In Driver’s Eye with James Hinchcliffe, the six-time INDYCAR winner will bring you inside the mind of a racer while breaking down the nuts and bolts of the sport for fans.
Wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow.
I am not sure what you were expecting from this year’s Indianapolis 500, but I have to be honest: A record-breaking, hair-raising, crowd-screaming drag race to the finish was far more than I thought we had in store!
As always, the Indy 500 was not short of storylines. From weather being a constant threat all day long, to multiple red flags, to a split fuel strategy and a one-lap shootout for all the glory, the 110th Running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing had all the dramatic bases covered.
But I want to focus on something very specific. I want to talk about the last lap.
I want to talk about how tough, dangerous and terrifying it is to run on the outside of all four corners of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, inches away from another car doing 220 miles per hour… with the added complication of your teammate being in that other car.
Enter Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Armstrong.
Let’s start with racing side-by-side for a whole lap. It’s not uncommon on a restart, when you are still getting up to speed, to see a car hang it out through Turns 1 and 2. Then, when you get down to Turn 3, there can be a big line checking up on the low lane, and maybe you can still hold it out there.
But when both cars are in pretty clean air — the leader had a solid gap on them at this point — trying to stick it to the guy on the inside is mind-boggling. Indy is a one-groove track once you’re up to speed, but I guess no one told Felix!
There is a reason that every driver who’s raced around the 2.5-mile speedway was applauding that last-lap move. We all know how unbelievably tough it is to do.
Not only did Rosenqvist have to trust his car and his abilities, but he also had to trust the guy he was racing.
(Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)
The golden rule in motorsports is don’t hit your teammate. When you and your teammate are both in with a shout to win the biggest race on Earth, it gets complicated.
Rosenqvist and Armstrong know the rule. But they also know an Indy 500 victory being within your grasp doesn’t come around every day, and you have to give it everything. The respect that both guys showed for one another was truly spectacular to see.
Instantaneous, heart-pounding, future-determining decisions were made several times a second at 200-plus miles an hour.
For as impressive as Felix’s last lap was, you have to give Armstrong a tremendous amount of credit for how he raced those last 2.5 miles.
But the racing gods were in Felix’s corner. Indy, they say, chooses the winner. Felix was the chosen one.
There was nothing Marcus could’ve done differently to come out on top. And ensuring he didn’t wreck his teammate guaranteed he wouldn’t have to answer any tough questions from the bosses when he got back to the pits.
[WHO IS? Indy 500 Winner Felix Rosenqvist On Fatherhood, Being Too Nice]
SPEAKING OF NOTHING YOU COULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY…
How about David Malukas? When he took the lead within the first flip of that last lap, he would’ve checked his mirrors and seen the 2 Meyer Shank Racing teammates chasing him.
And that might have been precisely what he wished to see. Automobiles racing side-by-side aren’t going to catch you as quick and one single automotive in tow.
David Malukas after ending second by 0.0233 seconds within the 2026 Indy 500. (Matt Fraver/INDYCAR)
Even with that splendid state of affairs, it wasn’t sufficient to maintain Rosenqvist at bay. David did every thing proper — every thing in his energy with the scenario he was in — to win that race. However when it’s not your day, there’s nothing extra you are able to do.
He’ll rewatch that final lap 100 occasions, attempting to see if there was something he might do otherwise. However for a younger driver battling up entrance of the largest race on the planet, he saved his composure, executed to perfection, but it surely nonetheless wasn’t meant to be.
Malukas ought to (ultimately) sleep nicely realizing that it wasn’t his time, however a efficiency like meaning his time is definitely coming.
The unhealthy information for Malukas is that the replay of the end is the stuff of lore and might be spotlight reel fodder for many years to come back.
We’ve by no means seen a final lap like that in Indy 500 historical past. We’ve by no means seen a finish that close in 110 years.
However moderately than seeing it as a painful reminder of what nearly was, I hope he appears to be like again at it as a privilege to have been a part of a history-making second on the iconic speedway.
SOUND LIKE AN INDYCAR EXPERT
The Indy 500 had three key moments that set the stage.
The primary was the technique cut up on Lap 130. The groups that pit thought they might get to the top on yet one more cease. People who stayed out didn’t assume they might get the gas quantity and wished to run flat-out, moderately than preserve.
Pato O’Ward after ending fourth within the 2026 Indy 500. (Aaron Skillman/INDYCAR)
Because the race unfolded, it appeared like those that took the Lap 130 cease made the correct name, as Rosenqvist, Pato O’Ward and Armstrong have been comfortably forward of the chasing pack of drivers who took the additional cease.
BUT… that benefit was nullified when the warning, after which the purple flag on Lap 192, got here out for Caio Collet’s accident. That closed the chasing pack proper as much as the leaders and put everybody on equal footing.
After all, the ultimate act got here when the short warning got here out for Mick Schumacher brushing the wall in Flip 1 and led to the inexperienced flag flying on the final lap.
What appeared prefer it was going to be a battle of the technique brains, was an excellent old school gloves-off run to the checkered flag. That’s the sort of race that drivers, and their followers, love.
LIVE FROM THE BOOTH
You’ll have seen the clip of my sales space mates and me on that final lap, the one the place I deployed all of the observe I had compartmentalizing feelings within the race automotive to remain calm and never miss a second of the motion. I hope our wide-ranging reactions confirmed the world how a lot all of us love this sport and the way a lot we love calling the present that these drivers placed on for us every weekend.
I’ve obtained to say: It was a lot enjoyable calling this race from the sales space. After a marathon month, to be handled to a once-in-a-century end was an actual honor.
And, whereas I’ve obtained you, shout out to the entire FOX Sports activities manufacturing crew, who, in each place on the crew, did an excellent job bringing you all of the motion over a grueling Month of May schedule.
1 FOR THE ROAD
Scott McLaughlin, Pato O’Ward and Marcus Armstrong ending third, fourth and fifth within the 2026 Indy 500. (Doug Mathews/INDYCAR)
Now, whereas watching the closest Indy 500 end in historical past, you might need missed the wild end for third, fourth and fifth throughout the Yard of Bricks. Comprehensible, given all of the breath-catching after the flag.
However props to Scott McLaughlin for timing, to perfection, a run off of Flip 4 to go from fifth to 3rd on the line. Simply.
And whereas we have been speaking concerning the smallest successful margin in historical past — 0.0233 seconds between first and second — simply behind them, third, fourth and fifth have been lined by simply 0.0115 seconds! After 200 laps, 500 miles, three positions settled by inches.
Man, this race is superior. I’m able to do it once more. Is it Could but?
MORE DRIVER’S EYE:
