Malukas Says Indy 500 runner-up finish still keeps him awake

By: Lance Allan

Posted: Jun 19, 2026 9:47 PM CDT

NOW: Malukas Says Indy 500 runner-up finish still keeps him awake

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (CBS 58) -- That thunder you hear to the north? IndyCar at Road America this weekend.

Indy 500 runner-up David Malukas overcame a fractured wrist two years ago. Recovered to sign with Team Penske, but losing the closest Indy 500 finish in history, still keeps him up at night. This week he sat down with CBS 58 Sports Director Lance Allan.

"You know, I actually still think about it all the time," Malukas admits. "It randomly comes up right before bed. You know, laying into bed. Trying to fall asleep and then randomly I'll catch myself for the past 30 minutes I've just been thinking about again what I could have done differently. Maybe to try this or that and it's been eating me alive a little bit.

He continued "But I'm 24 years old. You know, I still have a long road ahead of me. And more driven than ever to come back there and come to all these races to keep pushing and try to make myself a better driver. And at the end of the day? It's still second place. At the Indy 500. Battling for a win. It's back-to-back second places there. I mean you couldn't have asked for anything more. But it's just, it was unfortunate because that car was so good. It was a winning car and I think that's why it hurt me so much because anything less than a win was not what it deserved but again, learned so much. I just wasn't expecting runs out of turn 4. Normally it's always whoever has turn 3 has the lead. It's normally done so things changed this year so again, put it into the learning book and you learn more from your losses.

CBS 58 Sports Director Lance Allan asked him "You race to win. But you've had some pretty charmed moments of late too"

"Especially coming back from that injury in '24," Malukas says. "It's been a crazy turnaround. You know, I went '24. Injury. Lost my ride thinking this is it. You know I'm not gonna be back in a car. And now fast forward two years later. I'm in my dream team. Second place for two times in a row. Indy 500. You know, we're P3 in the championship. You know, things are doing really good."