106th Indianapolis 500 Post-Race Notes

By INDYCAR | Published: May 29, 2022

106th Indianapolis 500 start
  • This is the first Indianapolis 500 victory for Marcus Ericsson in his fourth career start. His previous results were 23rd in 2019 with Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, 32nd in 2020 and 11th in 2021, both with Chip Ganassi Racing.
  • Marcus Ericsson became the second Swede to win the Indianapolis 500. Kenny Brack was the first, driving to victory in 1999 for AJ Foyt Racing. Both Ericsson and Brack earned their victories in their respective third career “500” starts.
  • This is the fifth Indianapolis 500 victory for Chip Ganassi Racing. Its previous wins came in 2000 with Juan Pablo Montoya, 2008 with Scott Dixon, and 2010 and 2012 with Dario Franchitti. Team owner Chip Ganassi also was a co-entrant with Pat Patrick on the 1989 winner driven by Emerson Fittipaldi.
  • Marcus Ericsson became the eighth Indianapolis 500 winner to start fifth. Buddy Lazier was the last winner from the fifth starting spot, in 1996.
  • Marcus Ericsson is 31. The last 31-year-old to win the Indianapolis 500 was Al Unser in 1970, when he also earned his first “500” win.
  • Marcus Ericsson drove car No. 8 to victory, the fourth “500” winner carrying that number. The last driver to win in No. 8 was Pat Flaherty in 1956. Other winners in No. 8: Joe Dawson in 1912 and Louis Meyer in 1936.
  • Marcus Ericsson led the race for 13 laps, the fewest laps led by a winner since Juan Pablo Montoya led nine laps in 2015.
  • This is the 14th time the Indianapolis 500 winner has recorded the fastest lap of the race since records were kept beginning in 1951. Marcus Ericsson’s fastest lap today was 224.852 mph on Lap 179.
  • There were 38 lead changes among nine drivers today. That’s the third-highest lead change total in “500” history, eclipsed only by 68 in 2013 and 54 in 2016.
  • Scott Dixon led a race-high 95 laps today, setting the all-time record for Indianapolis 500 career laps led with 665. The previous record was 644 by four-time winner Al Unser. Dixon broke Unser’s record by leading Lap 133. Dixon jumped past Unser and Ralph DePalma today, as De Palma was second on the list entering this event with 612 laps led.
  • Only four drivers have stood atop the all-time lap leaders list for the Indianapolis 500: Ray Harroun (1911), Ralph DePalma (1912-86), Al Unser (1987-2021), Scott Dixon (2022).
  • Scott Dixon led the most laps in the Indianapolis 500 for the sixth time in his career, extending his event record. He also led the most laps in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2015 and 2020.
  • Scott Dixon led 12 times today, extending his Indianapolis 500 record for times led to 70.
  • Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan each led today, extending their shared all-time record of leading in 15 starts.
  • There were 27 cars running at the finish, tied for the second-highest total in “500” history. The record is 30, in 2021. There also were 27 cars running at the finish in the rain-shortened 1976 race, which completed only 102 laps.
  • Twenty-two cars were on the lead lap at the finish, tying the event record set in 2021.
  • All five drivers for Chip Ganassi Racing – Scott Dixon, Alex Palou, Marcus Ericsson, Tony Kanaan and Jimmie Johnson – led at least one lap today, tying an event record set by Andretti Autosport in 2013.
  • Chip Ganassi Racing and Arrow McLaren SP occupied the top four finishing positions today – Ganassi (Marcus Ericsson first, Tony Kanaan third) and AMSP (Pato O’Ward second, Felix Rosenqvist fourth). The last time two teams locked out the top four spots was 2015, when Team Penske went 1-2 with Juan Pablo Montoya and Will Power and Chip Ganassi Racing finished third and fourth with Charlie Kimball and Scott Dixon, respectively.
  • Today's red flag on Lap 196 was the 12th in Indianapolis 500 race history. The previous 11 occasions: 1964, 1966, 1967 (after the winner took the checkered flag); 1970, 1973 (two occurrences), 1982, 1986, 2014, 2017, 2019.
  • This is the 15th Indianapolis 500 victory for a Honda-powered car, second all time. Offenhauser engines powered 27 winners.
  • David Malukas finished 16th, the top rookie finisher in this year’s race.