One sentence on each driver from the 2025 Indy 500

Indianapolis Star

25-05-2025

Here are 33 sentences -- one for each driver -- to sum up the 2025 Indianapolis 500.
1. Alex Palou: So much for not having an oval win.
2. Marcus Ericsson: Opening the door ever so slightly leads to heartbreak.
3. David Malukas: A strong race ends a strong month for one of Chicago's finest.
4. Pato O'Ward: Another top-five for one of IndyCar's brightest stars.
5. Felix Rosenqvist: Speedy Swede gets his third top-five of 2025.
6. Kyle Kirkwood: The race's biggest mover climbed 17 positions.
7. Santino Ferrucci: Seven top-10 finishes in seven Indianapolis 500s.
8. Christian Rasmussen: The Danish sophomore records his best IndyCar finish.
9. Christian Lundgaard: Another top 10 finish for one of IndyCar's young chargers.
10. Conor Daly: A strong run ends in frustration after leading several laps.
11. Takuma Sato: Sliding in his pit box put Sato behind after leading early.
12. Callum Ilott: The other PREMA driver kept himself in it the whole way.
13. Helio Castroneves: The drive for five remains alive. Again.
14. Devlin DeFrancesco: A lead lap finisher, but at what cost?
15. Louis Foster: Top finishing rookie had a couple of pit road speeding penalties.
16. Nolan Siegel: While his month ended in an accident like 2024, this year it was during the race.
17. Colton Herta: An early pit stop issue put Herta way behind.
18. Ed Carpenter: He led one lap.
19. Will Power: Team Penske's best finisher wasn't on the lead lap.
20. Graham Rahal: Fell like a rock on an early restart, nothing really went right after that.
21. Marcus Armstrong: After an early close call, Armstrong made it to the finish.
22. Jack Harvey: An anonymous race for a one-off entry.
23. Scott Dixon: Early issues never really got any better for the Iceman.
24. Ryan Hunter-Reay: After leading late, running out of fuel took him out of contention.
2025 Indy 500 winner: Alex Palou holds off Marcus Ericsson to win Indianapolis 500
25. Josef Newgarden: The Speedway says no to three wins in a row.
26. Sting Ray Robb: Ran out of room, nowhere he could really go.
27. Kyle Larson: An unforced error ends Larson's race and Double attempt early.
28. Kyffin Simpson: His race ended early through no fault of his own after a good qualifying effort after a crash in practice.
29. Robert Shwartzman: A collision with the pit wall and multiple crew members was not how the rookie wanted his race to end.
30. Rinus VeeKay: A spin and crash on pit road mercifully ended with little damage for Dale Coyne Racing.
31. Alexander Rossi: A mechanical issue and a pit fire ended Rossi's race early.
32. Marco Andretti: A month where nothing went right ends the only way it could have.