DETROIT — A week removed from being on the short end of the closest finish in Indianapolis 500 history, David Malukas entered Sunday’s (May 31) Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix looking to reverse the heartbreak of Indy at one of his best street courses on the NTT IndyCar Series calendar. However, 18th was the best the No. 12 car could manage on the streets of Detroit.
Last year, despite a finish of 14th, Malukas qualified second and battled toward the front before being penalized for avoidable contact with Alex Palou. However, with the strong run from last season and aspirations to move on from the emotional second-place finish in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, Malukas was ready to get racing in the Motor City.
All weekend, Malukas and his No 12 Team Penske Chevrolet looked quick around the bumpy 1.645-mile course, and he was poised to be a contender for the win on Chevrolet’s home turf.
However, Malukas was faced with an early setback after crashing in the final corner of his hot lap in the first round of qualifying, relegating the 24-year-old to the back of the field and into a backup car for the 100-lap race.
Malukas bided his time and tried to utilize alternate strategies throughout the race to move himself up the running order and to get his No. 12 team some critical track position to fight for the win.
On lap 66, Malukas would get his break with pitting ahead of the caution flag for the two spun cars of Rinus VeeKay and Santino Ferrucci, promoting Malukas to fourth in the running ahead of rookie Mick Schumacher, who also benefited from the caution period.
Unfortunately, the good fortune wouldn’t even last one green flag as Schumacher ran wide in turn five with Malukas pressuring the No. 47 Honda, leading to damage on the No. 12 and a disheartening finish.
“From Schumacher’s side, his tires just weren’t in,” Malukas told Frontstretch. “I just wasn’t expecting it to not be in that much. I’m not even going that quick, and he’s just sideways. We had that moment in [turn] 1, but then you go down the hill, and I’m pretty sure he just locked up, and he couldn’t slow down. I got stuck in it. It was unfortunate.”
To make matters worse, Malukas entered as the closest challenger to Palou, but the Spaniard sporting the HRC brand in Chevrolet’s domain remained perfect from the pole, and Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood finished second behind Palou to overtake Malukas for second in points.
Malukas described this race as being the most difficult race, mentally, of his career.
“Overall, from start to finish this weekend, that was one of my worst performances mentally,” he said. “I’ve got to go back and reset and really deep dive on everything. I feel so bad for the team and Verizon, everybody involved. That was not a good performance for me. I need this week to reset, just really take a deep breath and come back for Gateway.”
Despite being so young, Malukas carries himself as calm, cool and laid back, but he admits that the negative moments through the weekend took him off his game in Detroit.
“For me, I always strive to be as calm as possible and not really let any single moment get to me,” Malukas said. “This weekend, I let everything feed off of me, the qualifying leading to the race. It just fed into my brain.”
That mentality turned into anger in the car.
“I was angry out on the track,” Malukas said. “I’m showing a bit of attitude on track when I shouldn’t be doing that. I’m still 24 years old, so it kind of comes out a bit. I’m trying to control it as much as possible. That’s the side I really need to work on, and I didn’t do a good job this weekend.”
While Detroit was a big disappointment and a mental hurdle for Malukas, the next race is at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, a track where he has been a contender in all four of his previous starts.
Wyatt Watson has followed motorsports closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretch as a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt is one of Frontstretch's primary IndyCar correspondents, providing exclusive video content on site. He hosts Frontstretch's Through the Gears podcast and occasionally The Pit Straight.You can find Wyatt's written work in columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monsteras well as exclusive IndyCar features. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media team, posting unique and engaging content for Frontstretch.
Wyatt Watson can be found on X @WyattWRacing