Sunday, May 26, 2019

Morning Warm-Up: 103rd Indianapolis 500

Race day is here
For the 103rd time, the Indianapolis 500 is here. Another Memorial Day weekend will see 33 cars line up, in 11 rows, three-abreast on the front straightaway of Indianapolis Motor Speedway with somewhere around 300,000 people surrounding the perimeter and filling the interior of the facility. Seven drivers enter with their faces already on the Borg-Warner Trophy. Twenty-six other drivers look to have their bust added to the legendary piece of hardware. The last four oval races in IndyCar have had four different winners from four different teams. Add to that there have been five different winners through the first five races of 2019 and there have been six different winners in the last six races going back to last year's season finale.

Starting Grid
Row 1:
Simon Pagenaud
This will be Pagenaud’s seventh Indianapolis 500 start.
Best Finish: 6th (2018).
Car #22 has never won the Indianapolis 500.
Twenty times has the pole-sitter won the race, most recently Hélio Castroneves in 2009.
Simon Pagenaud enters this race on 99 career top ten finishes.
Pagenaud could become the 11th driver to win the race before the Indianapolis 500 and the Indianapolis 500. His teammate Will Power did it last year.
Pagenaud is the third Frenchman to start on pole position for the Indianapolis 500 and the first since René Thomas in 1919. The other Frenchman to start on pole position was Jean Chassagne in 1914.
This is Pagenaud’s third pole position on an oval. The other two came at Fontana in 2015 and Iowa in 2016. In those two races, Pagenaud led a combined 14 laps. Pagenaud did not lead the first lap in either of his prior two pole positions on ovals.
Four of Pagenaud’s 12 victories have come from pole position.
The pole-sitter has not won the last nine Indianapolis 500s. If Pagenaud does not win this year, it will tie the longest drought between pole-sitters winning the Indianapolis 500 with the ten races between 1939 and 1952.

Ed Carpenter
This will be Carpenter’s 16th Indianapolis 500 start.
Best Finish: 2nd (2018).
Car #20 has won the Indianapolis 500 three times but not since Emerson Fittipaldi in 1989.
Eleven times has the winner started second, most recently Juan Pablo Montoya in 2000. This is Carpenter’s third consecutive front row start and fifth in his career.
Carpenter could become the 15th driver to win the Indianapolis 500 the year after finishing second in the race. The last driver to do it was Dan Wheldon in 2011.
Carpenter needs to lead 61 laps to reach the 200 laps led milestone in the Indianapolis 500.
No driver has ever won the Indianapolis 500 in a 16th start in the race.
Carpenter could become the ninth driver to lead the first lap of the Indianapolis 500 in consecutive years joining Jimmy Murphy (1922-23), Leon Duray (1928-29), Rex Mays (1935-36 and 1940-41), Jack McGrath (1954-55), Jim Clark (1964-65), Bobby Unser (1972-73), Emerson Fittipaldi (1989-90) and Tony Stewart (1996-97).
Carpenter could become the first Illinois-born driver since Floyd Davis in 1941.

Spencer Pigot
This will be Pigot’s fourth Indianapolis 500 start.
Best Finish: 18th (2017).
Car #21 has never won the Indianapolis 500.
Last year, Will Power became the 12th driver to win the Indianapolis 500 from third position.
The last time a starting position has produced Indianapolis 500 winners in consecutive years was 2008 and 2009 when Scott Dixon and Hélio Castroneves both won the race from pole position.
Pigot is coming off a fifth place finish in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, his third top five finish in the last 12 races after not having a top five finish through the first 32 starts of his career.
This is Pigot’s first career top five starting position in his IndyCar career.
Pigot could become the tenth youngest winner in Indianapolis 500 history at 25 years, seven months and 27 days old.
Last year, Pigot led three laps and those were the first laps he has led on an oval in his IndyCar career. Pigot could become the eighth Californian-born driver to win the Indianapolis 500, breaking a tie with Indiana for most different Indianapolis 500 winner by state.

Row 2:
Ed Jones
This will be Jones’ third Indianapolis 500 start.
Best Finish: 3rd (2017).
Car #63 has never won the Indianapolis 500.
Seven times has the winner started fourth, most recently Takuma Sato in 2017.
This will be Jones’ 40th career start. No driver has scored a first career victory in the 40th start of an IndyCar career.
This matches Jones’ best career starting position. He started fourth in last year’s second Belle Isle race.
Jones enters with one lap led in his career.
Jones could become the sixth youngest winner in Indianapolis 500 history at 25 years, three months and 14 days old.
The United Arab Emirates could become the 14th different country to produce an Indianapolis 500 winner.

