Indy 500: How much money did Marcus Ericsson win?

Marcus Ericsson is the 2022 Indy 500 champion, and he walked away with a record-breaking chunk of a record-breaking purse.

In his fourth Indy 500 attempt, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson took the checkered flag under caution after a brilliant defense of Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward following the final restart with two laps remaining. He became the first first-time Indy 500 since Simon Pagenaud won the race in 2019.

Ericsson had a commanding lead after the final pit sequence, making his way past Arrow McLaren SP teammates Felix Rosenqvist and O’Ward to open up a lead of around three seconds.

But teammate Jimmie Johnson crashed in turn two of the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana with six laps remaining, bringing out a red flag with four laps to go and setting up the final two-lap shootout.

Ericsson saved the day for Chip Ganassi Racing after their two primary contenders, Scott Dixon and Alex Palou, found themselves trying to rally from the back of the pack as a result of pit lane violations — not to mention the fact that Johnson’s wreck effectively brought the Arrow McLaren SP duo back into the mix.

Chip Ganassi Racing still ended up taking two of the top three spots, with Tony Kanaan finishing in third place.

As a result of his victory, Ericsson, who now leads the IndyCar championship standings for the first time in his career, took home $3,100,000 of a record-breaking purse of $16,000,000.

This sum of $3,100,000 is the largest winner’s payout in Indy 500 history. O’Ward earned $1,000,000 with his runner-up finish.

This total purse of $16,000,000 broke the previous record of $14,400,000, which was set in the 92nd running of the race back in 2008. With his win that year, Scott Dixon earned $2,988,065.

However, the highest earning winner prior to Ericsson was Helio Castroneves, who earned $3,048,005 with his third Indy 500 victory in 2009.

Here is a list of how much each driver earned for their Indy 500 efforts over the last few weeks, ranging from Ericsson’s $3,100,000 to Stefan Wilson’s $102,000.

Rank – Driver – Car, Team, Engine – Earnings
1 – Marcus Ericsson – $3,100,000
2 – Pato O’Ward – $1,000,000
3 – Tony Kanaan – $400,000
4 – Felix Rosenqvist – $570,500
5 – Alexander Rossi – $548,000
6 – Conor Daly – $527,100
7 – Helio Castroneves – $205,300
8 – Simon Pagenaud – $507,000
9 – Alex Palou – $569,600
10 – Santino Ferrucci – $134,500
11 – Juan Pablo Montoya – $127,000
12 – J.R. Hildebrand – $175,300
13 – Josef Newgarden – $530,000
14 – Graham Rahal – $483,000
15 – Will Power – $474,300
16 – David Malukas – $463,000
17 – Kyle Kirkwood – $463,000
18 – Christian Lundgaard – $463,000
19 – Ed Carpenter – $117,000
20 – Devlin DeFrancesco – $463,000
21 – Scott Dixon – $707,000
22 – Marco Andretti – $114,400
23 – Sage Karam – $104,500
24 – Jack Harvey – $158,800
25 – Takuma Sato – $462,000
26 – Stefan Wilson – $102,000
27 – Dalton Kellett – $462,000
28 – Jimmie Johnson – $207,900
29 – Scott McLaughlin – $462,000
30 – Colton Herta – $469,500
31 – Romain Grosjean – $478,500
32 – Callum Ilott – $463,000
33 – Rinus VeeKay – $487,800

Dixon, who started the race from the pole position, earned the third highest total of $707,000 behind Ericsson and O’Ward, despite a late pit road speeding penalty that knocked him out of contention after he had led a race-high 95 laps.

He has now led the most laps in Indy 500 history, and he has led the most laps in six of his 20 Indy 500 starts. But he has still only won once.

The 107th running of the Indy 500 is scheduled to take place at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 28, 2023.