Entering turn four on lap 200 of 200 of Sunday's 110th running of the Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the top three drivers had a combined one career NTT IndyCar Series victory, with that one win coming nearly six years ago at Road America.
Meyer Shank Racing teammates Felix Rosenqvist, who won that 2020 race at the Wisconsin road course, and Marcus Armstrong ran side-by-side behind Team Penske's David Malukas, as they had since literally turn one of that lap.
Rosenqvist didn't lift and secured second over Armstrong, and then he made his run, also to the outside, on Malukas for the win. It paid off, and the 0.0233-second margin of victory became the narrowest in the history of the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing". It was also the race's 70th lead change; the previous record of 68 was set in 2013.
The defeat left the driver of the No. 12 Chevrolet inconsolable, as he finished second in the race for the second consecutive season, this time in much more dramatic fashion than a year ago, when a post-race disqualification promoted him from P3 on the race track to P2 in the race results.
There is one silver (no pun intended) lining.
David Malukas now leads IndyCar oval standings
Malukas took pole at Phoenix Raceway in March and finished third after leading the most laps; Rosenqvist finished 12th. With his third place qualifying effort and subsequent runner-up finish in the Indy 500, Malukas overtook Phoenix winner and teammate Josef Newgarden, who crashed out of Sunday's race on a restart, for the lead of the oval standings.
While there is no longer an A.J. Foyt Oval Trophy or a Mario Andretti Road Course Trophy awarded to the champions of the individual disciplines, those statistics are still tracked by IndyCar.
Both the 2024 and 2025 seasons produced first-time oval champions, and both first-time oval champions won the oval title after earning their first career oval victory in the same year.
Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin won at Iowa Speedway and the Milwaukee Mile en route to his 2024 oval championship, and Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou won the Indy 500 before winning at Iowa en route to his 2025 oval title.
The previous first-time oval champion, Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward (2021), also earned his first career oval victory that season at Texas Motor Speedway.
Malukas owns a 12-point lead over Rosenqvist in the oval championship standings, which can be found here.
The third of six oval races on the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series calendar is scheduled to take place at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway on Sunday, June 7. Fox is set to provide live coverage of the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 starting at 9:00 p.m. ET. Begin a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss it, but don't miss this coming Sunday's Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix street course race in Detroit, Michigan (12:30 p.m. ET on Fox) first!
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