Colton Herta
This will be Herta’s first Indianapolis 500 start.
Car #88 has never won the Indianapolis 500.
Seven times has the winner started fifth, most recently Buddy Lazier in 1996.
Herta’s father Bryan made his Indianapolis 500 debut in 1994. Bryan started 22nd and finished ninth. Bryan made five Indianapolis 500 starts. His best starting position was 16th in 2006 and his best finish was third in 2005. Bryan also was the fourth place finisher in 2004.
Bryan Herta led three laps in his Indianapolis 500 career, all coming in the 2004 race.
Colton Herta has finished outside the top twenty in the last three races and the last driver to finish outside the top twenty in consecutive races entering the Indianapolis 500 and then gone on to win the Indianapolis 500 is Kenny Bräck in 1999.
Herta could become the first driver born in the 21st century to start the Indianapolis 500.
Herta could become the youngest winner in Indianapolis 500 history at 19 years, one month and 26 days old.
This is the first of four attempts Herta will have to be the youngest winner in Indianapolis 500 history.
Herta could become the eighth Californian-born driver to win the Indianapolis 500, breaking a tie with Indiana for most different Indianapolis 500 winner by state.

Will Power
This will be Power’s 12th Indianapolis 500 start.
2018 Indianapolis 500 winner.
Power’s victory last year was the second time car #12 has won the Indianapolis 500.
The other was Peter DePaolo in 1925 driving the #12 Miller.
Five times has the winner started sixth, most recently Dan Wheldon in 2011.
This is Power’s 11th consecutive start in the first three rows of the Indianapolis 500 grid.
Power could become the sixth driver to win the Indianapolis 500 in consecutive years joining Wilbur Shaw (1939-40), Mauri Rose (1947-48), Bill Vukovich (1953-54), Al Unser (1970-71) and Hélio Castroneves (2001-02).
Power has led a lap in six consecutive Indianapolis 500s. He is only one lap led away from tying Tony Kanaan’s record for most consecutive Indianapolis 500s led. Kanaan did it from 2002 to 2008 and Kanaan has an active streak of seven consecutive races led form 2012 to 2018.
Will Power needs to lead 66 laps to reach the 4,000 laps led milestone. He would become the 11th driver to lead 4,000 laps joins Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Hélio Castroneves, Al Unser, Scott Dixon, Bobby Unser, Dario Franchitti, Paul Tracy and Tony Kanaan.

Row 3:
Sébastien Bourdais
This will be Bourdais’ eighth Indianapolis 500 start.
Best Finish: 7th (2014).
Car #18 has never won the Indianapolis 500.
Five times has the winner started seventh, most recently A.J. Foyt in 1961.
This is the sixth race of the season and the only time Bourdais has won the sixth race of the season was in the 2004 Champ Car season at Toronto. His only other podium finish in the sixth race of the season was second at Mont-Tremblant in 2007.
The last driver to win the Indianapolis 500 in an eighth start in the race was Takuma Sato in 2017.

Josef Newgarden
This will be Newgarden’s eighth Indianapolis 500 start.
Best Finish: 3rd (2016).
Car #2 has won the Indianapolis 500 nine times, most recently in 2015 with Juan Pablo Montoya.
Twice has the winner started eighth, most recently Kenny Bräck in 1999
The last time the championship leader entering the Indianapolis 500 won the race was Montoya in 2015.
This is the fourth time Newgarden has started on row three in the Indianapolis 500.
Every Indianapolis 500 to take place in a year ending in the number nine has been one by one of the top eight starters.
Newgarden could become the first Tennessean to win the Indianapolis 500. Tennessee could become the 22nd state to produce an Indianapolis 500 winner.

Alexander Rossi
This will be Rossi’s fourth Indianapolis 500 start.
2016 Indianapolis 500 Winner.
Car #27 has won the Indianapolis 500 three times, most recently with Dario Franchitti in 2007.
Only once has the winner started ninth and that was Emerson Fittipaldi in 1993.
Last year, Rossi started 32nd and finished fourth. It was the first time an 11th-row starter finished in the top five in the Indianapolis 500 since Scott Goodyear finished second in the 1992 race to Al Unser, Jr.
This is the fifth time Rossi has started ninth in his career. In his previous four starts from ninth his best finish is sixth, on two occasions and his other two finishes are eighth and 11th.
Rossi has led 38 laps in three Indianapolis 500 starts and he has led a lap in each of his three starts but Rossi has never led more than 23 laps in this race.

