2025 Indianapolis 500
The 2025 Indianapolis 500 was an IndyCar Series race that was held on Sunday, May 25, 2025, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. The race was round six of the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season. The month of May activities formally began with the Sonsio Grand Prix on the combined road course. The race was televised on Fox for the first time in its history. The 2025 race marked the first year of hybrid energy recovery system powertrains at Indianapolis.
Practice officially began on Tuesday, May 13, and Time Trials were held on May 17–18. Carb Day, the traditional final day of practice, along with the Pit Stop Challenge, took place on May 23. Rookie driver Robert Shwartzman of Prema Racing qualified for the pole position, the first rookie pole winner since Teo Fabi in 1983.
Three-time series champion Álex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing won the race, his first Indianapolis 500 victory and first oval-track victory in IndyCar. It marked Ganassi's 6th Indy 500 victory, tied for second most all-time. It was Palou's sixth start at Indy, his best previous finish was a second in 2021. Palou took the lead on lap 187, and held off 2022 winner Marcus Ericsson of Andretti Global. Second place Ericsson, his teammate Kyle Kirkwood, and Callum Ilott all failed post-race technical inspection, and were moved to the back of the field when official results were posted. Consequently, David Malukas was elevated to second place and Pato O'Ward to third. Palou's win highlighted a dominating season in which he won eight races and became the first driver to win the Indianapolis 500 and the IndyCar championship in the same season since Dario Franchitti in 2010.
Josef Newgarden, the race winner in 2023–2024, failed to accomplish the first Indianapolis 500 three-peat. Newgarden and Penske teammate Will Power were moved to the back of the starting grid due to technical infractions during qualifying. All three cars of the Penske team had disappointing results, the team's worst overall performance at Indy since failing to qualify in 1995. Power finished a lap down in 16th, Newgarden dropped out with mechanical failure, and Scott McLaughlin crashed out on the pace lap. Statistically, it was the team's worst combined three-car result at Indy since 1992.
Kyle Larson made his second attempt at "Double Duty" after failing in 2024, as that year's Coca-Cola 600 was called for rain. He crashed out at Indianapolis on lap 92. Larson would lead 34 laps early on at Charlotte, but dropped out after a crash. At season's end, Larson won the 2025 Cup Series Championship – the first time in history that a driver raced in the "500" and won the NASCAR championship in the same calendar year.
Race background
The Indianapolis 500, commonly called the Indy 500, is held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a paved oval. First held in 1911, it is currently a points-paying race of the NTT IndyCar Series. The event is contested by "Indy cars", a formula of professional-level, single-seat, open cockpit, open-wheel, purpose-built race cars. The race is the most prestigious event of the IndyCar calendar, and one of the oldest and most important automobile races in the world. The race traditionally has a field of 33 cars.Rule changes
- IndyCar Series officials clarified the procedure for utilizing replacement drivers on race day. This was largely in response to the situation involving Kyle Larson at Arrow McLaren, who was scheduled to attempt Double Duty for the second time. If a team declares a replacement driver, that driver must pass a refresher test in the same entry, with minimal setup changes allowed. If the replacement driver is used on race day, the car will be moved to the rear of the starting grid. The only driver to take part in the refresher course was 2013 Indianapolis 500 champion Tony Kanaan.
- Each entry was permitted 32 sets of tires for the entirety of the event, plus 8 additional sets for use during the Open Test.
