Magic finish as Alex Palou captures his first-ever…

Alex Palou has accomplished nearly everything the NTT IndyCar Series has to offer in his young career. The Spaniard is a three-time champion and entered Sunday with 15 career wins at just 28 years old.

There was just one glaring omission from his resume — the Borg Warner Trophy. But on a cool, overcast Sunday in Indianapolis, Palou officially crossed that off his list.

Palou surged past 2022 winner Marcus Ericsson in the closing stages and fended the Swede off with the help of two leading cars to claim the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500. It was Palou’s fifth win and sixth-straight top-two finish in as many races to open the 2025 IndyCar season, a dominant stretch that leaves him as the obvious championship favorite heading into the summer stretch.

“I cannot believe it,” Palou said. “What an amazing day. What an amazing race. … By the 10 crew, everybody at CGR, HRC. I cannot believe it. It’s amazing to be here. It’s amazing to win.”

Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing crosses the yard of bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the 2025 Indy 500 win. (Photo by: Brandon Badraoui / Motorsport Images via Getty Images)

Four years prior, an inexperienced Palou had been in the lead when the veteran Helio Castroneves passed him and used the tow of leading cars at the tail end of the lead lap to maintain the lead for a record-tying fourth Indy 500 triumph. On Sunday, Palou used the lessons learned that day to his advantage, following Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Devlin DeFrancesco and Louis Foster and using their tow to help him conserve fuel and maintain the front spot.

“At the end, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to pass Marcus or not,” Palou admitted. “But I made it happen. First oval win. What a better place.”

An emotional Palou also enjoyed a similar victory celebration to Castroneves, running down the track before celebrating with his crew and the cheering fans. Meanwhile Ericsson looked on, despondent after coming home .6822s shy of his second Indy 500 triumph.

David Malukas finished third, capping off a strong day for AJ Foyt Racing. Pato O'Ward and Felix Rosenqvist completed the top-five, with Kyle Kirkwood, Santino Ferrucci, Christian Rasmussen, Christian Lundgaard and Conor Dalywrapping up the top-10.

Sunday’s race started in chaotic fashion, with two accidents before the field could complete a full lap of green flag racing. After a brief rain delay to start the race, Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin lost control of his No. 3 Chevrolet while trying to warm his tires and crashed into the inside wall at the start of the final planned pace lap.

The race started under caution as a result of McLaughlin’s error. The remaining cars created the traditional rows of three and finally took the green flag at the end of lap 4, but the race was again placed under the caution flag after Marco Andretti crashed into turn 1, his 20th Indy 500 appearance undone by a run-in with Jack Harvey.

Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske (Photo by: James Gilbert / Getty Images)

That set the tone for the day, with crashes and mechanical gremlins shaking up the running order and eliminating many hopeful contenders.

Alexander Rossi climbed into the top-five only to suffer a gearbox issue and have his car catch fire during an unscheduled pit stop. Rinus Veekay lost control of his machine and crashed into pit wall when coming in for a green-flag stop. Laps later, pole-sitter Robert Shwartzman clambered into his pit crew and the pit wall when sliding into his box for a stop.

Kyle Larson’s attempt at The Double was threatened by the rain and many cautions, but any worries over timing were undone when Larson crashed with Kyffin Simpson and Sting Ray Robb on lap 91. Two-time defending race winner Josef Newgarden’s shot at history also ended early, undone by a fuel pump issue after just 135 laps. Scott Dixon suffered a fire before the green and ended up losing three laps when his crew elected to replace his brakes.

In the end, just 23 of the 33 cars made it to the last lap, with Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel crashing on the final circuit to bring the race to an end under caution.

With the Month of May complete in Indianapolis, IndyCar will venture north to Michigan for a June 1 race on the streets of Detroit.