All year long, fans of open-wheel racing have had their eyes on the 2026 season, but now the buzz isn’t just about engines or drivers. The organizers behind the Indianapolis 500 quietly dropped a hint that next year’s race won’t just be another milestone for the track or the series, but something bigger, something patriotic.

As the nation barrels toward July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the timing for an American-themed celebration could hardly be more perfect. That sense of national pride is exactly what the team at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, working with sponsor Gainbridge, is leaning into.

Indy 500 goes full red, white and blue

On May 26, 2025, Indianapolis Motor Speedway rolled out the official logo for the 110th Running of the Indy 500, and for the first time ever, it’s dressed head-to-toe in the colors of Old Glory.

The shield in the middle looks straight out of the Great Seal of the United States, the stripes running beside the “500” echo the American flag while still nodding to the famous wing-and-wheel emblem, and the four stars salute the four founders who built the place back in 1909.

This isn’t just a cool new sticker. The 2026 race falls right in the middle of America’s Semiquincentennial, the fancy word for the 250th birthday of the country. While towns everywhere are planning parades and fireworks, Indy is doing what it does best: throwing a massive party at 230 miles an hour. The red-white-blue logo is a promise that the Greatest Spectacle in Racing is going to double as one of the biggest birthday bashes on the calendar.

Memorial Day weekend already has a tradition of honoring the military, and the new design ties that respect right into the bigger celebration of everything the flag stands for. Come May 24, 2026, the yard of bricks won’t just be about speed; it’ll be about stripes, stars, and 250 years of American grit. It’s the kind of thing that gives you goosebumps before the engines even fire.

While the Speedway looks ahead to 2026, the guy who won the 2025 race is still soaking in what he just accomplished. Alex Palou, the four-time INDYCAR champ from Spain, finally got his hands on the Borg-Warner Trophy and watched sculptor Will Behrends unveil his sterling-silver face, the 112th one to be added since 1936.

Palou sees his face on the Borg-Warner Trophy

Palou stood there grinning and said exactly what every winner feels.

“This is one of those days that I knew I wanted to be part of at some point in my career… finally to be here and to get to see the trophy for the first time, it’s amazing.”

He talked about how his likeness will sit on that trophy forever, no matter if he races one more year or fifty.

“Whatever the history of INDYCAR is going to be, it’s always going to be there… I want to get that face again on that trophy.”

Behrends, who’s been carving winners since 1990, took hundreds of photos, built a life-size clay model when Palou visited his North Carolina studio, then shrunk it down, cast it in wax, turned it into silver, polished it, and stuck it on the trophy for good. One Spaniard who drank the milk in 2025 now has his spot next to legends from all over the world.

From a brand-new patriotic logo that’ll wave over the 250th birthday of the nation to a brand-new face on the most famous trophy in American motorsport, Indianapolis Motor Speedway keeps finding ways to remind everyone why this place feels like home, no matter where you’re from.