Can I level with you on this one reader? 2025 has not been a particularly great year in Motorsport so far. For the major series I cover, read the tea leaves. Formula 1 has had McLaren largely dominate with Franz Hermann (Okay, last time) desperately trying to stay with them. MotoGP has had Marc Marquez return to his former greatness in every possible sense while Pecco Bagnaia risks being exposed at the highest level, again. Formula E has had Oliver Rowland finally get a powertrain that can win him a World Championship. WEC has had Ferrari break the field over its knee, while Porsche’s been undefeated in IMSA so far.
And over in IndyCar, it’s been the Alex Palou show. By the time this goes up, they’ll be a Podcast special talking about how dominant he’s been, as well as the negative reaction to some of that dominance. We walked into this first week of the Indy 500 fearful that that damn Spaniard was going to run away with it. But the greatest Spectacle in Racing threw us many, many reminders as to why it remains the greatest race in the world. And it hasn’t even started yet. Let’s talk about it.
Lil’ Shwartzy
This was a tough week of prep for the Indy 500. The first with hybrid power, which changed everything about setups going into this year’s running. Cars that were 40 more kilos in weight compared to last year, new tires, more power to compensate. Everyone was guessing, and it made Turn 2 in particular a treacherous zone.
Kyffin Simpson was the first major crasher a day before qualifying. Marcus Armstrong was next, then Colton Herta had a big spin and smash during his guaranteed Qualifying attempt on Day 1. Simpson was fixed and comfortably made the show. Armstrong was cleared to compete after concussion protocol and had to settle for the Last Chance Qualifier, converting a road/street course backup into a super-speedway car. Herta, just snuck in as the middle man on Row 10.
McLaughlin flipped up and hit the deck so hard he scrapped a groove out of the track. Driver okay, but locked into P10 after wrecking his tub. Remember that position, it becomes important later.
For Prema, it was their first ever 500. And I’ll be honest, I thought Robert Shwartzman was the pre-500 favourite for bumping. He’d never driven an oval before, with a team that made headlines for releasing head engineer Michael Cannon before the season started. His impact can’t be understated, he was at AJ Foyt racing last year and was credited for turning that team around, with Santino Ferrucci scoring double-digit Top 10’s last season and being a major contender at the last two Indy 500’s. He was collabing with Penske, who shot back to form at last year’s race with a front-row lockout and Josef Newgarden becoming the first back-to-back winner of the race since Helio Castroneves in 2002.
Cannon claimed that Prema didn’t listen to his advice when he was released. We all called Prema crazy. And in fairness, we were right given how their season turned out. They hadn’t qualified for a race higher than 16th so far this season. Their highest finish? 18th. Their biggest track highlight was both Shwartzman and Illot hitting each other at The Thermal Club. Illot comfortably made the show in 23rd. Shwartzman took advantage of a great draw on his guaranteed run and made the Fast 12 as sixth fastest qualifier. Both men safely through and one in the Fast 12 was nothing short of remarkable.
And with all the Penske’s out of the Fast 12 (More on that very shortly), Shwartzman had a genuine shot at the Fast 6. He was third in the Fast 12 to make it in with a 232.0 average run (including a 233.1 opening lap, one of the best of the day in suboptimal conditions), but went even quicker in the Fast 6 round…
232.790 – Robert Shwartzman is an Indy 500 Pole Sitter. As a rookie! The first since Teo Fabi in 1983, alongside Walt Faulkner as just the third rookie EVER to take pole position. The first rookie team on pole since Tom Sneva for Meyer Motor Racing in 1984! An absolutely historic run and for me, the biggest shock in Motorsport in 2025 so far, probably even more than Johann Zarco’s French GP win just a week earlier. Ridiculous, dramatic, wonderful, everything brilliant about the Indy 500 and Motorsport in general.
The greatest spectacle in racing delivered yet again. Global Motorsport needed a story, it just got one.
Penske Perfect?
