INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Winning one Indianapolis 500 was a career-changing moment for Alex Palou.
Winning a second would put Palou in elite company.
The first Spaniard to win IndyCar's biggest race returned to Indianapolis Motor Speedway's 2.5-mile oval on an overcast Sunday as he tried to add another milestone to his resume by becoming the seventh driver in race history to win back-to-back 500s.
David Malukas of Team Penske was leading the race when the yellow flag came out for the second time because of rain. Scott Dixon, his teammate with Chip Ganassi Racing and winner of the 2008 Indy 500, was leading the race before Malukas and Palou passed him on the restart following a 12-minute delay.
For the second straight year, the grandstands were sold out, prompting a local television blackout to be lifted. Throngs of colorfully clad fans started funneling through the track tunnels when the cannon sounded at 6 a.m., and the streets around the Brickyard were as packed as they've ever been to witness the pomp, circumstance and celebrities of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”
NCAA football championship-winning coach Curt Cignetti of Indiana led the 33-car field to the starting line as the pace car driver. WNBA star Caitlin Clark gave the traditional command sending drivers to their cars. And track owner Roger Penske directed the drivers to start their engines for the largest single-day spectator sporting event.
Though race officials do not provide actual attendance figures, there are an estimated 275,000 reserved seats and when the infield crowd is included, approximately 350,000 people attend the race.
There were tributes for two-time Brickyard 400 winner Kyle Busch, who died at age 41 earlier this week.
Dale Coyne Racing driver Romain Grosjean, who drives IndyCar's No. 18, was driving with a new font on the front of his car intended to resemble the font Busch used during the 14 years he competed in NASCAR'S No. 18 car with Joe Gibbs Racing. Race officials also lit up up the scoring pylon with Busch's name, birth year and 2026, and his name also was mentioned in the opening prayer.
As for the racing, Palou led the most laps Sunday after seemingly winning anything and everything lately — three straight series titles, 11 of 23 races and now the second Indy pole of his career.
And the chase to catch Palou resumed with a long list of storylines.
Two-time runner-up Pato O'Ward was hoping to become the first Mexican to win the race. Again. He was running eighth when the rain came for the second time.
Alexander Rossi, the 2016 race winner, qualified a career-best second and started less than a week after one of the hardest crashes of his career forced him to undergo surgery on his right ankle and the middle finger on his left hand. He was racing with a special brace and a protective boot on his right leg until his car caught on fire for the second straight year. Crew members from his former team Andretti Global got him out of the car and carried him over the pit wall when he couldn't get back to his own pit stall.
Scott McLaughlin was trying to redeem himself following a parade-lap crash that knocked him out of last year's race. McLaughlin, Malukas and two-time Indy winner Josey Newgarden were all trying to help their team erase the bitter memories from last May.
At age 51, Helio Castroneves could become the oldest race winner — and the first five-time winner.
Katherine Legge's attempt to become the first woman to finish racing's “Double" by completing 1,100 miles in one day — racing in both Indianapolis and at the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, North Carolina — ended early. She hit the wall after completing just 17 laps when she couldn't avoid the spinning car of Ryan Hunter-Reay. Tony Stewart remains the only driver to complete every lap of both races, doing so in 2001.
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