Bruce Martin
Special to FOXSports.com
INDIANAPOLIS — Finishing second in the biggest race in the world would seem like a reason to celebrate.
But finishing second in the Indianapolis 500 usually makes a race driver cry.
That’s what Marcus Ericsson of Andretti Global did when he pulled into pit lane and climbed out of his No. 28 Andretti Global Honda on Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Ericsson won the Indianapolis 500 in 2022. He finished second in 2023 but was more upset with the way INDYCAR Race Control handled a late Red Flag in order to have a one-lap restart in that race, as Josef Newgarden captured the first of his two Indianapolis 500 wins.
In Sunday’s 109th Indianapolis 500, Ericsson was battling with his former Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Alex Palou.
You may know him as the driver that always wins in INDYCAR. And on Sunday, he won the Indianapolis 500 for the first time in his career.
Ericsson was in the lead from Lap 170 to Lap 186 before Palou passed him on Lap 187. From that point until the yellow and checkered flags waved after 200 laps, Palou used all the skill, savvy and experience to drive to victory and deny Ericsson the second Indy 500 win of his career.
Ericsson finished 0.6822 of a second behind Palou’s No. 10 DHL Honda.
For Palou, it was joyous.
For Ericsson, it was heartbreaking.
Ericsson sat on pit wall and hung his head with the helmet still on. That’s because tears were flowing down his face.
When he took off the helmet, his eyes were filled with tears.
It’s proof that losing hurts worse than winning feels good.
“This race is more than just a race. It means everything to me,” Ericsson told me. “To be that close to winning again. It’s the second time I finished second here.
“It’s painful to miss out. The winner takes it all. That’s how it works here.
“No one cares about who finished second.”
Ericsson attempted to compare his two second-place finishes.
“They both hurt very much,” Ericsson said. “It’s tough to be that close. We got ourselves out in the lead. It’s tough with the lapped cars in front of us. They played a big part and Alex took the opportunity.
“I’m just angry with myself that I didn’t keep the position.
“It was my race to win.”
“I came out of the pits in the lead and lost it at the end,” Ericsson told me after the race. “It was a tough race, and we were in the back there for a bit struggling with the car. We kept fighting, and the crew did a really good job, and we got back in the fight.
“We were back in the lead there, but it’s painful to not win.
“It would have been nice to get the win. We were very, very close.”
Ericsson was thankful that his team kept fighting, even when the car was in the back. Through their hard work, he was in position to win the race.
On the final pit stop, the team got him on the track ahead of Palou. It was the big moment for Ericsson and it was his shot at victory.
“I gave everything at the end,” Ericsson said. “I’m dwelling right now at how I should have kept that position. The team gave me everything to win that race with that pit stop.”
Ericsson then followed with a heavy sigh.
“I should have done better,” he said.
A few feet away stood Ericsson’s team owner, Dan Towriss. He had a smile on his face, to hide the disappointment of finishing second.
He believes the key was the two lapped cars that Palou craftily used to help pull his car forward through the draft while he saved fuel. That was just enough speed to keep Ericsson’s Honda from making a serious run for the lead.
“It’s tough. It’s the Indy 500. It has to be earned,” Towriss told me. “I’m just gutted right now for Marcus, the effort that he put in.
“I’m just gutted for him right now.”
Towriss was really proud of his team, with two drivers in the top 10, including Ericsson in second place and Kyle Kirkwood in sixth.
“Really experienced teams and experienced drivers excel in the Indianapolis 500,” Towriss continued. “There is so much that goes into this. Chip Ganassi brings a fast car to the Indianapolis 500. Alex Palou has done what he has done. He is obviously a special driver, a generational talent, but we want to beat him.
“We gave it our best shot, and we’ll get them again next year.
“You want a battle between the heavyweights, the showdown at the end. That’s what the fans got. We came out on the losing end this time. We’ll get them next time.”
Another driver who admitted he had tears afterward was 23-year-old David Malukas of AJ Foyt Racing. He finished third in the No. 4 Chevrolet.
“I was crying coming into the pits,” Malukas told me on pit lane. “It’s incredible, but it comes down to this track picking the winners. Palou comes behind us, we’re a sitting duck sitting in first without a tow and two lapped cars come behind. It’s easy work for him to use the tow from the two lappers.
“That’s how this place is. It didn’t play in our favor.
“I wanted to get this car back into Victory Lane at the Indianapolis 500 and just feel slightly short.”
Malukas was involved in several of the four-wide restarts going into Turn 1 that thrilled the sellout crowd of 350,000 fans.
But Palou played it cool, used his head and experience and celebrated his first Indianapolis 500 victory.
Palou is the first Spaniard to ever win the Indianapolis 500.
Malukas was attempting to become the first driver from Chicago to win the Indianapolis 500 since Billy Arnold in 1930.
From Palou’s unbridled joy and celebration to the tears of disappointment from the second- and third-place drivers, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway once again proved it is the world’s largest theater of human drama.
Bruce Martin is a veteran motorsports writer and contributor to FOXSports.com. Follow him on X at @BruceMartin_500.
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