05/24/26 02:11:00
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05/24 14:10 CDT Alex Palou seeks new milestone as he attempts to continue
dominance with 2nd straight Indy 500 win
Alex Palou seeks new milestone as he attempts to continue dominance with 2nd
straight Indy 500 win
By MICHAEL MAROT
AP Sports Writer
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) --- Winning one Indianapolis 500 was a career-changing moment
for Alex Palou.
Winning a second would put Palou in elite company.
The first Spaniard to win IndyCar's biggest race returned to Indianapolis Motor
Speedway's 2.5-mile oval on an overcast Sunday as he tried to add another
milestone to his resume by becoming the seventh driver in race history to win
back-to-back 500s.
David Malukas of Team Penske was leading the race when the yellow flag came out
for the second time because of rain. Scott Dixon, his teammate with Chip
Ganassi Racing and winner of the 2008 Indy 500, was leading the race before
Malukas and Palou passed him on the restart following a 12-minute delay.
For the second straight year, the grandstands were sold out, prompting a local
television blackout to be lifted. Throngs of colorfully clad fans started
funneling through the track tunnels when the cannon sounded at 6 a.m., and the
streets around the Brickyard were as packed as they've ever been to witness the
pomp, circumstance and celebrities of "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing."
NCAA football championship-winning coach Curt Cignetti of Indiana led the
33-car field to the starting line as the pace car driver. WNBA star Caitlin
Clark gave the traditional command sending drivers to their cars. And track
owner Roger Penske directed the drivers to start their engines for the largest
single-day spectator sporting event.
Though race officials do not provide actual attendance figures, there are an
estimated 275,000 reserved seats and when the infield crowd is included,
approximately 350,000 people attend the race.
There were tributes for two-time Brickyard 400 winner Kyle Busch, who died at
age 41 earlier this week.
Dale Coyne Racing driver Romain Grosjean, who drives IndyCar's No. 18, was
driving with a new font on the front of his car intended to resemble the font
Busch used during the 14 years he competed in NASCAR'S No. 18 car with Joe
Gibbs Racing. Race officials also lit up up the scoring pylon with Busch's
name, birth year and 2026, and his name also was mentioned in the opening
prayer.
As for the racing, Palou led the most laps Sunday after seemingly winning
anything and everything lately --- three straight series titles, 11 of 23 races
and now the second Indy pole of his career.
And the chase to catch Palou resumed with a long list of storylines.
Two-time runner-up Pato O'Ward was hoping to become the first Mexican to win
the race. Again. He was running eighth when the rain came for the second time.
Alexander Rossi, the 2016 race winner, qualified a career-best second and
started less than a week after one of the hardest crashes of his career forced
him to undergo surgery on his right ankle and the middle finger on his left
hand. He was racing with a special brace and a protective boot on his right leg
until his car caught on fire for the second straight year. Crew members from
his former team Andretti Global got him out of the car and carried him over the
pit wall when he couldn't get back to his own pit stall.
Scott McLaughlin was trying to redeem himself following a parade-lap crash that
knocked him out of last year's race. McLaughlin, Malukas and two-time Indy
winner Josey Newgarden were all trying to help their team erase the bitter
memories from last May.
At age 51, Helio Castroneves could become the oldest race winner --- and the
first five-time winner.
Katherine Legge's attempt to become the first woman to finish racing's "Double"
by completing 1,100 miles in one day --- racing in both Indianapolis and at the
Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, North Carolina --- ended early. She hit the wall
after completing just 17 laps when she couldn't avoid the spinning car of Ryan
Hunter-Reay. Tony Stewart remains the only driver to complete every lap of both
races, doing so in 2001.
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