"Lucky little bastard": David Malukas gives unfiltered take on Alex Palou's Indy 500 win

Alex Palou won the 2025 Indy 500, but many other drivers were in contention for the race victory, which led third-place finisher David Malukas to sarcastically call him a "lucky little bastard." The 23-year-old secured his best result at the fabled oval course to date, but had the chance of getting in an even better finish mid-way through the race, where Palou leaped ahead.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver started the race in sixth, and Malukas was just a single spot behind him at the green flag. With the 200 laps ensuing, the elusive race had multiple lead changes with Takuma Sato and Ryan Hunter-Reay looking to possibly get a repeat victory at the track.

However, fate was not on the side of the veterans as they faced some hurdles midway through the race. This allowed several other drivers to bid for the race victory, and David Malukas emerged as a contender mid-way, as he took the lead for the first time on lap 133.

The IndyCar grid was met with the inevitable fate of Palou closing up on the front runners, and eventually took over the lead in the last phase. A few laps later, Alex Palou won the race, but he had a helping hand from some backmarkers as they halted the Spaniard's chasers in their pursuit.

Reflecting on the whole saga, David Malukas was quick to make a sarcastic jibe at the CGR driver and said, via The RACER Channel:

"When I think from a strategy standpoint or a race as a whole we were the number one car there, from start to finish. Our trajectory everything was damn near perfect."

"But this race picks its winners and being leading at the end there got us a little bit unlucky with the two lappers coming in. We were a sitting duck and [Alex] Palou was able to come right around and get the two lapped cars. So lucky little bastard, he got those lap car. If those lap cars weren't there man, little Dav would have been right there."

Malukas' first top-10 finish at the Indy 500 came in the form of a P3 result.

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David Malukas opened up about how his inexperience in the Indy 500 made the race a tougher one for him

David Malukas at the 109th Running Of The Indianapolis 500 - Source: Getty

After a pre-season injury last year, David Malukas was ruled out of the IndyCar grid for the first half of the season. This led him to watch the Indy 500 on the sidelines while recovering from his previous accident.

Moreover, this year's Indy 500 was a comeback drive for him, and the 23-year-old stood strong on the expectations. He had his fair share of troubles midway through the race, as he later shared, via A. J. Foyt Racing:

"We tried to get that set up to where it needed to be on that final run, but I've never been in that final situation before, so we kinda made a guess with the wing [adjustment]."

On the other hand, Alex Palou has won five of the six races held so far and is mounting a strong case to bag his fourth IndyCar title this year.