So, about Team Penske, winners of the last two years here. Safe to say things weren’t going quite to plan. Their 2024 dominance of the field just wasn’t there this time around. Will Power was throwing everything at his car and nothing was quite working. He was making multiple runs in practice and qualifying, more than most of the big hitters.. Top 10 fast? Sure. But not a true pole contender.
McLaughlin was the real threat, once again challenging the very top runners, was one of the few people in the 233’s consistently and was a genuine contender for pole… until a huge crash in Practice 7 the morning of qualifying. And with a backup car being prepped and P12 at worst already confirmed, Penske deemed it wasn’t worth the risk to push for anything more. Probably the right move. Josef Newgarden was in the mix for maybe the second row, but didn’t feel like a front-line contender like Palou, Pato O’Ward and McLaughlin.
Then a shocker at Fast 12 qualifying… Power and Newgarden fail tech inspection. And because it’s the Fast 12 round, with one-shot qualifying, they lose their guaranteed run and are OUT. Why? Penske was messing with their rear attenuator used to convert energy into physical force, in this instance, being able to change the angle of the rear wing and air flaps. The key part of this though, is that you’re not allowed to adjust that part of the car. Penske was doing so with a filler to smooth and blend out the airflow on the sides, according to Marshall Pruett.
It wasn’t found until Saturday morning in a tech inspection. According to IMS President Doug Boles, Power’s #12 car was found to have that attenuator adjustment. Tech was 95% sure they weren’t allowed to change it, but waved the 12 car through to speed through the inspection process to keep things moving. When the #2 car came through and had the same issue, they told Penske Team Manager Kyle Moyer to hold the #12 car so they can check the attenuators. At that point, they tell Penske they had two options – Withdraw the car on the spot, or run anyway but then get DQ’d for failing tech after the fact. (Yes, IndyCar can call a spot check for scrutineering, even after you clear tech inspection), Penske chose the withdrawal option.
The questions didn’t stop there though. Even after Tim Cindric explained Penske’s side of the matter, the next fair question Nathan Brown of the IndyStar pitched was given that Power’s car passed tech initially, but Newgarden’s didn’t, when did Penske make the adjustment? Before Saturday runs? Or overnight into Sunday. Cindric essentially said: “No comment”.
When Pato O’Ward was told what had happened, he didn’t think Penske had been punished enough, suggesting they should have been dropped into the Last Chance Qualifier because of that very question about when Penske made those adjustments. He has a point. Because the Penske’s were qualifying to get into the field with illegal cars (And we can’t verify when that adjustment was made), then arguably, they should have been yanked out of Day 1.
No matter how you slice it, Penske got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. It’s their second major cheating scandal in two years, in a series that they own, and to make matters worse from an audience standpoint – there’ll be no repercussions for their cheating until after the race itself next week because technical infringements normally mean entry points and fines. Sure the audience will take that one well.
They even had a public walk of shame by seeing them take an angle grinder to their cars in real time and seeing Alex Palou laughing as it was happening. Absolute cinema. Palou’s heel turn is going to John Cena levels of tomfoolery. (Credit to Ryan Erik King below for the hilarity)
Me, watching the downfall of my enemies.#Indy500 pic.twitter.com/Q08wyYug5g
— Ryan Erik King (@RyanErikKing) May 18, 2025
Five-Coyne-mentional Chess
Of course, it isn’t the 500 without Bump Day. We had a field of 34 runners, but only 33 made the show.
After Marcus Armstrong aborted his final run on Day 1, he was forced into the Last Chance Qualifier while adjusting his converted backup car. He was joined by Marco Andretti, who had a very strangely setup Andretti, lacking in top speed, packed with downforce, and geared strangely with fourth gear being used frequently in his runs (Normally 5th and 6th get alternated).
And finally, both Dale Coyne cars of Jacob Abel and Rinus Veekay were down the bottom. Veekay having severe handling problems all week long, and Abel just lacking any kind of raw speed whatsoever.
