On Sunday, David Malukas missed the Indy 500 win by 0.0233 seconds as Felix Rosenqvist snatched it away from him at the finish line. Heartbroken and disappointed, Malukas could not believe that all his efforts to win the biggest IndyCar race went in vain.

Despite this, the Team Penske driver is more motivated than ever and now raring to go for more, including his first IndyCar win and eventually, the championship.

At the Indy 500 Victory Celebration on Monday night, Malukas opened up about his race and shed light on the nature of the heartbreak.

"It's hard to put into words the pain of being that close to a dream come true," Malukas said in a video published by NTT IndyCar Series on X. "But I'm so driven, so much more motivated to go out there and get that first win. Not even just an Indy 500 win, but just to win in IndyCar."

David Malukas is currently runner-up in the IndyCar championship standings. He is trailing Alex Palou by 37 points after seven races, and wants to use his newfound motivation to win his first race and the title.

"I'm really pushing for it. We're going to get it there. And that's all due to this team, Team Penske. Everybody on, it is just absolutely incredible," the Team Penske star concluded.

On Sunday, David Malukas started the Indy 500 in third place and led the race for 30 laps. He took the lead from Marcus Armstrong in the dying stages.

However, Felix Rosenqvist had other ideas, as the Meyer Shank Racing star pulled out some brave final lap racing, passed teammate Armstrong for second, and then hunted down Malukas on the final straight of the very last lap.

What A Teary-Eyed David Malukas Said After The Indy 500

David Malukas was a few metres away from claiming his first-ever IndyCar Series race win, and there would not have been a better place than the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. However, in racing, anything can happen, and this big case of 'anything' took Malukas aback.

"I just don't know what else we could have done," the Team Penske driver told the media after the race, while shedding tears. "We were driving 150 percent that whole race. We had the fastest car out there that whole race. It was ours to win, and I knew that. I've never pushed that hard in my whole life."

For David Malukas, it was his second consecutive second-place finish at the Indy 500. In 2025, he finished third on track, but was promoted to second after runner-up Marcus Ericsson's car was disqualified in post-race technical inspection.

On Sunday, Scott McLaughlin finished on the final podium spot, as Pato O'Ward and Marcus Armstrong wrapped up the top five.

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Written by

Sabyasachi Biswas

Edited by

Yask Kotak