David Malukas eyes first win at St. Louis amid first IndyCar championship fight

Jeffrey Hrunka - INDYCAR Contributor

Casey Shepherd (Motorsports Today, 2026)

David Malukas has consistently been picked as one of the favorites at World Wide Technology Raceway when IndyCar makes its annual visit to St. Louis. This year, his odds have only increased as he finds himself in championship contention in one of the most coveted seats in the sport.

“I think that pressure's always been on me. No matter what team, equipment, or situation I'm in, I always put that pressure on myself,” Malukas said. “Although it's different scenarios, that pressure maintains equal throughout all my years of racing.” 

Back-to-back podiums in his first two starts at World Wide Technology Raceway put him on the map. It wasn’t until consecutive runner-up finishes in the Indianapolis 500 in 2024 and 2025 that Malukas could be considered an oval specialist.

Unfortunately, the last two years at St. Louis haven’t been nice to him. A 2024 wreck during a late push for the lead sent him out of the race for 21st. A pit mishap in 2025 took him out of contention for the win after he had led a career-high 76 laps, resulting in a 12th-place finish.

“I don't know if it's my best, but to me it's one of my favorites,” Malukas said. “To be honest, looking at the history of it, my P2, my first involvement in INDYCAR, podiums [and] getting my name out there. This is my favorite race of the whole season.”

The biggest storyline surrounding Malukas is whether he can contend with Alex Palou, driver of the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, and Kyle Kirkwood, driver of the No. 27 Andretti Global Honda, for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship.

Runner-up finishes at the Sonsio Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500 showed he can put himself in contention to win, but overly aggressive moves and poor qualifying performances, as seen in Detriot last weekend, show how inexperience can halt a potential championship season.

“It's a rule within the team, I think drivers, everybody in general, you don't want to be dwelling on previous races that much,” Malukas said. “You want to dwell on it enough to learn from it, but at that point, we got to get back to work and get back to the next race.”

For Palou, his lack of success at World Wide Technology Raceway, with a best finish of fourth, adds a sense of opportunity for the rest of the field. He admitted that, “I lack talent here.” Even with those comments, he views this weekend as any other.

“I think any race would be that sort of scenario. Yeah, I mean, hopefully things play in our favor and we can close that gap,” Malukas said. “I think no matter what race we go to, that's the goal, right? We want to try to close that gap and be there.”

NTT INDYCAR SERIES action at World Wide Technology Raceway continues on FOX with the 10th Annual Bommarito Automotive Group 500 on Sunday, June 7th at 9:25 pm EST.