For the LCQ, Andretti and Armstrong found some extra speed to get to the 229-range and were comfortably in. Dale Coyne was down in the 227’s. It was almost certainly going to be Dale Coyne getting bumped, the only matter was which one. Abel’s 227.1 was slower than Veekay’s 227.7, with Abel losing his time anyway because of unapproved adjustments (A freebie given you lose your time for being below the cutline anyway.)
But with just eight minutes left, both DCR teams withdraw their times and go again. Veekay’s crew had the attitude of “leave it all out there” given his hybrid deployment wasn’t working on his penultimate run. But with both cars not having gone through a full cooling cycle, Veekay’s second run was a 226.9. He’d suddenly left himself vulnerable, a startling turn of events. Abel’s final run was also way slower, a 226.3, and with it, Jacob Abel was eliminated from the Indy 500.
Dale Coyne’s quote of “Have you ever played chess with yourself?” will be an all-timer for all the wrong reasons. It was a completely needless gamble when the writing was already clearly on the wall. And it’s humiliating for a team that’s been struggling for a good year and change. On Ovals last year, they were awful, often a mile per hour slower than ever the RLL cars, with Jack Harvey and Katherine Legge way off the pace. The nearly full turnover of engineering staff at DCR certainly couldn’t have helped. This had been coming, even if it must sting even more given Takuma Sato, now on the front row of the grid, had got this team in the Fast 12 not too long ago.
And I’m gutted for Jacob Abel. He wasn’t the reason he didn’t make the show. From everything I’ve seen and been told about him, he’s a genuinely great young man, who in particular has been an outstanding ally for the LGBTQ+ community, including asking people for pronouns and helping spread awareness and care for his fans to his team. I sincerely hope he’ll be back to run this race in the future. But that’s part of what makes the Indy 500 so great. It’s the fastest 33. No ifs, no buts. Just making the field is an achievement. And sadly, someone can’t.
The Lightning Round
Josef Newgarden, upon finding out he had the day off, decided to go jogging instead. He also dabbed on camera on live television, aging me by 40 years. Still more entertaining than the Last Chance Qualifier, that probably needs to be one-shot at this point. That 40 minute lull between runs given the car cooling process makes for a bucket load of dead air time.
He just kept running.@JosefNewgarden | #Indy500 pic.twitter.com/yjHGBNKlCM
— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) May 18, 2025
I’ll say it here because I think it’s a more than fair reaction, but there is no good reason for DHL to pull their Pride livery on their car for the first time in half a decade. Yes, I’m aware Pride Month is in June, but the 500 is your biggest event and DHL have always shared it in force early. I’m well aware I know the answer, but what changed?
Chris Myers, normally an NFL anchor, was embarrassingly bad as an anchor for FOX’s main coverage. He called it the Daytona 500 on multiple occasions, pronounced Colton’s name as “Hair-ta”, and came across like he’d done no research on IndyCar. I get that you’re always going to find it hard to replicate Mike Tirico, who at least has made a genuine effort to give a shit in years past, but anyone would have been better than this. It damages the broadcast and hurts the credibility of the race and FOX when you make mistakes this egregious. When Danica Patrick is a saving grace, something has gone badly, badly wrong. Alongside Will Buxton constantly not understanding the nature of 4-lap runs and declaring “This is good enough!” after just one lap, I’m running out of patience with the FOX move. This could and should be so much better than it is.
And on a fully serious note, it’s a perfectly fair question to ask Shwartzman, who switched from Russian to Israeli representation, what his stance is on the horrific atrocities his country has committed in Gaza and beyond. When Russia attempted to invade Ukraine in 2022, Robert made a conscious decision to choose Israel instead of competing as a neutral athlete. At that point, as journalists it’s fair game to ask why he chose to do so.
