Felix Rosenqvist made history on Sunday when he won the closest Indianapolis 500 ever.
Indy 500: Felix Rosenqvist secures a record purse
Felix Rosenqvist made history in more ways than one at the 2026 Indianapolis 500
Mark Schofield is a former college quarterback and attorney covering the NFL and F1.
He made even more history with that victory.
In a statement released on Monday, IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway confirmed the biggest purse in the 110-year history of the Indianapolis 500, a record-breaking $30,906,400. Rosenqvist and Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian secured a record-high $4.34 million with the victory.
It was the fifth-consecutive season that the purse for the Indianapolis 500 increased from the prior year. According to a statement:
In 2025, the Indianapolis 500 purse was $20,283,000, and the year’s winner payout was $3.8 million. In 2024, the Indianapolis 500 purse was $18,456,000 and the winner earned $4.3 million, which included a $440,000 roll-over bonus from BorgWarner for earning back-to-back wins. In 2023, the Indianapolis 500 purse was $17,021,500, and the winner earned $3.7 million. In 2022, the Indianapolis 500 purse was $16,000,200, and the winner earned $3.1 million. Prior to 2022, the largest Indianapolis 500 purse was $14.4 million for the 2008 Indianapolis 500.
The increase comes as IndyCar is seeing growth in the grandstands, and on television. The sport moved to FOX Sports for the 2025 season, and last year’s Indianapolis 500 saw more than seven million viewers, the most for the race since the 2008 season. And while rain compressed qualifying for the 2026 Indianapolis 500 into a single day, viewers for qualifying were up seven percent over 2025.
In addition, the race was sold out for the second year in a row.
“The Indianapolis 500 continues to make history, in more ways than one,” IndyCar and IMS President J. Douglas Boles said. “The Month of May featured a back-to-back grandstand sellout crowd – our largest crowd since the 100th Running in 2016 – and intense on track action with the most lead changes ever in the Indy 500. Felix Rosenqvist added his name to the history books in stellar fashion, with the closest finish in Indy 500 history and now the largest purse. There’s no better end to a memorable month.”
IndyCar returns to action this weekend with the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix on Sunday, May 31.
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