With three and a half laps left at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the cars lined up for a final restart. Felix Rosenqvist was in third place, behind his teammate and a Penske driver.
What happened next produced the closest finish in the 110-year history of the Indianapolis 500. On Sunday, May 24, 2026, Rosenqvist won by 0.0233 seconds over David Malukas, breaking a record that had stood since 1992.
The 200-lap race was chaotic. It set a record with 70 lead changes, and fourteen different drivers led at some point. Rain caused a red flag midway through the race. Another red flag came when rookie Caio Collet crashed. Mick Schumacher, son of seven-time Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher, also hit the wall.
On the final lap, Marcus Armstrong was leading. Malukas passed Armstrong for the lead, and then Rosenqvist made his move. He swung to the outside line against the wall, passed Armstrong, and chased down Malukas to the finish line.
For the 34-year-old Swede, this was only his second career IndyCar victory. It was his first win on an oval track and his first Indianapolis 500 victory. Rosenqvist became the third Swedish driver to win the race, after Kenny Brack in 1999 and Marcus Ericsson in 2022.
Roughly twenty days before the race, Rosenqvist had become a father for the first time. His daughter, Stella, was born weeks before he made the boldest move of his career to win the closest Indianapolis 500 ever.