INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis native Conor Daly thrilled the sold-out Indianapolis 500 crowd Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, leading 13 laps and contending for the victory.
Daly took the checkered flag 10th, but was elevated to eighth on Monday when Marcus Erickson and Kyle Kirkwood were among three drivers who were disqualified for technical infractions.
Unfortunately, for Daly his Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet stumbled during the final two green-flag runs.
“The car was just evil the last two sets of tires. I have no idea what happened,” Daly reported after the race. “We didn’t really make many changes. It completely fell off a cliff and I was hanging on for dear life; literally crashing every turn. The team did great. The car was so fast at the beginning and it’s exactly what I needed and then something happened.
“We have to look into it. This car was so good and then all of a sudden it fell off a whole lot. Still proud of our efforts and the team did a great job on pit stops.”
• Pato O’Ward brought his Arrow McLaren Chevrolet home fourth and was elevated to third on Monday. O’Ward finished second at Indy last year and in 2022.
“My race had a lot of up and downs,” O’Ward explained. “The restarts were chaotic. We were two or three cars too far back. We gained four or five spots in the last pitstop sequence. I think we were one pitstop sequence short or a restart could have given us an opportunity. All green like that, everybody you could see, was stuck. It’s a strong points day for us. We’ve just about got every single spot in the top five here, except a win.”
• Felix Rosenqvist finished fourth for Meyer Shank Racing, but felt he had a car fast enough to run up front.
“It was hard to pass and I feel like we were a bit quicker than the guys in front,” Rosenqvist said. “I felt like I was just risking the car every corner to try to get a run and I wasn’t even close to getting around Pato O’Ward. We started fifth and finished fifth. As much as I’m disappointed for having the opportunity to win, I’m super proud of my group—the No. 60 Honda crew did a masterclass in execution with good pit stops and good strategy, and that’s what we need for the rest of the season.”
• Santino Ferrucci brought A.J. Foyt’s No. 14 Chevrolet home fifth after Monday’s disqualifications. It was his seventh top-10 finish in seven Indianapolis 500 starts.
“Woke up this morning wanting to win it. I told the guys, let’s go win this. Disappointed in myself that I could’t get it done for us,” Ferrucci said. “But I will take what the day gave me. I had some fantastic restarts and some good passes. Dealt with a little more adversity than I anticipated. Here we are…another top-10. Slowly pushing my record down the line.
“We had a mega start. Good strategy, good pit stops, good everything. I could kind of see it coming to us late in the race. Just trying to stay smart and clean. Had that last green-flag stop, we were racing just outside the top five. We would have needed that last lap caution to happen about 10 laps earlier, that would have given us a shot to win, but congratulations to Alex Palou. Man, I’ve never seen anything like this. Man it’s wild.”
• Christian Lundgaard, who ranks fourth in the IndyCar Series standings, was credited with seventh for Arrow McLaren.
“I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed, but I wouldn’t say I’m happy,” Lundgaard said. “I am disappointed not getting a better result, but at the end of the day, we need to remember the car came back in one piece. We lost one position from where we started. I don’t think we had the pace today to fight for a win even if we were in the position.
“A little disappointed with that, but at the end of the day we were in the top 10. We’re staying steady. We’ve only finished in the top ten this year, except the Indy GP. We’re building a great campaign for the championship. I think at this point we need to focus on finishing second in the championship and we have a good chance to do so.”
• Monday’s disqualifications of Ericsson and Kirkwood elevated Indy winners Takuma Sato (ninth) and Helio Castroneves (10th) into the top 10 in the official results.