You don’t get to choose which politics affects your sports, and if you think that question shouldn’t be asked, I’d recommend checking your privilege if you have the luxury to ignore such a thought. I have a degree of empathy for Robert as he is an immigrant to the US (At the worst time since the 1940’s to be one) in times where defending Palestine is unfortunately far more risky than it needs to be. But I can’t help but shake the feeling you should probably have a better prepared answer than “I just want peace.”
The Grid Rundown
Okay folks, my favourite part – Here’s your 2025 Indy 500 starting grid. Reminder that Top 6 and 12 times were separate from the rest of the field, and generally speeds were 1-1.5mph down on last year due to the extra weight of the hybrids, and generally a rather hot track. Here we go!
Row 1 – Robert Shwartzman 🔰 (232.790), Takuma Sato 🏆🏆 (232.478), Pato O’Ward (232.098)
Takuma Sato. 48 years of age. Honda executive. His son is now old enough to legally drink in the UK. And with an RLL, the team that has been awful around ovals and the 500 in the last three years, is second on the grid. That’s almost as ridiculous a story as Robert Shwartzman’s pole for Prema. The Japanese veteran is never, ever, boring, and he used a combination of unique hybrid deployment and a complete lack of a fear of failure to push himself to second. Reminder, he had a 94G wreck in the open test.
Pato O’Ward will take a front row start, even if his hybrid deployment stopped working during his final Fast 6 run. His McLaren’s been quick all week, but maybe not a pole contender, so P3 is a good result for the fan favourite.
Row 2 – Scott Dixon 🏆 (232.052), Felix Rosenqvist (231.987), Alex Palou (231.378)
I’m openly spitballing here, but I wonder if Chip Ganassi was thinking long game here and focusing on race pace with their cars, especially with Alex Palou, who had a 233mph run on Day 1. With Penske locked into Row 4, it may have been the smart play in the long run.
Felix Rosenqvist had a 232.5 run in the Fast 12, but I fear they trimmed out the spec of his car too much heading into the Fast 6 round. Sadly, it was a tactical move that failed to take the Creed car any higher. (Sorry.)
Row 3 – David Malukas (231.599), Christian Lundgaard (231.360), Marcus Ericsson 🏆 (231.014)
Foyt weren’t quite their pole-contending best from the last couple of years, but a really great job from oval specialist David Malukas to snag seventh place, he badly needed something for his season to latch onto. Christian Lundgaard’s first oval for McLaren has him 8th to start with, a really nice foothold, even if he’s not looked as strong as Pato for McLaren, and safe to say this is already a way better 500 for him than last year – He remembered a run was four laps.
Row 4 – Scott McLaughlin (No Time), Josef Newgarden 🏆🏆 (No Time), Will Power 🏆 (No Time)
As mentioned before, because of their Fast 12 disqualification, Penske locked out a row… just not the one they were hoping for. McLaughlin starts P10 because this row will be ordered by time to get in on Day 1, ahead of Newgarden and Power. As said earlier, McLaughlin will be in a backup car going forward.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Turns out Pato O’Ward got his wish – In the hours it’s taken me since I wrote this review, Newgarden and Power have been sent to the back of the grid for their attenuator shenanigans, as well as a $100,000 fine for each crew, and their strategists have been banned for the rest of the event. As said before, I suspect the inability to prove when Penske made those changes were in essence, an exploit of the format of the rules. So by that logic, you have to take it as the worst case scenario and assume the modifications were on the car on Saturday as well.
For clarity’s sake, Scott McLaughlin’s attenuator was also impounded but was cleared of wrongdoing. Now, a proper website editor would now go back and tweak all the other pretty rows on here. I am not that person, so you get this instead. If you have an issue with that, bite me. – Love, Dre xxx
Row 5 – Conor Daly (231.725), Alexander Rossi (231.701), Kyffin Simpson (231.641)
Conor Daly had the final run of Day 1 to nearly sneak into the Top 12, but forgetting his weight -jacker adjustment on his final lap was just enough to drop him back into 13th. Good ol’ “bad luck” Conor. Alexander Rossi did a lot of Day 1 runs but couldn’t find the sweet spot in his first 500 with ECR, and Kyffin Simpson came back from a rebuilt car to comfortably make the show in P15, a solid effort from the Cayman Islander.
