the season.
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