INDIANAPOLIS – When Chip Ganassi created an all-star lineup for his five-driver Indianapolis 500 team this year, it represented the “best of the best” from various forms of racing.
With names like six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon, defending NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner and 2004 IndyCar champion Tony Kanaan, they captured the fans’ attention.
But there was one driver that seemed to be overlooked, doing his laps on the track and his work in the garage area quietly.
It was Marcus Ericsson of Sweden.
Even after winning two races in 2021, including his first career IndyCar win in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, Ericsson was often lost in the shuffle on his own team.
Ericsson flew so far under the radar, that many fans didn’t know he existed.
Try finding a Marcus Ericsson T-shirt at the souvenir trailers or the gift shop at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Ericsson said he didn’t care, but he certainly noticed.
That’s about to change after Ericsson won Sunday’s 106th Indianapolis 500. He’s about to find himself in high demand by racing fans over the remainder of the season.
“In a way, I try to use it as motivation but also I understand when you’re watching Johnson, Dixon, TK, Palou, it’s obvious I’m not going to be the one in the spotlight,” Ericsson said at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Monday morning. “Maybe after this it’ll change a bit.
“But with that said, last year, I finished sixth in the championship, won a couple of races, had a good start to this year and have a journalist here from my local newspaper, and he was out all weekend.
“I went to every souvenir shop. Didn’t find a single T-shirt, cap, or anything with Marcus Ericsson on it. Pretty much every other driver in the field, but not a single Ericsson thing. He was a bit shocked.
“You finished sixth (in the championship standings) last year. Starting fifth in the race. And not a single thing.
“Things like that are a bit annoying. At least they can have maybe one T-shirt. That would be nice. But I’ve been speaking to IndyCar, and they say they’re working on it.”
Usually when a driver from Formula One arrives at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway or the IndyCar Series, they come with fanfare and flair. Just look at Fernando Alonso and “Alonso Mania” in 2017. Romain Grosjean became one of the most popular drivers in the series when he switched to IndyCar in 2021. Alexander Rossi was a Formula One test driver before he came to IndyCar in 2016, but his notoriety exploded after winning the 100th Indianapolis 500 in 2016.
But when Ericsson arrived in IndyCar in 2019, there wasn’t much known about him. From 2014 to 2018, Ericsson competed in 97 Formula One Grands Prix. In his final F1 season, Ericsson scored ninth-place finishes in Bahrain, Hockenheimring and Mexico City.
Those were his three highest finishes in F1.
Ericsson switched gears and joined the Arrow Schmidt Peterson IndyCar team in 2019. He finished second at Belle Isle in the first race of a doubleheader and ended the season 17th in points. In 2020, he scored Huski Chocolate as a sponsor and moved over to Chip Ganassi Racing. He had two fifth place and one fourth place finish that season and moved up to 12th in points.
In 2021, Ericsson found the key to victory lane and won at Detroit and Nashville. He also finished sixth in the season-long point standings.
This year, Ericsson was determined. He finished third at Texas Motor Speedway, fourth in the GMR Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. In practice and qualifications for the 106th Indianapolis 500, he was among the fastest every day in practice and qualified fifth on the starting grid.
Of course, much of the attention after qualifications went to pole-winner Dixon, second-place starter Palou, third place Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing, sixth-place qualifier Kanaan and 12th place Indy 500 rookie Johnson.
Once again, Ericsson found himself under the radar and out of the spotlight.
But on Race Day for the Indianapolis 500, Ericsson’s racing career came together to score the biggest victory of his career. He was cerebral in the first half of the race, staying close enough to the front to remain in striking distance.
After the most dominant driver in the race, Dixon, was hit with a pit lane speeding violation on Lap 175, the Indianapolis 500 was going to be determined by Pato O’Ward, Felix Rosenqvist, Kanaan, and Ericsson.
Rosenqvist and Ericsson were locked in a thrilling battle with Ericsson making a bold pass in turn 1.
When Jimmie Johnson, who was out of pit sequence with the other drivers, had to pit as the leader on Lap 190. Ericsson was scored as the leader. Four laps later, Johnson crashed hard in turn 2 and IndyCar Race Control red flagged the race to create an opportunity for a green flag finish.
Ericsson sat on pit road as the leader and was convinced the red flag would cost him the race. But when the race was restarted for the final two laps, Ericsson aggressively zigged and zagged down the frontstretch and backstretch to keep O’Ward from using the draft.
At the start of the final lap of the race, O’Ward finally pulled alongside Ericsson’s Honda. The two drivers raced side-by-side into turn 1 with Ericsson holding his position as O’Ward had to back off or crash.
Ericsson was in turn 3 on the final lap when Sage Karam crashed in turn 2. The yellow light went on, the race was over, and Ericsson was the winner of the Indianapolis 500.
“It’s not supposed to be easy to win the 500,” Ericsson said. “Those 10 minutes sitting there in the pit lane during that red flag was some of the hardest 10 minutes of my life probably, thinking what to do, thinking that I’m leading the biggest race in the world, and I’m that close to win it.
“I knew Pato was going to have a run on me because up front we’ve seen all month it’s really hard to defend when you’re up front. I was actually sitting during dinner here at the Speedway on infield last night talking with Dario Franchitti about this type of scenario, if I’m leading when it’s towards the end of the race the last couple laps, what to do, how to break the tow of the car behind, how to place the car. We had that very conversation last night. That was in my mind when I was sitting there during that red flag.
“I just tried to go out and execute that plan I had made in my head. Pato had a really good run on me. I wanted to put him on the outside because I knew it was going to be hard to go around my outside. I was not going to lift. There was no way I was going to lift. I just kept my foot down and that was the race-winning move.
“He made me work for it, for sure.”
Ericsson admitted when the last yellow light came on with just two turns left in the race, for a brief moment he didn’t know he had had won the race.
“To be honest, when that caution came out, I don’t know, I thought it was going to be another restart,” he recalled. “I was like, I can’t believe it, another one.
“Then they’re like, ‘We’re coming to the checkered flag under caution.’
“First, I was angry, then I just realized that won me the race. It’s an explosion of emotions from that point.”
The man who flew under the radar for much of his Formula One and IndyCar career is about to learn about life in the spotlight.
“They say it’s life changing, winning this race,” said Ericsson, who is the new IndyCar points leader with the big win at Indianapolis. “I’m looking forward to that.
“Coming to IndyCar, that was one of the goals of mine, show my skills, because I felt like in F1 I didn’t really get the chance to do that.
“I came here, first couple years were pretty tough. Took some time to get used to this type of racing. The competition here is world class.
“But I’ve been with a great team in Chip Ganassi Racing now the last couple years. That’s helped me develop as a driver. I felt, like I said, last year was a big breakthrough for me. I feel like I’ve been even better this year.
“I feel like I’ve been stepping it up on another level, being one of the fastest cars everywhere we’ve been now. I feel like I’m on that level to challenge up front, even though people might not always notice that.”