Row 6 – Ed Carpenter (231.633), Santino Ferrucci (231.593), Devlin DeFrancesco (231.575)
Ed Carpenter’s back! Yay! Good effort from one of the guardian “unc’s” of the field. Santino Ferrucci never looked anywhere near his front row best of 2023 here, struggling in the midfield and over-trimming down the stretch on Day 1. And Devlin DeFrancesco’s best start in the Indy 500 in P18, proof that RLL have made some genuine oval progress after years in the doldrums.
Row 7 – Sting Ray Robb (231.461), Christian Rasmussen (231.438), Kyle Larson (231.326)
Juncos ain’t slow around here anymore, a really nice effort from Sting Ray Robb’s constitutional livered car. Christian Rasmussen just wasn’t where he was last year for ECR, a shame given they’re normally a bit stronger around the 500 than this year so far.
Kyle Larson also crashed a car in practice earlier in the week, and was probably regressed to the mean a little bit more this year compared to last. Yes, he’ll be doing the Hendrick 1100 again next week, so if he has to leave early, Tony Kaanan will take his place having done a refresher last week.
Row 8 – Louis Foster 🔰 (231.058), Callum Illot (230.993), Helio Castroneves 🏆🏆🏆🏆 (230.978)
Say his name and he appears, Louis Foster safely into his first 500, again, good job all round from RLL to make sure all four of their cars comfortably made it in. They’ll be question marks asked about Callum Illot given he’s 23rd and his far less experienced teammate is on pole.
And look at that, newly celebrated 50-year-old Helio Castroneves makes the field for his 25th Indy 500 start. What a guy!
Row 9 – Kyle Kirkwood (230.917), Nolan Siegel (230.571), Ryan Hunter-Reay 🏆 (230.363)
Kirkwood’s P25 start probably sums up Andretti’s week, they just don’t have it at the Speedway this year. Even Ericsson’s Top 12 birth was more down to the fact he won the draw and got to go first in the most optimal of conditions. A colder race car generally, is a faster one. Kirkwood, openly told the broadcast he wasn’t enjoying the runs he was on, which kind of says it all. Potential disaster for the man sat second in the Championship right now.
Nolan Siegel is safely in P26 after his hair-raising bumping experience from last year (Although I’m starting to have concerns for his future after a rough start to life at McLaren), and I’m disappointed to see Ryan Hunter-Reay this low down. Dreyer & Reinebold are normally stronger than this, they had a Top 12 car just 12 months ago. Goes to show you the hybrid changes have definitely caught some people out.
Row 10 – Jack Harvey (230.348), Colton Herta (230.192), Graham Rahal (229.863)
See above for RHR, also applying to Jack Harvey here, but I’m sure the Brit will be delighted he dodged the last chance qualifier after last year’s Bump Day classic. Colton Herta had to scramble together a fixed car right at the death to sneak into the show in P29. And Graham Rahal snuck into the final safe spot in P30 due to the amount of crashes and drama around him. First time in three years he avoided the last chance qualifier.
Row 11 – Marco Andretti (229.741), Marcus Armstrong (229.091), Rinus Veekay (226.913)
As said earlier, Marco Andretti had a very weirdly set up car by all accounts, but found something on his very last run – 229.7 was his best across the week, and a great time to find it. Marcus Armstrong found some late extra speed overnight after using a converted back-up tub and was easily in.
It was always going to be a Coyne car being bumped, and severe questions need to be asked about how they were 1-2mph slower than everyone else across the week at the Speedway. Rinus Veekay being in P33 as an Indy 500 specialist is alarming, and Jacob Abel never had a chance. A real shame.
Check back next week for a full review of The Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Until then, sayonara.
