The 2025 Indianapolis 500 (branded as the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge for sponsorship reasons) 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, and 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.
The month of May activities formally began with the Sonsio Grand Prix on the combined road course. 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 (6th), and Callum Ilott (12th) 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 (after also crashing heavily during practice). 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. Polesitter Robert Shwartzman led 8 laps, but dropped out on lap 87 after skidding into the wall entering the pits. He still was voted rookie of the year. Two-time winner Takuma Sato led the most laps, but lost the lead when he overshot his pit stall. He battled back to place 9th.
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 (33rd). 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 For the 2025 Indianapolis 500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway reported that in addition to its core year-round staff of 200–250 employees, approximately 12,500 additional personnel were present at the facility during the race weekend to support broadcast operations, safety and medical services, security, retail, weather monitoring, and other logistical functions.
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 finished second in that race). 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 PosDriverPts 1 Álex Palou 248 2 Kyle Kirkwood 151 3 150 4 Pato O'Ward 148 5 Scott McLaughlin 137
Race schedules Race schedule—April 2025SunMonTueWedThuFriSat20 21 22 23Open test24Open test25 26 Race schedule—May 2025 1 2 3Mini-Marathon4 5 6 7 8USF Pro testing9USF, NXT Race IndyCar Qual.10Sonsio G.P.(USF, NXT, NICS)11 12 13Practice14Practice15Practice16Fast Friday17Time Trials (13–30)18Time Trials (1–12, 31–33)19Practice20 21 22 23Carb Day (IMS) Hoosier Hundred, USF/USF Pro Race (IRP)24Parade25Indianapolis 50026Memorial Day27 28 29 30 31 Source: Color Notes Green Practice Blue Time trials Silver Race day Red Rained out* Blank No track activity * Includes days where trackactivity was significantly limited due to rain
Entry list
All entries used a spec Dallara DW12 chassis utilizing the Universal Aero Kit with the aeroscreen. Honda (HRC) and Chevrolet (Ilmor) 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 (the 2013 winner) 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 (joining A. J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, and Al Unser). Two-time defending race winner Josef Newgarden (2023–2024) attempted to become the first driver in history to three-peat at the Indy 500.
The official entry list was released on May 13.
Driver Team Engine Sponsor 2 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Chevrolet Shell 3 Scott McLaughlin Team Penske Chevrolet Pennzoil 4 David Malukas A. J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet Clarience Technologies 5 Pato O'Ward Arrow McLaren Chevrolet Arrow Electronics 6 Nolan Siegel Arrow McLaren Chevrolet NTT Data 06 Hélio Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Honda Cleveland-Cliffs 7 Christian Lundgaard Arrow McLaren Chevrolet VELO 8 Kyffin Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Journie Rewards 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda PNC Bank 10 Álex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda DHL 12 Will Power Team Penske Chevrolet Verizon 14 Santino Ferrucci A. J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet Homes For Our Troops 15 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda United Rentals 17 Kyle Larson Arrow McLaren with Rick Hendrick Chevrolet Hendrick Cars / Prime Video 18 Rinus VeeKay Dale Coyne Racing Honda askROI 20 Alexander Rossi ECR Chevrolet Java House 21 Christian Rasmussen ECR Chevrolet Splenda 23 Ryan Hunter-Reay DRR-Cusick Motorsports Chevrolet Wedbush 24 Jack Harvey DRR-Cusick Motorsports Chevrolet INVST 26 Colton Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian Honda Gainbridge 27 Kyle Kirkwood Andretti Global Honda Siemens 28 Marcus Ericsson Andretti Global Honda Allegra 30 Devlin DeFrancesco Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda Dogecoin 33 Ed Carpenter ECR Chevrolet Splenda 45 Louis Foster Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda Desnuda Organic Tequilla 51 Jacob Abel Dale Coyne Racing Honda Miller High Life 60 Felix Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing Honda Creed / SiriusXM 66 Marcus Armstrong Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Honda Spectrum 75 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda Amada 76 Conor Daly Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet ampm 77 Sting Ray Robb Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet GoodHeart 83 Robert Shwartzman Prema Racing Chevrolet Idra Group 90 Callum Ilott Prema Racing Chevrolet Idra Group 98 Marco Andretti Andretti Global Honda Mapei
Former Indianapolis 500 winner Indianapolis 500 rookie
Testing and Rookie Orientation Rookie 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 (ROP) 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 2024 A 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 2024 A 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 (Team Penske), Pato O'Ward (Arrow McLaren), and Álex Palou (Ganassi) primarily conducted tire tests for Firestone. On Friday, all eleven teams participated. Álex Palou (224.342 mph) turned the fastest lap of the day. No incidents were reported.
Rookie oval testing