Row 4:
Marco Andretti
This will be Andretti’s 14th Indianapolis 500 start.
Best Finish: 2nd (2006).
Car #98 has won the Indianapolis 500 four times, most recently Alexander Rossi 2016.
Twice has the winner started tenth, most recently Gil de Ferran in 2003.
This is the tenth time Andretti has started in the top ten for the Indianapolis 500.
Andretti could break Sam Hanks’ record for most starts before first Indianapolis 500 victory. Hanks’ won the 1957 Indianapolis 500, his 13th start in the race.
Andretti needs to lead 59 laps to reach the 200 laps led milestone in the Indianapolis 500.
The last driver to win the Indianapolis 500 in a 14th start was Rick Mears in 1991, Mears’ fourth career Indianapolis 500 victory.
Andretti could become the first Pennsylvanian-born winner since Bill Holland in 1949.

Conor Daly
This will be Daly’s sixth Indianapolis 500 and hopefully fifth start.
Best Finish: 21st (2018).
Car #25 has won the Indianapolis 500 once, Al Unser in 1987.
Three times has the winner started 11th, most recently Alexander Rossi in 2016.
Daly’s previous best starting position in the Indianapolis 500 was 23rd.
Daly has never finished in the top twenty in the Indianapolis 500 and he has never finished on the lead lap in the Indianapolis 500.
Daly has equaled his father Derek’s number of Indianapolis 500 qualifications this year. His father Derek’s best Indianapolis 500 finish was 12th in 1985 albeit Derek completed only 189 laps that year, the most laps he completed in an Indianapolis 500. Conor has completed 198 laps as a rookie in 2015 and 199 laps last year.
Daly could become the first Hoosier to win the Indianapolis 500 since Wilbur Shaw in 1940. He would also become the eighth Hoosier to win the Indianapolis 500 and put Indiana in sole possession of most different Indianapolis 500 winners by state.

Hélio Castroneves
This will be Castroneves’ 19th Indianapolis 500 start.
Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner (2001, 2002, 2009).
Car #3 has won the Indianapolis 500 eleven times, the most victories for a car number. Castroneves’ 2009 victory is the most recent victory for car #3.
Twice has the winner started 12th, most recently Tony Kanaan in 2013.
This is the first time Castroneves has started on row four since he won from 11th as a rookie in 2001.
This is the tenth Indianapolis 500 since Castroneves’ third victory. A.J. Foyt’s fourth Indianapolis 500 victory came ten years after his third Indianapolis 500 victory.
Castroneves could also set the record for most Indianapolis 500s between first and last victories as it has been 18 years since he won in 2001. Al Unser currently holds the record at 17 races between his first victory in 1970 and his fourth victory in 1987.
If Castroneves starts this race he will tie Bobby Unser and Al Unser, Jr. for ninth all-time in Indianapolis 500 starts.
Bobby Unser is the only driver to win the Indianapolis 500 in a 19th Indianapolis 500 start.
Castroneves could become the fifth oldest winner at 44 years and 16 days old.

Row 5:
Marcus Ericsson
This will be Ericsson’s first Indianapolis 500 start.
Car #7 has won the Indianapolis 500 twice but not since Bill Holland in 1949.
Four times has the winner started 13th, most recently Hélio Castroneves in 2002.
Stefan Johansson and Kenny Bräck are the only two Swedes to start the Indianapolis 500. Johansson finished 11th as a rookie in 1993 and Bräck did not take the green flag as a rookie in 1997 because he was caught in a three-car accident on the final parade lap. Bräck is classified in 33rd for the 1997 race.
Ericsson could become the first driver to start the Indianapolis 500 with a last name starting with the letter “E” since Tomáš Enge in 2005. Enge started tenth and finished 19th in his only Indianapolis 500 start.
Thirteen drivers have started the Indianapolis 500 with a last name starting with the letter “E.” The average number of Indianapolis 500 starts for drivers with a last name starting with the letter “E” is 2.6923.

Takuma Sato
This will be Sato’s tenth Indianapolis 500 start.
2017 Indianapolis 500 winner.
Car #30 has won the Indianapolis 500 once, Arie Luyendyk 1990.
Only once has the winner started 14th and that was Bob Sweikert in 1955.
Sato needs to lead 16 laps to reach 600 laps led in his IndyCar career.
Sato enters this race with 75 laps led this season, the third most in a season in his IndyCar career. He led 76 laps in the 2012 season and 187 laps in the 2013 season.
Sato has only led twice in the Indianapolis 500. He led 31 laps in 2012 and 17 laps on his way to victory in 2017.

James Davison
This will be Davison fifth Indianapolis 500 start.
Best Finish: 16th (2014).
Car #33 has never won the Indianapolis 500.
Four times has the winner started 15th, most recently Juan Pablo Montoya in 2015.
Australia could become the sixth nationality with multiple drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 joining the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, France and Italy.
This is Davison’s best starting position in his IndyCar career. His previous best was 16th on debut at Mid-Ohio in 2013.

