A record 70 times the lead changed hands during the 110th Indy 500, but none more important than the lead change at the start-finish straight at the end of the race. 

Felix Rosenqvist took the win by the merest of margins, the closest finish recorded at the Indy 500, a 0.0233-second win over David Malukas. It was only his second IndyCar win ever, and Rosenqvist became the third Swede to win the race, winning a record $4.34 million prize money.

Rosenqvist joined Swedish racing royalty after replicating Kenny Brack’s 1999 and Marcus Ericsson’s 2022 wins at the fabled 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He drove the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda for Meyer Shank Racing with a special livery featuring country singer Morgan Wallen. 

After the victory, Rosenqvist spoke to Bob Pockrass and answered questions that tell us who exactly is the newest Indy 500 winner. 

Asked who he is, Felix Rosenqvist said, "A father and an Indy 500 winner from Sweden that has fought extremely hard for this moment for eight years."

And asked how his wife would describe him, he said, "She’d probably say I’m the kindest person ever."

Rosenqvist’s IndyCar debut came in 2019 with Chip Ganassi Racing, and he won the Rookie of the Year title that year before getting his first IndyCar win at Road America in 2020. In 2021, he shifted to Arrow McLaren before joining Meyer Shank Racing in 2024. Considering MSR has a technical partnership with CGR, he remains part of the CGR family in a way.

Rosenqvist became a father earlier this month, with his first child, a daughter, whom he and his wife Emilie named Stella, born on May 4th. May 2026 will be a month that he will forever remember. Asked which of the two moments was more stressful, Rosenqvist delivered an answer that showed the family man that he is. 

"Believe it or not, but being in the hospital. You can't describe that feeling," the Swede said. "It’s just something to have such an extreme emotional response two times in the same month with completely different emotions. Because when you have a child, you're obviously crying because you're happy, and now you're also sad because this little thing like needs you to survive."

Comparing that family moment to winning the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, Felix Rosenqvist added:

"And you love your wife 10 times more now because it's just so much love and emotions. And then this is just like a badass manly like we did it kind of emotion. It’s hard to describe."

A Solid Resume With Room for More Accolades

Felix Rosenqvist has etched his name in motorsport history by winning the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. The move he pulled to get to the checkered flag ahead of Malukas is something that will be discussed for years to come.

But even before he won the Indy 500, Rosenqvist had a pretty decent career. His journey began in Junior Formula in Europe, where he competed and won three regional Formula Renault 2.0 titles from 2007 to 2009. From 2010 to 2015, he raced in Formula 3, winning the Macau Grand Prix back-to-back in 2014 and 2015.

From 2016 onwards, he was a freelancer, racing in various competitions. 2016, especially, was a busy year for Felix Rosenqvist. Racing for Mahindra in Formula E, he secured three wins and finished third in the championship in the 16-17 season.

That year, he also raced touring cars for Mercedes-AMG in the DTM in Germany. But his most important project in 206 would have been competing in Indy Lights (now Indy NXT), which is the final step before IndyCar.

Rosenqvist also raced Super Formula and Super GT cars in Japan in 2017 and 2018, finishing third in the 2017 Super Formula. It was after these achievements that the Swedish driver decided to compete in open-wheel racing in America, a move that eventually saw him win racing's greatest glory on May 24, 2026.

Read more at Motor Culture!

Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri

Edited by

Yask Kotak