The Indianapolis 500 delivered on Sunday and ended with the closest finish in the history of the race.
Swedish driver Felix Rosenqvist won Sunday’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, In. in frantic fashion. The race wound up being a one-lap shootout, and American David Malukas had opened up a lead of about 0.3 seconds during the final lap and appeared to be in good shape.
That wound up not being the case. Rosenqvist managed to outmaneuver Malukas’ attempts to defend and crossed the line first in a photo finish.
FELIX ROSENQVIST WINS THE CLOSEST FINISH IN INDY 500 HISTORY! pic.twitter.com/BBGobsgX3I
— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) May 24, 2026
According to the unofficial results, Rosenqvist won the race by .018 seconds before being officially listed at .0233. Either way, the margin was the closest in race history, beating out Al Unser Jr.’s .043 second margin in 1992.
Closest #Indy500 finishes:
— Ryan McGee (@ESPNMcGee) May 24, 2026
Today: Rosenqvist over Malukas 0.0233 seconds
1992: Al Unser Jr. over Goodyear 0.043
2014: Hunter-Reay over Castroneves by 0.060
2006: Hornish Jr. over Marco Andretti 0.063
Rosenqvist finished sixth in IndyCar last season, but had not actually won a race since 2020. He had previously finished fourth in the race on two occasions, but this was obviously his first win.
