Following the final round of stops in which his Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda teammate Scott Dixon, who had led 95 laps, was pinged for speeding on pitlane, Marcus Ericsson emerged third behind the two Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolets of Felix Rosenqvist and Pato O’Ward. But he passed the pair of them to take the lead, which he built up to three seconds – the biggest advantage anyone had held all day.
Then on the 194th lap, his teammate Jimmie Johnson, making his Indy 500 debut, struck the wall at Turn 2, bringing out first the yellow flag, then the red.
The restart left just two green-flag laps to go, and Ericsson weaved down the front straight to break the tow, and O’Ward wasn’t close enough to try a move. It was the same situation down the back straight, but O’Ward appeared to go through Turns 3 and 4 stronger than the leader and down the front straight, Ericsson couldn’t shake him off. As he moved down to the pitwall to protect the inside, O’Ward moved fully alongside him heading into Turn 1.
But as Ericsson eased right to take the racing line for Turn 1, O’Ward on his outside had to breathe the throttle, and allow Ericsson to get ahead on the inside. That loss of momentum for the AMSP driver was enough for Ericsson to pull away down the back stretch, and before he’d even turned into Turn 3, out came the caution for Sage Karam crashing in Turn 2.
And so Ericsson became only the second Swedish winner of the Indianapolis 500 after Kenny Brack, and scored Chip Ganassi Racing its fifth Indy win 10 years after its fourth.
An elated and astonished-looking Ericsson said of the penultimate yellow that became a full race stoppage: “I couldn’t believe it. I felt you can never take anything for granted, and obviously there was two laps to go. I was praying so hard there was not going to be another yellow, but I knew there was probably going to be one.
“It was hard to re-focus but I knew the car was amazing, the #8 crew and Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda have done such a good job, so I knew the Huski Chocolate car was fast enough. But it was still hard, you know? I had to do everything there and then to keep them behind…
“I can’t believe it. I’m so happy.”
Ericsson said he was especially happy because, “My family’s here, my mom and dad, my brother, my girlfriend, and Vin who’s been backing me my whole career, and my manager Eje [Elgh], and Alex… – they’re all here today.
"And… I can’t believe it.”
"I can't believe it. I'm so happy."
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) May 29, 2022
A jubilant @Ericsson_Marcus basks in his #Indy500 victory.#INDYCAR // @CGRTeams pic.twitter.com/Eo3u2S6YJ6
