Here are IndyCar’s Winners and Losers heading to the 2025 Indy 500

The Month of May arrived this weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – at least on the road course. 

In keeping with the trends of the season, that likely meant a couple things. First: Alex Palou continued to crush the NTT IndyCar Series field. The Spaniard won for the fourth time in five races to open the 2025 season – and his only loss on the year was a runner-up run at Long Beach. Incredible stuff. 

For a long while, it also looked like the trend of caution-free racing would continue. Yes, there was technically a caution to start Saturday’s race. But it came on the opening lap of the event, when Josef Newgarden was forced to pit road from sixth with an issue. From there the race largely went caution-free, leaving strategies to play out organically without any alterations from a yellow. 

Then, it finally happened. The caution flag flew. 

Beyond that, it was another traditional IndyCar affair, with some surprises, a consistent winner and a few drivers with notable issues. Here are the winners and losers from the Sonsio Grand Prix. 

Winner: IndyCar sees an honest-to-God caution flag

David Malukas didn’t do much else of note on Saturday, but he gave us this.

Did much come of it? No. But at least the IndyCar field proved that it is, indeed, capable of generating a caution flag.

Loser: Andretti Global’s Indy misfortune continues

Andretti Global started its Indy weekend on a sour note, failing to put a single driver in the Fast 12. 

It only got worse from there. 

The best qualifier in the bunch, Colton Herta, rolled off 13th. But he broke a front wing after light contact with Christian Lundgaard near the end of Lap 2 and had to pit immediately, catching his crew off guard and derailing his race. 

Behind Herta, Marcus Ericsson took an early trip off-course and made it just seven laps with a car that was clearly ailing. “I don’t know what it was,” he told FOX Sports of his issue. “Something broke, obviously. We lost power.” 

Kyle Kirkwood had a comparatively calm race, but started deepest among the trio in 21st. He had to fight to rally to eighth at race’s end. Herta briefly fought back onto the lead lap, but ultimately retired in 25th – just ahead of Ericsson in 26th.

Winner: Alex Palou.

Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

Yep. He did it again. All you can do is appreciate the No. 10 team’s greatness at this point. 

Loser: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

Yes, Palou took the pole on Friday. But the talk of qualifying was the trio of drivers at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Graham Rahal had snagged a front row spot in second, Louis Foster was one spot back in third and Devlin DeFrancesco also cracked the top-five in fifth. 

All signs pointed to a much-needed turnaround for one of IndyCar’s struggling organizations. Instead, the group was left to wonder what could’ve been after a difficult day. Rahal led a solid chunk of the race, but faded to sixth after an ill-timed pit stop when his tire strategy failed to bare fruit. Foster simply faded to an 11th-place result, while Devlin DeFrancesco suffered a pit road stall and wound up 17th at race’s end.

Winner: New tire rule yields varied strategies

Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing tire detail

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

In an effort to spice up the racing product, INDYCAR officials rolled out a new tire rule heading into Saturday’s showdown at the Indy road course. Teams would have to use two sets of each tire – both the softer reds and primary blacks – during the race. Tire allotments remained the same, with teams offered five sets of primaries and four sets of the alternate tire for the weekend. 

The end result was a strategy-filled weekend, with teams managing tires and when to take them throughout both qualifying and the race. Palou managed to save a set of unused, sticker reds for his final qualifying run and blitzed the rest of the Fast 6 for the pole. In Saturday’s race, Graham Rahal started on sticker reds and shot past Palou, who was on used reds, in the opening corners when the race went green. 

From there, drivers mixed things up. Palou cycled through his used primaries, while Rahal went with a fresh set. Scott McLaughlin started on fresh primaries and cycled through to third with ahead of Devlin DeFrancesco with used reds. 

Those variations in tire choices continued throughout the race, adding intrigue to an event that could have played out in more formulaic fashion. Opinions on the decision to change the tire rules may be split given IndyCar’s sect of traditionalist fans and competitors, but the move did provide an interesting strategy battle in Indianapolis.

Loser: Kyffin Simpson’s day ends before it can begin

Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

Heading into Saturday’s race, Kyffin Simpson had reason for optimism. He’d qualified 10th – slotting ahead of legendary teammate Scott Dixon, matching his career-best result and giving himself a chance to score his second IndyCar top-10.

Then his car suffered a mechanical issue before the race and he never even saw the green flag. 

Womp womp. But at least it happened now and not in the Indy 500, eh? 

Winner: Championship hopefuls salvage their days

Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

On a day when Palou was doing his thing and a handful of competitors suffered early setbacks, those hoping to make gains in the standings needed to minimize the damage and put together solid runs.

It’s no surprise, then, that the back-half of the top-five was filled with veterans and potential title contenders who did just that. Pato O’Ward quietly rose from eighth to second. Will Power snagged the final spot on the podium from seventh. Scott McLaughlin held serve from qualifying in fourth, while Scott Dixon again managed a mercurial drive to somehow take fifth from 16th. Kyle Kirkwood made the most of a difficult day, rising from 21st to eighth. 

These aren’t all glamorous results or memorable days. But they’re the sort of effort that makes the difference in the season-ending standings.

Loser: Title-hopeful trio suffer early setbacks

Josef Newgarden, Team Penske

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

Josef Newgarden, Christian Lundgaard and Felix Rosenqvist all intend to play a role in this season’s championship fight – and outside of Newgarden, they largely have up to this point. But the trio all suffered disappointing days after early trouble in Indianapolis.

Newgarden’s issue was again not his doing. The Tennessean did his job on Friday, qualifying sixth. But an MGU issue sent him to pit road just as the race was meant to go green. The start was delayed, which aided his end result, but Newgarden had to rally from deep in the field to salvage 12th. 

The issues for Lundgaard and Rosenqvist were self-induced. Lundgaard spun his tires and committed a pit road infraction at pit exit, resulting in a penalty. Rosenqvist suffered a spin on lap 26 after an attempt to dive under Rinus VeeKay went awry.

Neither driver had an awful result – Rosenqvist surged back to 10th and Lundgaard crept home a quiet 16th – but these sort of small mistakes make a huge difference when Palou seems impervious to pressure. 

Winner: IndyCar enters the Month of May in Indianapolis

Fans

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

There’s been nothing wrong with this IndyCar season. Races have unfolded organically with little in the way of race control rulings or other off-track drama to shroud events in controversy. But it’s fair to say Palou’s dominance and the lack of cautions has made for a milquetoast open to the 2025 season. 

Thankfully for IndyCar, the next race on the calendar is anything but predictable. The year’s first oval race always promises to bring different challenges and shake up the field. This one also just happens to be the biggest race of them all – the Indy 500. 

With the uncertainty over who gets to kiss the milk, multi-discipline star Kyle Larson in the field and the general flare and circumstance of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing up next, the IndyCar field could get a healthy shakeup heading into its summer stretch run.

Follow all the IndyCar news and action this season at our dedicated IndyCar news hub.