{"id":34293,"date":"2025-05-25T17:28:56","date_gmt":"2025-05-25T21:28:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=34293"},"modified":"2025-05-25T17:28:56","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T21:28:56","slug":"alex-palou-becomes-a-part-of-racing-history-at-the-109th-indianapolis-500","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/05\/25\/alex-palou-becomes-a-part-of-racing-history-at-the-109th-indianapolis-500\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Palou Becomes a Part of Racing History at the 109th Indianapolis 500"},"content":{"rendered":"

The month of May has all led to this. The 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500<\/a> once again proved why it\u2019s called the greatest spectacle in racing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Crashes, fires, and a lot of action occurred at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this afternoon. It\u2019s safe to say this year\u2019s Indy 500 was nothing short of exciting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Alex Palou wins the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 25th, 2025. Photo by Paul Hurley, Penske Entertainment.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alex Palou Gets First Oval Win In The 109th Indianapolis 500<\/b><\/h2>\n

The three-time IndyCar champion<\/a> has finally found success on an oval. All of Palou\u2019s previous wins have come on road and street courses to secure his previous championship wins.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He took the lead during the late stages of the race with only 15 laps to go. It was a tight battle between him, Marcus Ericsson, and David Malukas, but it was Palou who took the win in the end.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Palou started from sixth on the grid and, after a chaotic afternoon full of cautions and crashes, emerged as the victor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He’s won five out of the six races<\/a> on the calendar thus far and also made history as the first Spaniard to win the Indy 500.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

FROM BARCELONA TO THE BRICKYARD!<\/p>\n

Alex Palou wins the 109th Running of the #Indy500<\/a>! \ud83d\ude4c pic.twitter.com\/BVpnVDw0Uh<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) May 25, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Marcus Ericsson and David Malukas Round out the Podium\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

Marcus Ericsson started the Indy 500<\/a> a row behind the race winner. It looked like Ericsson was going to get his second Indy 500 win w<\/span>ith Palou getting stuck behind a few lapped cars. Ericsson won the Indy 500 back in 2022 and was looking to secure his second 500 win this weekend.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other side of things, David Malukas<\/a> is a driver who went from not being able to race at all in the 500 last year to landing a spot on the podium. Malukas pulled off an impressive stint during last weekend\u2019s qualifying session to make it into the Firestone Fast Six.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is Malukas\u2019 second podium finish since Portland in 2023.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A pair of Early Indy 500 Exits<\/b><\/h3>\n

<\/b>Unfortunately for Scott McLaughlin, his race ended before it was able to begin. Following a delayed race start due to rain, McLaughlin ended up crashing during the pace lap.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

His car swerved to the left and hit the inside wall, resulting in severe damage to the front of the car.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It was announced moments after that the damage was too extensive to repair, and allow McLaughlin to successfully rejoin the race.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Later on, during the race restart, Marco Andretti went into the wall. While going five cars wide, Andretti made contact with Jack Harvey, causing him to crash. These two incidents brought out the first couple of cautions back to back.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Harsher Penalties For Team Penske In Indianapolis 500<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Cautions Continue\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

One storyline fans were following along with all month long was whether or not this would be the year Kyle Larson<\/a> does The Double. The delayed race start raised concerns that he wouldn\u2019t be able to fly out in time for the Coca-Cola 600.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Larson was able to start racing, but his dream of completing The Double will have to be put on hold once again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While Ed Carpenter made a move to get in front of Alex Palou, Kyle Larson spun out and went into the wall. In an effort to try and avoid the crash, Kyffin Simpson also ended up crashing out, as well as Sting Ray Robb.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pit Stop Problems Persist\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

Luck didn’t seem to be on anyone\u2019s side today when it came to pit stops at this year’s Indy 500.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kyle Larson\u2019s car stalled, which meant he lost valuable full seconds in his race before it came to a premature end.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Robert Shwartzman<\/a> started on pole but was another entry who didn\u2019t get to see the end of all 200 laps. While entering his pit box, Shwartzman\u2019s car skidded.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the mechanics in his crew had a minor injury but was able to walk himself over to get onto the stretcher to be assessed. The crew member later returned to watch the remainder of the race from the pit lane.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rinus Veekay fought hard to secure his spot in the 500 during last week\u2019s Last Chance Qualifying session. He has his race cut short upon entering the pit lane as well. While struggling with brake issues, Veekay crashed out of the race while in the pit lane.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Other Notable Indy 500 Moments\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

The most remarkable incident happened during lap 76. When Alexander Rossi pitted, his car caught on fire. Rossi was safely able to get out of the car, and his pit crew was safe as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After being cleared as healthy, Rossi said he was having gearbox issues that played a role in the car fire.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Additionally, Josef Newgarden\u2019s<\/a> pursuit of a three-peat at the Indy 500 came to an early end. After dealing with a fuel pressure issue, he was forced to retire. Newgarden made a considerable amount of progress up the field after starting from the back of the grid due to Team Penske being disqualified from qualifying last week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

IndyCar\u2019s next race takes place on June 1st. They\u2019ll be racing in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. <\/span><\/p>\n

LWOS will continue its coverage of the NTT IndyCar Series with the Detroit Grand Prix.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Main Photo:\u00a0<\/strong>Paul Hurley, Penske Entertainment<\/p>\n

Recording Date: 5\/25\/2025<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The month of May has all led to this. The 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 once again proved why it\u2019s called the greatest spectacle in racing.\u00a0 Crashes, fires, and a lot of action occurred at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this afternoon. It\u2019s safe to say this year\u2019s Indy 500 was nothing short of exciting.\u00a0 Alex […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5230,"featured_media":34296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,1663],"tags":[1600,398,1656,539,232],"class_list":["post-34293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-indycar","category-ntt-indycar-series","tag-alex-palou","tag-chip-ganassi-racing","tag-david-malukas","tag-indy-500","tag-marcus-ericsson"],"modified_by":"Hayden Murdock","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34293"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34298,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34293\/revisions\/34298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}