Alex Palou has absolutely dominated the 2025 IndyCar season, winning five of the first six races, all while earning his first win in the Indianapolis 500.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver passed Marcus Ericsson late, leaving him to finish second with David Malukas in third. Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist filled out the remainder of the top five for the 109th running of the Indy 500.

Palou is the first Spaniard to ever win IndyCar’s crown jewel event, getting it done in his sixth attempt.

Eleven drivers failed to finish the race, including Scott McLaughlin, who crashed out of the race in a shocking incident during the pace laps. Josef Newgarden did a great job charging from the last row on the grid, but his quest for the three-peat ended due to fuel pressure issues on his Team Penske Chevrolet.

Kyle Larson crashed out of the race on Lap 92 in a restart melee, and while he won’t be able to complete 1,100 miles, he will become the fifth driver to run the ‘Double’ as he heads to Charlotte for the 66th running of the Coca-Cola 600.

Rookie polesitter Robert Shwartzman never saw the finish either after being involved in a scary incident where he struck his Prema Racing pit crew. The top-finishing rookie was Louis Foster, who placed 15th.

2025 Indianapolis 500 Results

By JAKE FENNER

Published: 00:29 BST, 25 May 2025 | Updated: 00:29 BST, 25 May 2025

If Felix Rosenqvist crosses the line first at the Indianapolis 500, you imagine he’ll accept the milk bath ‘With Arms Wide Open’ and will lift the Borg-Warner Trophy ‘Higher’ than ever.

Rosenqvist, who is set to start on the second row of Sunday’s race in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing machine, will have a peculiar sponsorship on his car.

Not only will Rosenqvist be driving with the branding of the satellite radio service Sirius XM on his car, but he’ll also have the logo of a popular 2000’s rock band on there as well.

Rosenqvist will be racing with the logo for the band Creed on his side pods and on the nose of his Honda-powered car for ‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing’.

The partnership was announced earlier this month, with the car’s branding first coming to light during last week’s practices.

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On Saturday, the members of the band were seen in the Meyer Shank garage posing with the car baring their brand on it. 

Felix Rosenqvist’s car is seen emblazoned with the logo of the American rock band, Creed

Felix Rosenqvist, of Sweden, prepares to drive during practice for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis earlier this month 

Mark Tremonti and Scott Stapp of Creed perform at the Palomino Stage during the 2025 Stagecoach Festival on April 26. The band is sponsoring Felix Rosenqvist’s Indy 500 car

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Creed has seen a resurgence in popularity in recent years, with the hard rock band even re-forming in 2023 after an eleven year hiatus.

That announcement, coupled with the Texas Rangers baseball team using ‘Higher’ as a motivational song in their run to a 2023 World Series title, boosted their popularity even further. 

Last summer, the songs ‘Higher’ and ‘One Last Breath’ became particularly popular thanks in part to various trends on the social media app Tik Tok.

As for Rosenqvist, this will be his second Indianapolis 500 with Meyer Shank. 

His best finish came back in 2022 with Arrow McLaren, when he came in fourth. 

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He qualified fifth on the starting grid for Sunday – sandwiched between 2008 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon and three-time IndyCar Series driver’s champion Alex Palou.

Over five years ago, the Indianapolis Colts traded for star defensive tackle DeForest Buckner from the San Francisco 49ers ahead of the 2020 NFL draft. Since then, Buckner’s been a role model and a leader on the defensive front for Indianapolis.

In his five seasons with the Colts, Buckner has totaled 342 total tackles, 39 sacks, and six forced fumbles. On top of elite production, Buckner has held the Colts’ defense responsible for poor performances throughout the years.

As a stand-up guy and veteran lineman, Buckner earned himself a spot on Pro Football Focus‘ list of the top 30 players in the league over the age of 30.

“Buckner continued to anchor the Colts’ interior defense in 2024,” PFF analyst Dalton Wasserman wrote. “Despite missing five games due to injury, he posted an 81.9 PFF grade, the second-highest of his career. It marked his third straight season with a grade above 81.8, showing little sign of decline heading into his age-31 campaign.”

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As Wasserman mentioned, Buckner isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Even though he missed five games in 2024, Buckner still managed to record 6.5 sacks and 61 total tackles. Those five games he missed were his first time missing action in over three years.

Buckner has been the anchor for the Colts over the years and has solidified the interior defensive line alongside Grover Stewart. In addition to relentlessly pursuing the quarterback with no remorse, Buckner and Stewart are two of the best run defenders in football.

In 2024, Buckner earned a 73.9 run defense grade from PFF, while Stewart received a 78.7 run defense grade. Both were in the top 11 defensive linemen in the league out of 219 eligible players.

The Colts need another season of reliable defense from both Buckner and Stewart, otherwise, it could all fall apart for Lou Anarumo’s squad. After a disappointing season from the team as a whole, Buckner and Stewart have to be tone-setters early.

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