Seven Crushing Wins Helped Build Felix Rosenqvist’s One Historic Indy 500 Victory
Felix Rosenqvist finally got to enjoy the view from Indy’s special place: Victory Lane.
By winning this year’s Indianapolis 500 in spectacular fashion—building what looked like an insurmountable lead late, losing it after a red flag, then getting a second chance at another caution before violently snapping away to win by the narrowest margin ever—the Swedish sprinter accomplished what hundreds of racing drivers have failed to do over 11 races. At the same time, one bold move instantly erased the past seven years of his Indy race day woes.
Obviously, it takes speed to win the world’s most prestigious race—and Rosenqvist’s winning average of 174.199 mph ranks as the sixth-fastest Indy 500 in history. But to reach the finish line first in 2026, the 34-year-old had to slow down and learn from past missed opportunities. Those experiences—both good and bad—were invaluable when the most unlikely times arose.
So when Rosenqvist’s side-of-the-wall slingshot past Indy 500 runner-up David Malukas on the final lap gave him the lead with 50 feet to go, the move was a blink of an eye combination created by years of misses and tough losses. “I saw that the team deserved to win,” he said. “If you shoot us, we’re going to get the most out of it, and if we don’t, or we end up at the wall, that’s what happens.”
Her courageous decision led to a life-changing victory that came exactly three weeks after another milestone—the birth of her first daughter. Rosenqvist’s first appearance in the winner’s circle was the ultimate reward for a career filled with unfortunate crashes, lost track, and mechanical failures. This time, Rosenqvist turned personal frustration into a race-day staple that helped him capitalize on his best split-second form.
“The experience of being in that situation for just seven years, being thrown around the Speedway for good and bad, just makes you know what to do when the time comes,” said Rosenqvist.
Studying film, working with a play coach, and the hard lessons of past losses were all included in the decision to time his departure to Malukas with uncanny precision and become the 77th driver to drink the milk of the festival.
Although the sequence of events leading up to his second IndyCar win in his second career was different, Rosenqvist’s performance in that final round will be something that will cross gears for years. That one perfect pitch was a byproduct of his previous failed Indy efforts finally coming together at the right time. Still, even with Meyer Shank’s full support behind him, there was no way to expect an end like the No. 60 Honda delivered.
“There’s no way you’d even dare to dream what happened to me in reality,” he admits. “I’m not sure that the way it happened happened before. We were still building something new with that ending.”
Indy 500 Victory 7 Losses In The Making
Rosenqvist’s margin of victory—0.0233 seconds—set a new Indy 500 record for the closest finish, breaking Al Unser Jr.’s mark. 1992 by 0.0430 seconds over Scott Goodyear.
On the track, his historic win was a triumph over veteran drivers and silenced critics who doubted his ability to lift the Borg-Warner Trophy in the blue, white, and red of Meyer Shank after his previous outing led to widespread disappointment in racing. A rookie crash in 2019 and an off-the-pace finish, a 27th-place finish in 2021 highlighted his poor early times. Even with glimpses of speed on the track—fourth place finishes in 2022 and 2025—he lacked a late-race spot to reach the podium. An engine failure on Lap 56 in 2024 added to his heartache on the 2.5-mile rectangular oval.
None of this, he says, can match the pain of 2023. After qualifying fifth and leading 33 laps, a late-race slip sent him into the Turn 1 wall on Lap 185, leading to a collision with Kyle Kirkwood who launched a tire awkwardly over the pit fence. He says: “That hurt me a lot, because I had an even better race than this year, up to that point.”
Determined not to have to deal with that kind of slump again, Rosenqvist prepared himself both physically and mentally to maximize the moments of chaos that naturally arise in high-speed, high-pressure situations. The preparations, he says, have been the team’s ongoing efforts since last season finishing in fifth place, which was won by Alex Palou.
During the offseason, Rosenqvist worked with Indy-based speed-response specialist Ares Elite Sports Vision, which gave him mental and emotional work aimed at making split-second decisions along the way. The team had Rosenqvist perform various tests, including answering math questions while his heart rate was elevated. “We do exercises like calculating a math problem at the same time as you are on a treadmill, where you push the brain in different ways,” he said. “I wouldn’t say it led to our success, but things like this were important.”
He also spent a lot of time in the film room, playing race replays with Meyer Shank teammate Marcus Armstrong and studying race boards to get a better feel for opposing drivers from the driver’s perspective. “Indy is the way it is, you don’t change, where you build your kind of good tricks every year, and I feel stronger every year, and that trajectory just continued, which allowed me to finally get the big one.”
The Tactics—And Cooperation—That Allowed Felix Rosenqvist’s Dream to Finally Work
Rosenqvist will enter the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 this weekend coming off a month that he admits may not be the same again. May was so full of emotional moments that winning the Indianapolis 500 ranked second in importance to becoming a father for the first time. Rosenqvist and his wife Emille welcomed their daughter, Stella, on May 4. He then finished the month with a strong sixth-place finish at the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, completing an impressive career and personal best.
“I think it’s going to be hard to beat being a father three weeks ago [and] winning this race.” “I think I have to accept that I probably won’t have the best three weeks of my life. This past month has brought out emotions that I didn’t know I had in me, so it’s great.”
Although Rosenqvist is the face of the Meyer Shank team, taking on the media yoke and success that comes with winning the Indy 500, he was quick to point out that it was the team around him that put him in a position to win in his eighth attempt. “It takes an army to do that,” he says. “You have to prepare the car for months before the race. You need spotters, and lots of things to be ready when that happens. Everybody killed—it was a 10 out of 10 game if it mattered.”
This year too, the race for victory began with a grueling few days before the race. After winning the Indy 500 qualifying rounds last weekend, a poorly timed run in the final dropped him to fourth and gave Palou the top spot. While it’s frustrating to know you have a super fast car, the setback was part of the process of handling adversity as an older, wiser vet. “Every time you go through that series, you learn something new, and that’s really what I think the experienced guys, they have a better understanding of what to do when that starts to happen.
In a race that also set the record for most lead changes (70), Rosenqvist took the top spot from Pato O’Ward on Lap 185. His advantage grew to what should have been an insurmountable gap of 20 seconds before Caio Collet’s crash on Lap 193 brought out the red flag, erased his lead, and revived memories of 2023. pit area. In the car, however, he felt only support and health, reducing any chance of another brain storm. “They were like cheering me on, like, ‘Hey, bro, we got this, we’re looking good here, we’ve got the best car,'” he recalls.
On the restart, his lead was gone, as a chaotic four-way operation saw team-mate Marcus Armstrong and David Malukas pass him. But hang in there: Another crash, this time by Mick Schumacher on Lap 197 brought out another caution and started a one-gate shootout. Rosenqvist this time brought out the caution on the final lap—he forced O’Ward away before passing teammate Armstrong with a daring top line. The final race had the leader Malukas, making a side frame down the front stretch, pulling ahead in the final yards to pull off the closest finish in Indy 500 history.
“I was just locked in, man,” he says. “I didn’t think too much about anything other than trying to keep going with the fuel game we were playing until the end of the race. We actually had to win the race twice in my book.”
