Subplots Aplenty Spice Marcus Ericsson's Win in 106th Indianapolis 500

In a race where so much was made about the chances of his other four Chip Ganassi Racing teammates, Marcus Ericsson was almost a forgotten member of the CGR quintet of drivers in Sunday's Indianapolis 500.

But once the 200-lap race was over, the 31-year-old Swedish driver went from forgotten to unforgettable, capturing the 106th Running of the Indianapolis 500.

“I can’t believe it, I’m so happy,” Ericsson said with both a smile on his face and 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.”

Pato O'Ward finished second, followed by veteran driver and Ericsson's Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Tony Kanaan. Felix Rosenqvist was fourth, followed by Alexander Rossi.

Rounding out the top 10 finishers in the Greatest Spectacle In Racing were Conor Daley, 2021 Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud, Alex Palou and Santino Ferrucci.

IndyCar gets right back at it next weekend when it races for the final time at Detroit's Belle Isle park. Next year, the race shifts to a street course in downtown Motor City.

O'Ward's Bittersweet Weekend

Friday, Pato O’Ward signed a new three-year contract extension with Arrow McLaren SP, and looked to bookend the weekend with a win in Sunday’s big race.

Unfortunately, the Mexican driver finished one spot lower than the eventual winner.

“It’s a bittersweet moment,” O’Ward said. This is our best 500 result. We were just there for the win. My team gave me a frickin’ rocket ship. Just frustrated out of our control cost us that and cost us more of a chance at getting a run on the leader. We did everything to protect against that. It still wasn’t fast enough, which is annoying.”

O’Ward came so close to challenging Ericsson going into Turn 1 on the final lap, but just didn’t have enough to overtake the eventual winner.

“When the restart happened, I had one shot, I had to go flat and it just wasn’t enough,” O’Ward said. “We have to come back here and give it hell again. It’s my best in the 500 but still a tough pill to swallow when did everything correctly.”

O’Ward has now finished second in 2022 and was third in 2021.

“We need to come back with something better next year because it wasn’t good enough,” O’Ward said.

Backup Cars Fail to Deliver

Colton Herta and IndyCar rookie David Malukas both started the race in untested backup cars after they wrecked their primary cars in Friday’s Carb Day.

Herta finished 30th, exiting the race about after Lap 130 due to mechanical issues, while Malukas finished 16th.

“Now all you can think of is what if Friday didn’t happen,” Herta told NBC. “It’s disappointing.”

Tough Race for Team Penske

On a day that Roger Penske was celebrated for all the improvements he made to Indianapolis Motor Speedway and welcomed 300,000 race fans to the track for the first time since 2019, Team Penske had an overall disappointing showing.

Josef Newgarden will have to wait yet another year for his hoped-for first Indy 500 win, finishing 13th, the best showing of his teammates.

Will Power started the highest (11th) of the three entries for Penske, but his car got “wicked loose” in the first quarter of the race as he said on his team radio. Then when he came onto pit road for an adjustment, the car stalled and his team had to push him back into his pit spot before he was able to refire.

Power could never recover and finished 15th.