Drivers weigh in on cars at end of Indy 500 lead lap: ‘Get the F out of the way’

Bruce Martin
Special to FOXSports.com

DETROIT — For many of the 350,000 fans that attended the 109th Indianapolis 500 and the peak audience of 8.4 million viewers that watched on FOX, they wondered why the winner of the race was the third car that crossed the finish line and the fourth car on the track was scored as second.

It was a rare situation that happens on ovals when the last two cars on the lead lap are actually running ahead of the leader and haven’t been lapped yet. Because they are fighting to stay on the lead lap, they do not have to yield their position to the race leader, per INDYCAR rules.

At the end of last Sunday’s Indy 500, those two cars were raced by Devlin DeFrancesco of Toronto and Louie Foster, a rookie from Odiham, Hampshire, England.

Both drivers race for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and both were fighting to complete all 200 laps of the Indianapolis 500 on the lead lap.

But in the final 16 laps of the race, Alex Palou masterfully used the two cars on the end of the lead lap to improve his speed the draft. That meant Palou’s No. 10 DHL Honda could run faster while saving fuel.

Marcus Ericsson was running second at the time after Palou boldly passed him for the lead on the inside of Turn 1 on the 187th lap. Because Palou was being aerodynamically towed by Foster and DeFrancesco, the car fourth in line experienced turbulence and could not get a run to attempt to pass Palou for the win.

Marcus Ericsson preparing for the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500

When the checkered flag waved, Palou was the winner of the race and Ericsson was scored second. 

Ericsson would later get bounced to 31st place by INDYCAR officials after his No. 28 Honda failed post-race technical inspection because of