Rosenqvist over Malukas by .05223.
Roy J. Akers — www.skyviewsports.net
The 110th Running of the Indy 500 will find the race wide open as drivers from most race teams figuring they can win the Biggest spectacle in Racing if the race breaks right. Alex Palou is the defending 2025 Champion, and one-off drivers made the race interesting; Connor Daly and Ryan Hunter-Reay nearly won last year. Only four active drivers in the field have ‘kissed the bricks.’In the end, a duel between David Malukas and Felix Rosenqvist provides the closest finish in Indy 500 history.
🏁 Active Winners in the 2026 Indy 500
- Alex Palou — 2025 winner, starting from pole today.
- Josef Newgarden — Two‑time winner (2023, 2024), starting 23rd.
- Hélio Castroneves — Four‑time winner, attempting a record fifth.
- Takuma Sato — Two‑time winner (2017, 2020).
- Ryan Hunter-Reay (2014)
- Will Power (2018)
These are the only previous champions confirmed as active entrants
Alex Palou leads the field to the green flag. (Laps 1-70)
Alexander Rossi passes Palou on the very first turn of lap one. Rossi and Palou trade the lead over the opening laps. Josef Newgarden is up several spots by lap five. Felix Rosenqvist takes third from Malukas by lap 15. On lap19,Ryan Hunter-Reay crashes and takes out Katherine Legge. Rinus Veekay is the new leader. The flag drops on lap 27 and Ed Carpenter is trapped in the rear of the field and goes into the turn one wall.
The restart on lap 31 finds Caio Collet (R) in the lead. Connor Daly, behind a roaring crowd, takes the leadon lap 34.
McLaughlin, Palou and Daly take turns in the middle of the race (lap 71-140)
Josef Newgarden resided in the top-ten before a lap 130 crash when his ride got loose and went into the wall, ending his day. Fifty-four lead changes involving ten drivers keeps the spectators on the edge of their seat.Palou doubles up on McLaughlin and Daly to go from third to first on lap 138. Few saving strategies are out the window as competitors are pressed down hard to move to the front at speeds of 219-220 mph.
Lap 141 to Finish
Drivers start to pit en masse. on lap 148 with Dixon and Kyffen Simpson cycling to the lead and P2. Many of the drivers deep in the pack have cycled up front and are saving their final pitstop for a deeper run with their eyes on a caution. Rosenqvist keeps the lead with 34 to go and is in range to make no more pit stops. Malukas moves to the lead with Palou and McLaughlin 2-3. With 25 laps to go, it is Palou-Pato O’Ward-McLaughlin 1-2-3.More pitstops put O’Ward in front with 18 laps left. Rosenqvist is .05 seconds behind the leader. Rosenqvist has won a single start in nearly 120 NTT starts and goes to the lead. Caio Collett hits the wall with eight to go and his car is on fire. The red flag is out.
After the black flag, fiour laps remain, and the green flag finds Rosenqvist in the lead with O’Ward 2nd and Marcus Armstrong third. The field is stacked up four wide, and Armstrong maneuvers to the lead and a yellow flag comes out for consct by Mick Shumacher. A final one-lap shootout with Armstrong-Malukas-Rosenqvist 1-2-3. One laps is left and Malukas goes by Armstrong for the lead. Rosenqvist duals Malukas and goes by down the frontstretch and wins the 110th running of the Indy 500.
The 2026 Indianapolis 500 Champion is … Felix Rosenqvist
Myer Shank wins their first Indy 500. Rosenqvist wins and leads the 24 of 33 cars to finish the race. His win of .0223 is the closest in Indianapolis 500 history.Felix Rosenqvist enters his eighth season in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and third with Meyer Shank Racing in 2026, driving the No. 60 Honda. The 2019 Rookie of the Year has recorded one win, six poles, and seven podiums across seven seasons, and tied his best career finish in 2025 by placing sixth in the championship. This is the second career win for Felix.
Podium Finish
David Malukas and Scott McLaughlin finish 2-3. Malukas has five top-fives, 7 top-tens and over 130 laps this year. McLaughlin has three top5’s and fivetop-tens in eight starts in 2026.
Malukas thought he kicked away the Indy 500 and needed ten minutes after the race to gather his composure.
How did you find the sort of strength in that
moment to even — you probably could have sat there
for 10 minutes with your helmet on, but you took your
helmet off, you did the interviews, all that stuff. How
did you decide to push forward in that moment which
is really challenging?
DAVID MALUKAS: Well, I think it’s just because I really
started to beat myself up in that car so I told myself I need
to get out of here before I just keep on overthinking and
making things so much worse. Yeah, just had to get out,
and it was a good decision to do, get out and just see
everybody and kind of just let the emotions out because in
the car it was not good thoughts.”
They Said It…
Scott McLaughlin on finishing third. . Scott, you were really heartbroken a year ago;
David, you’re heartbroken today. Does this race hurt
more than others do?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: All right, hear me out. It’s
Christmas but not everyone gets a present, and that’s the
worst part about it because you wake up you’re like, yo,
we’re going to get presents, it’s going to be sick, and then
only one guy goes home with one. That’s what my mom
said. It’s kind of a good way to look at it. But at the same
time, yeah, everyone here that finishes not first despises
today, and it is what it is.
I mean, you’ve just got to take the learnings, whatever it is,
whether you crashed last year or you finished where we
finished today: What could you have done differently?
What could you have done better? What was out of your
control? And just come back stronger.
Tale of the Tape- Final Finishing Order
The 2026 edition produces the most passes for the lead in 110 races. 14 race leaders and 70 lead changes made this an exciting race.
Factoids that may interest only me
David Malukas is the 60th different Penske driver to start on the front roy of the I-500.
Only six active IndyCar drivers going into the ’26 race have won. Helio Castroneves and Takuma Sato have won this race six times between them and have only raced this race for several years now.
What is Next for the NTT/NXT Series
By Roy J. Akers- Akers covers NTT Indy Car for www.skyviewsports.net
