David Malukas on finishing third in the Indy 500: “I didn’t have a left hand” last year

A serious injury to his wrist lost his promising ride with Arrow McLaren last year. This year's 500 finish gave AJ Foyt's team a race to remember, and showed the paddock he's a force to reckon with

After watching last year’s race from the grandstands, David Malukas finished third in the 109th Indianapolis 500.

“I'm excited to go out there, perform, and put this injury behind me.” This was Malukas's wish before the 2025 IndyCar season began after he spent the first half of 2024 on the sidelines due to injury.

Malukas was expected to have a breakthrough year racing for Arrow McLaren last year, but a mountain biking accident in February left him with torn ligaments in his dislocated left wrist. The injury was later labeled “more serious” than initially thought.

As a result, he lost his ride with McLaren without ever getting to race for the team. Malukas rejoined the field and competed in the last ten races of the season for Meyer Shank Racing, before signing a multiyear deal with AJ Foyt Racing in August.

An eventful Indy 500 for Malukas

David Malukas, A. J. Foyt Enterprises

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

On Sunday, Malukas had a strong race, starting seventh and moving toward the front of the field, ultimately taking the lead. However, he fell back during the final stretch, settling for third place behind Indy 500 winner Alex Palou and runner-up Marcus Ericsson.

It was an emotional result for Malukas, who was grateful to be contending for the win in the Indianapolis 500 after being on the sidelines in 2024 amid uncertainty about his health.

“This past year that I've had has been the toughest year I think of my life really," Malukas shared after the race. "It was a lot of different emotions, roller coasters. And if I look back one year ago today, I wasn't even in IndyCar anymore. I didn't have a left hand and I was up here in the media center just being a fan. And I could say one year later that I'm back in the 500 and not just back, but I'm fighting for the win, which is incredible to say."

“It's been an insane year. It's always going to be a year of maturity for me. I've aged -- although it was a year, I feel like I've aged 10. Everything happens for a reason and I'm taking all this knowledge and everything I've learned in the past year and all the hardships and going to put it into more success in the future”.

Malukas got off to a rough start with AJ Foyt Racing this season, with his best result being a 13th-place finish in St. Pete. Neither he nor his teammate, Santino Ferrucci, has had a top-10 finish yet. However, Malukas's third-place finish in the Indy 500 was followed by Ferrucci's seventh-place finish in the No. 14 Chevrolet.

David Malukas, A. J. Foyt Enterprises

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

Malukas expects this performance will boost the team’s morale and serve as a turning point for the upcoming races.

“I think as a season as a whole we've had so many unfortunate events and they tend to topple, and morale is such a big deal when it comes to team unity and having performance out of it. We were just in a very unfortunate spot and things kept not going in our favor and it was really putting everybody down”, he commented.

“But this month was very necessary for us. If we just look outside of the 500 and the championship, we really needed this. And I think it's going to be a big turning point for the team and for everybody that we can be there and things can go our way if we just have some luck”.

“The morale is very high in the team. Even though we were still P3, man, it's an incredible time. So many things can go wrong in that race, and everything went forward for us and the crew did an insane job on the pit stops, the engineers, incredible time and gave me a great car and strategists were on point. A lot, a lot of positives to take out of it, and we're going to push into results for the rest of the season”.