As Alex Palou wheeled his Honda-powered race car to claim the one crown jewel missing from his trophy case – the 2025 Indy 500 – Chevy teams battled a cold, unforgiving track on May 25th, 2025.
Things started to go south for The Bow Tie brand before the green flag even dropped on the 2025 Indy 500. After a rain delay, Scott McLaughlin lost control of his No. 3 Chevy while weaving to warm up his tires during the pace laps, taking him out of contention before the race even began. McLaughlin was the sole Team Penske competitor to avoid being penalized after qualifying after his teammates were caught with illegally modified parts. McLaughlin is credited with a 33rd-place finish – dead last.
Meanwhile, Kyle Larson, NASCAR Cup Series regular, once again endured a heartbreaking end to his attempt at “The Double.” Larson spun out after a restart, collecting two other competitors as he hurtled off the racing surface. He is credited with a 27th-place finish in his second Indy 500 start. After his early exit from the IndyCar race, Larson jetted to Charlotte to take the wheel of his No. 5 Chevy in the Coca-Cola 600, NASCAR’s longest race… where he spun on Lap 50.
2024 Indy 500 champion Josef Newgarden suffered a mechanical issue, taking him out of contention for the win. He finished 25th. Nolan Siegel, driver of the No. 6 Chevy, wrecked on the final lap as Palou and fellow Honda Marcus Ericsson paced the field. Siegel spun out and backed into the fence, triggering the caution and sealing Palou’s victory.
The best-performing Chevy was the No. 4 of David Malukas, who finished third, averaging 168.864 mph and leading two laps. The No. 5 Chevy of Pato O’Ward also led two laps and averaged 168.849 mph, finishing fourth, followed by the Honda of Felix Rosenqvist in fifth. For comparison, Palou’s race-winning Honda averaged 168.883 mph, and runner-up Ericson averaged 168.872 mph.
Comments
What a rollercoaster of a race! Palou finally completing his crown jewel is legendary, but man… it was a brutal day for Chevy.
Tell Kyle Larson to stop trying to be a hero trying to run with big boy.s and stick to running nascar .he gets under my skin .and let someone else win once in a while and pushing his self in on those young drivers in the Exfinity serise if nascar had any sense they wouldn.t let the Cup Driver.s push in on those younger infinity driver.s
If “the big boys” want to stick Larson in an Indy car, more power to him. It seems that the “learning curve” for him is somewhat steep. His boneheaded move was just about as bad as McLaughlin. I agree that the Xfinity series should be for the younger upcoming drivers and the Cup drivers should stay out of it.
That’s why they used to be referred to as “Bushwhackers”…Cup drivers stealing points and money.
I still think there are too many inexperienced big high speed oval drivers these days. All the errors were caused by lack of familiarity. Even Kyle Larson. How many ovals does Indycar run a year? They stopped Pocono and Michigan among others. Miss the old days about 30 years ago. Too many road courses.
Actually Chevy was very competitive even with the Penske isdues. Goyts team ked a number of laps as did Colin Daily.
Firestone had a bad day. They were set for 80 degrees and hot 60 degrees so no grip.
The hybrid crap just made the cars harder to drive and 100 pounds heavier. Just get back to the basics.