INDIANAPOLIS — After 408 consecutive laps of green flag racing, the NTT IndyCar Series’ historic caution-free streak came to an end at the hands of David Malukas.
On lap 70 of Saturday’s (May 10) Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, the Chicagoan was running in 17th place when he suffered a loss of power and his car came to a halt in turn 9.
As smoke began puffing out from beneath the No. 4 Chevrolet’s engine cover, the FOX commentary booth began to indulge in a fit of wishful thinking.
“James! Will!” Townsend Bell shouted. “It could be a caution!”
“It’s not,” Will Buxton countered. “It’s not…”
“It must be a caution!” Bell continued. “It has to be a caution.”
“Not in 2025 — surely not,” Buxton retorted.
After almost 30 seconds of torturous waiting, the yellow flags flew and the commentary booth, grandstands and IMS media center all erupted into applause as the most unusual storyline of the young 2025 season drew to a close.
The caution, in reality, did little to alter the outcome of the race, which was an unsurprising victory for Alex Palou – his fourth in the first five races of the season. All the same, it ensured that fans in attendance on Saturday were treated to only the second restart of the 2025 season. That, at least in theory, offered an opportunity for somebody, somewhere to pounce on Palou. In this case, the fans were grateful for the thought in and of itself.
Malukas wasn’t so amused. Speaking to Frontstretch after the race, he detailed the gremlins that cost him the race and offered his outlook on the Month of May at large.
“We were just having some overheating issues from the start of the race,” Malukas said of his run. “Obviously, something internally went wrong, so it was kind of just a race of survival. Unfortunately, we just needed 15 more laps and it couldn’t do it, so we just overheated and then that was it.
“The race ended short but I think there’s a lot of positives to take out of it. that was a really good race for us, starting to make a lot of positions, and we finally built a race car that we’re really happy with. So, honestly, it would be nice to have another road course race before the [Indianapolis] 500. Obviously, I’m very excited for the 500, but I think we’re just now getting a rhythm on the road courses; I think it would have been good to continue that, but either way, a lot of positives.”
Malukas missed the 2024 Month of May after being released from Arrow McLaren while recovering from an offseason wrist injury. Having never had the chance to turn racing laps in Papaya, he made his comeback with Meyer Shank Racing in Toronto and finished the season out with the Columbus-based squad before signing with A. J. Foyt Racing for 2025.
“100%,” Malukas said when asked if he felt confident about the 500. “You look at the past few years at A. J. Foyt, they’ve been very strong and I’m very excited to get to some oval racing with this team — It’s going to be the first time.
“We had the open test [but] didn’t use the Speedway car, so I’m really excited to get in that bad boy starting Tuesday. It looks like it might be a little bit of rain, so who knows, but either way, I can’t wait to get the month of May going. It’s going to be a good one.”
Coming back to the Speedway after missing most of 2024 due to injury, Malukas admitted that there are some emotions following him each time he returns to the venue.
“[The emotions] come,” he said. “You walk down Gasoline Alley, you see the Pagoda, there’s just certain moments where you’ll have those flashbacks and think ‘Wow, this is actually happening.’ But it’s going to be my 3rd year driving it and once you get on track, you get in the car, you have the job in front of you and you’ve got to do it. You’ve got to work hard. [It’s] been tough. But yeah, [I’m] very excited.”
Malukas has partnered with Santino Ferrucci at Foyt and revealed that his transition hasn’t been entirely to plan, though he remains optimistic.
“I think the transition’s kind of taken a little bit longer than what we all wanted,” he reflected. “This car was just very different from what I was used to, especially compared to Santino’s setup. We really had to work our own direction, so we were a little bit lost and kind of needing to do a few resets, but I think we’re finally now going this direction, this path [where] I’m comfortable with the car that I have.
“We just have a lot of unlucky gremlins that keep happening to us as of today. I mean, it’s been happening like this throughout the start of the season so, hopefully, all this can stop for the 500.”
And if all else fails, Malukas is one of the rare few who have found optimism in the current state of world affairs.
“We’ve got the Chicago Pope in now, so hopefully he gives me some good luck for the Chicagoans.”
Alex is the IndyCar Content Director at Frontstretch, having initially joined as an entry-level contributor in 2021. He also serves as Managing Director of The Asia Cable, a publication focused on the international affairs and politics of the Asia-Pacific region which he co-founded in 2023. With previous experience in China, Japan and Poland, Alex is particularly passionate about the international realm of motorsport and the politics that make the wheels turn - literally - behind the scenes.