Row 6:
Tony Kanaan
This will be Kanaan’s 18th Indianapolis 500 start.
2013 Indianapolis 500 winner.
Car #14 has won the Indianapolis 500 six times, most recently with Kenny Bräck in 1999.
Twice has the winner started 16th, most recently Dario Franchitti in 2012.
The other driver to win from 16th was Dan Wheldon in 2005.
Kanaan could break his own record of most consecutive Indianapolis 500s, extending it to eight consecutive years if he leads one lap.
Kanaan has led 346 laps in the Indianapolis 500, the second most amongst active drivers.
Tony Kanaan could become the fifth oldest winner at 44 years, four months and 26 days old.
The only driver to win the Indianapolis 500 in an 18th start was Gordon Johncock in 1982.
Kanaan was fastest on Carb Day. The last driver to be fastest on Carb Day and win the Indianapolis 500 was Dario Franchitti in 2012. Franchitti started 16th in 2012.

Graham Rahal
This will be Rahal’s 12th Indianapolis 500 start.
Best Finish: 3rd (2011).
Car #15 has won the Indianapolis 500 three times, most recently with Buddy Rice in 2004.
Twice has the winner started 17th, most recently Eddie Cheever in 1998.
Rahal started 17th in 99th Indianapolis 500 and he finished fifth on that day.
If Rahal takes the green flag this will be his 200th career start. He will be the 24th driver to reach 200 starts in an IndyCar career. No driver has ever won in their 200th career start with the best result in a 200th start being second, occurring for Al Unser, Jr. at Michigan on July 30, 1995 and Paul Tracy at Portland on June 22, 2003.
Rahal’s father Bobby finished 21st in his 200th start, which as on April 9, 1995 at Long Beach.
Rahal could become the sixth Ohioan to win the Indianapolis 500 and first since Sam Hornish, Jr. in 2006.

Scott Dixon
This will be Dixon’s 17th Indianapolis 500 start.
2008 Indianapolis 500 winner.
Car #9 has won the Indianapolis 500 four times with Dixon’s 2008 victory being the most recent.
The best finish for the 18th-starter is second, which occurred in 1920 by René Thomas and in 2009 and 2010 by Dan Wheldon.
This is Dixon’s worst starting position in the Indianapolis 500. His previous worst was 16th.
Dixon leads all active drivers with 439 laps led in the Indianapolis 500, tenth all-time. He is one lap behind Bobby Unser for ninth, 46 laps behind Bill Vuckovich for eighth and 43 laps behind Parnelli Jones for seventh. If Dixon leads 61 laps, he will become the seventh driver to lead 500 laps in the Indianapolis 500 joining Al Unser, Ralph DePalma, Mario Andretti, Wilbur Shaw and Emerson Fittipaldi.
This is the 11th Indianapolis 500 since Dixon’s lone victory in 2008. The only driver with more races between Indianapolis 500 victories is Juan Pablo Montoya, though Montoya did not start every race between 2000 and 2015.
The only driver to win the Indianapolis 500 in a 17th start was Johnny Rutherford in 1980.

Row 7:
Oriol Servià
This will be Servià’s 11th Indianapolis 500 start.
Best Finish: 4th (2012).
Car #77 has never won the Indianapolis 500.
Twice has the winner started 19th, most recently Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2014.
Oriol Servià will have the second most starts for a European driver in the Indianapolis 500 if he takes the green flag behind only Arie Luyendyk’s 17 starts. Servià is currently tied with Dario Franchitti for second.
Servià could become the fourth oldest winner at 44 years, ten months and 13 days old.
Spain could become the 14th different country to produce an Indianapolis 500 winner.

Charlie Kimball
This will be Kimball’s ninth Indianapolis 500 start.
Best Finish: 3rd (2015)
Car #23 has won the Indianapolis 500 twice not since Floyd Roberts in 1938.
Three times has the winner started 20th, most recently Al Unser in 1987.
Kimball has never started better than row five in the Indianapolis 500.
This will be Kimball’s 73 start since his only IndyCar victory at Mid-Ohio in 2013. It would be the fifth longest streak for most starts between victories. Mario Andretti has the fourth longest streak at 74 starts between his penultimate victory at Cleveland in 1988 and his final victory at Phoenix in 1993 and Marco Andretti has the third longest streak at 77 starts between his victory at Sonoma in 2006 and Iowa 2011.

J.R. Hildebrand
This will be Hildebrand’s eighth Indianapolis 500 start.
Best Finish: 2nd (2011).
Car #48 has won the Indianapolis 500 once, Bobby Unser 1975.
Only once has the winner started 21st and that was L.L. Corum and Joe Boyer in 1924.
A total of four IndyCar races have been won from 21st position, the 1924 Indianapolis 500, Las Vegas 2000 with Al Unser, Jr., Michigan 2001 with Patrick Carpentier and St. