Honda Beats Chevrolet at the Brickyard. Record Purse Claimed

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The Indianapolis 500 purse record was set after a chaotic and red-flagged 106th race with winner Marcus Ericsson taking home $3.1 million from a total purse of $16,000,200.

The Chip Ganassi Racing Swedish driver’s prize in the No. 8 Huski (sic) Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing Honda is also the largest winner’s payout ever for the claimed largest single-day sporting event. Ericsson has competed in 3 500s with a best finish of 11th in 2021. Before 2022, he had $709,934 in career 500 earnings. (AutoInformed: The Brickyard – Honda vs Chevy at Indy 500 Sunday)

Second-place finisher Pato O’Ward, in a Chevy-powered Arrow McLaren SP, took home $1 million, marking the largest take-home prize for the second-place finisher in nearly a decade. Prior to 2022, the biggest Indy 500 purse was $14.4 million for the 2008 Indy 500. This year’s average payout for drivers was $485,000.

Pato O’Ward battled to the very end in search of his first 500 win. The driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet has finished sixth, fourth and now second in his three races on the famed 2.5-mile oval. O’Ward dueled during last 25-laps with winner Marcus Ericsson, veteran Tony Kanaan in a Honda, as well as teammate Felix Rosenqvist (Chevy) when the red flag flew for a crash scattering debris across the track from contact with the wall by Sage Karum (Chevy). When the track returned to yellow, O’Ward lined up behind the leader battling for the lead. It became a five-car shuffle with O’Ward scoring a strong runner-up finish, with Kanaan in third and Rosenqvist in fourth (Chevrolet, Arrow McLaren SP).

More than 325,000 race fans attended Sunday’s race, making it the largest-attended single-day sporting event in the world since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the promoter claimed. Roger Penske owns the track and the event.