The race that I previewed seven days ago set the expectations: Alex Palou on pole at 232.248 mph, two-time defender Josef Newgarden buried in P24, four rookies including Mick Schumacher, and the looming question of whether the back half of the field could rewrite Sunday. The 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500 did not just answer that question on May 24, 2026; it produced the closest finish in the century-plus history of the race.

Felix Rosenqvist crossed the yard of bricks 0.0233 of a second ahead of David Malukas in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda for Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian, beating the previous closest margin (Al Unser Jr. over Scott Goodyear, 1992) by almost half. The top five finishers were separated by 0.4360 of a second. The race recorded 70 lead changes, an event record, breaking the 2013 mark of 68. There were 629 on-track passes, 567 of them for position. Average winning speed: 162.021 mph. Crowd: 350,000.

The closing sequence was the kind of thing that does not happen often. Rosenqvist passed Pato O'Ward for the lead on Lap 185, looking set for an easy finish. Caio Collet hit the SAFER Barrier in Turn 2 on Lap 192, triggering the sixth caution and a 10-minute red flag. On the Lap 196 restart, Marcus Armstrong went outside through Turn 1 with Malukas on his tow. Then Schumacher brushed the wall on Lap 197, and the race resumed with one lap to settle it.

Malukas led into Turn 1. Armstrong and Rosenqvist ran side by side on the backstretch. Rosenqvist passed Armstrong on the high line in Turn 4, chased Malukas down the front stretch, and as Malukas drifted toward the pit wall to break the tow, Rosenqvist swung back to the top of the track and beat him to the line by about a half-car length. Scott McLaughlin came home third. Palou finished seventh after leading a race-high 59 laps on a different fuel sequence; he still leads the series by 42 points with the bonus.

The other story belongs to Rosenqvist personally: his daughter Stella was born on May 4. He had not seen her in days. He called this "the coolest way you can finish and win an Indy 500." It is hard to argue.

Box score: May 24, 2026; Indianapolis Motor Speedway; 110th running; winner Rosenqvist (Meyer Shank Racing, No. 60 Honda) by 0.0233s; record 70 lead changes; 350,000 attendance.

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Wessen Char is UPPF’s petrolhead who still mourns the loss of Saab (and drove her 9-5 NG till 2025). She travels between US and Europe to cover auto events. She acknowledges the chic tech of EVs but wonders if the inexorable move to everything digital is ultimately all-better. Analogue had more soul somehow :)

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