David Malukas in tears after losing Indy 500 by record…

David Malukas had only the checkered flag ahead of him coming off Turn 4 with the lead of the 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500. In the end, though, he couldn’t prevent Felix Rosenqvist's staggering charge and ended up on the wrong end of the closest finish in the history of the famed race.

0.0233s.

Malukas, a 24-year-old Chicago native, took the lead from Rosenqvist’s Meyer Shank Racing teammate, Marcus Armstrong, seconds after taking the green flag on the final one-lap shootout. It appeared all but settled as Malukas set off and quickly built a gap, while Armstrong and Rosenqvist tussled for second. That all changed, though, as Rosenqvist seemingly surged by Armstrong and generated enough of a run to close and deliver heartbreak to Malulas.

While the result is the same as last year’s Indy 500 drive with AJ Foyt Racing for Malukas, when he also finished second, this one came with significantly more pain and left him in tears.

Second stings the most. pic.twitter.com/S6yGvgTnii
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) May 24, 2026

“Yeah, just disappointment,” said Malukas, now ranked second in the IndyCar championship standings.

“I just don't know what else we could have done. We were driving 150 percent that whole race. The guys did a fantastic job getting the car where it needed to be. 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. Just to finish, like -- I can't believe it. This whole season, even before, just keep getting a lot of seconds, but we just can't get -- now it's like -- I don't know how much closer you can get to getting it. So yeah. Now we're even P2 in the championship. It's great, so many seconds.”

David Malukas, Team Penske Chevrolet (Photo by: Penske Entertainment)

Malukas recalled his journey to get to this point, notably his wrist injury in 2024 that led to him losing his ride before ever running a race for Arrow McLaren.

“I've been through many different teams, although I'm still young, 2024, from the wrist injury, been to so many different teams, and nobody is like Team Penske,” Malukas said.

“Everybody here is just so closely connected and truly feels like family. Obviously coming from all of that, Roger (Penske, team owner) was one of the first guys to come to me and tell me that he believes in me and told me to keep on pushing.

“Because of him, I can sit here and cry that I'm going for a P2 position. I think that's why it's really emotional for me because I wanted to get a win for this team and just wanted to be written across those history books. Everything happens for a reason. I think there's a reasoning to this. We're going to just use it as more motivation and just keep pushing forward, and someday maybe it'll happen.”

While the instant reaction is heartache, Malukas had a chance to watch a replay and it brought some variation of peace.

“He just had a really good run,” Malukas said. “There's nothing else I could have done. I'm trying to think back, maybe something different with deployment here or there.”

Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske Chevrolet (Photo by: Penske Entertainment)

To which teammate Scott McLaughlin chimed in by saying, “There's no way, man.”

Malukas, still trying to contain his motions, agreed.

“There's just no way,” Malukas said. “In the car it looked a lot closer, which it was really, really close, but from the run I didn't know he had that big of a run. Watching the replay and seeing the run that he had, it actually made me feel better because I was like, to be honest, I don't think there's anything I could have done. Maybe could have shortened it by a couple thousandths. I think that was the IMS gods telling me that it's not my time.”