Move Over ABBA, Sweden Has a New Superstar: Indy 500 Winner Marcus Ericsson

Ya, sure! Sweden now has something more to brag about other than just ABBA.

Let’s explain:

So much had been said heading into Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 about four of Chip Ganassi Racing’s drivers, namely pole sitter Scott Dixon, Jimmie Johnson (making his first Indy 500 start), Tony Kanaan and defending NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou.

Seemingly lost in the conversation was CGR’s fifth driver, Marcus Ericsson, the seemingly quiet driver of the Ganassi quintet. Think of him almost as the late George Harrison, known as “the quiet one” of The Beatles.

But Ericsson will be quiet no longer as the native of Kumla, Sweden, held off a hard and late charge by both Pato O’Ward and Kanaan to capture the 106th running of the 500.

“I can’t believe it, I’m so happy,” Ericsson said with both a smile on his face and a welling of tears in his eyes. “It’s going to take a while to take it in. It’s just so incredible. I’ve worked so hard to do well in the Greatest Spectacle In Racing. My whole family and girlfriend were here. It’s just unbelievable.”

Ericsson essentially had to earn his third career IndyCar win twice. He had a major lead when Jimmie Johnson crashed with six laps to go, bringing out a red flag race stoppage. And then when the race resumed and Ericsson was roaring to finish the last lap, Sage Karam spun in Turn 2, bringing out the caution and causing the race to be finished under yellow.

“I thought I had it,” Ericsson said of the win before Johnson’s mishap. “This place never lets you get it easy. I was praying not for the yellow to come out and then it did.

“We had a three-second advantage. The only thing that could stop us was a caution. Those 10 minutes sitting there in the pit lane during that red flag was some of the hardest 10 minutes of my life probably, thinking what to do, thinking that I'm leading the biggest race in the world, and I'm that close to win it.”

Then, when the race resumed, Ericsson said about the final lap, “There was no way I was going to lift.”

Ericsson’s strategist, Mike O’Gara, was effusive over his driver’s accomplishment.

“He just got it done,” O’Gara said. “Marcus understands race craft. This is his third year with us. He gets it. When we're on the radio, I don't have to explain why we're staying out or why we're pitting or saving fuel or pushing. He gets it.

“I think between him and Brad Goldberg, his engineer, myself, we just click. He understands what to do at different stages of the race. Obviously got shuffled back a little bit today. He just stayed with it. We had amazing pit stops, got him to the front. The rest was all him.”

Ericsson spent five years in Formula 1 driving for B-tier teams. With his career going nowhere, he thought he’d take his talents across the Atlantic Ocean and to IndyCar. In a sense, anything for him would be better than the struggles he had in F1.

“It's been tough, I did five years in Formula 1, almost a hundred Grand Prixs, running for small teams, towards the back most of it,” Ericsson said. “You don't get a lot of credit running in the back in Formula 1. People think you are not very good.