IndyCar Indy 500 Auto Racing - AP - 5.24.26

Felix Rosenqvist swung to the outside of David Malukas, then found a way past the Team Penske driver to win the closest Indianapolis 500 in history by a margin of 0.0233 seconds. Malukas looked like he was in position to win when he passed race leader Marcus Armstrong off the final restart with one lap to go while Rosenqvist and Armstrong battled wheel to wheel down the back straightaway and through the final turn. Rosenqvist had just enough power to pull away from Armstrong and snake behind Malukas before making the decisive pass in the final 50 feet. The closest previous finish came in 1992 when Al Unser Jr. beat Scott Goodyear across the yard of bricks by 0.043 seconds.

Swedish driver Felix Rosenqvist earned a record $4.34 million payout after winning his first Indianapolis 500 on Sunday. That topped Alex Palou's total from last year by more than $500,000. The total purse, $30,906,400, was also a record, organizers announced before Monday's formal victory celebration dinner. That total increased nearly $11 million over last year's previous all-time high. Rosenqvist made a daring, perfectly-time pass of David Malukas in the closing yards, beating Malukas across the yard of bricks by 0.0233 seconds — the closest finish in race history. The previous record came in 1992 when Al Unser Jr. beat Scott Goodyear by 0.043 seconds. Malukas finished second for a second straight year on the Brickyard’s 2.5-mile oval.