Event logistics
Sponsorship
On May 25, 2022, it was announced that online financial services company Gainbridge reached a multiyear agreement to extend their presenting sponsorship of the Indianapolis 500. The extension was for an undisclosed length. This will be the third year under the current deal. Gainbridge originally signed a four-year deal which was in place from 2019 to 2022.2025 IndyCar Series
The 2025 Indianapolis 500 was the sixth race of the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season. Álex Palou won four of the first five races of the season, including St. Petersburg, Thermal Club, Alabama, and the Sonsio Grand Prix. The only race Palou did not win was Long Beach, which was won by Kyle Kirkwood. Palou held a commanding 97-point margin over Kirkwood in the championship points standings going into the Indianapolis 500.Points standings (top 5) entering Indianapolis 500
Race schedules
Entry list
All entries used a spec Dallara DW12 chassis utilizing the Universal Aero Kit with the aeroscreen. Honda and Chevrolet were the engine providers. Firestone was the exclusive tire supplier. There were 34 confirmed entries, including eight former winners and four race rookies. With the confirmation of Takuma Sato's Honda entry, bumping was confirmed. Abel Motorsports declined to enter, instead electing to provide technical support and a back-up car for Jacob Abel's entry at Dale Coyne Racing. Katherine Legge, the lone female driver in the race in 2023–2024, confirmed on April 10 that she would not enter the 2025 race, instead announcing her intent to compete in multiple NASCAR races including the BetMGM 300 race during the Memorial Day Coca-Cola 600 weekend at Charlotte.Kyle Larson, the 2024 rookie of the year, attempted Double Duty for the second time. Retired veteran driver and Arrow McLaren team principal Tony Kanaan was to serve as Larson's replacement driver if needed. Four-time winner Hélio Castroneves made his milestone 25th career start, just the fourth driver to do so. Two-time defending race winner Josef Newgarden attempted to become the first driver in history to three-peat at the Indy 500.
The official entry list was released on May 13.
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| 2 |  Color box|gold|W|border=silverTesting and Rookie OrientationRookie rules for the Indianapolis 500 include the mandate that a driver pass a supervised high-speed oval test before he/she is allowed to participate in the official Rookie Orientation Program at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Approved venues for the initial high-speed oval track test include Texas Motor Speedway, Homestead–Miami Speedway, and a few other select venues.The Rookie Orientation Program at Indianapolis consists of three phases. For phase 1, each driver is required to complete ten laps between, while demonstrating satisfactory car control, proper racing line, and safe interaction with other cars on the circuit. The laps do not have to be consecutive. Phase 2 is fifteen laps between, and phase 3 is fifteen laps over. Veteran drivers that have not competed in an IndyCar oval race since the previous year's Indy 500 are required to take a refresher test. The refresher test consists of phase 2 and phase 3 of the aforementioned rookie test. Rookie Orientation – October 2024A private Rookie Orientation Program session was held on October 10, 2024, for Nolan Siegel of Arrow McLaren. Siegel had passed ROP the previous May, however, he failed to qualify for the race, necessitating a re-taking of the rookie test. Siegel passed the three-phase test without incident.Hybrid testing – October 2024A two-day offseason test was held on October 10–11, 2024. Eleven teams were in attendance to evaluate the hybrid energy recovery system powertrains which were adopted midway through the 2024 IndyCar season. On Thursday, Josef Newgarden, Pato O'Ward, and Álex Palou primarily conducted tire tests for Firestone. On Friday, all eleven teams participated. Álex Palou turned the fastest lap of the day. No incidents were reported.Rookie oval testingThe series hosted a high-speed oval rookie evaluation test at Nashville Superspeedway on March 26. Two drivers participated: Robert Shwartzman and Louis Foster. Both drivers completed their evaluations and were approved to take the Rookie Orientation Program at the April Open Test at Indianapolis. Jacob Abel had previously completed his evaluation at Texas on November 14.Open Test Day 1 — Wednesday April 23, 2025The first day of open testing was scheduled for April 23. Testing was originally slated to start at 10:05 a.m. However, an internet outage at the track caused communications problems between race control and teams, forcing testing to be delayed until 12:45 p.m. The revised schedule after the delay saw the track first open for series veterans from 12:45 p.m. to 2 p.m. Then, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., the track was opened to drivers needing to complete rookie and refresher tests. Finally, the track was opened to all entries at 4 p.m., with the end time of practice pushed back to 7 p.m.
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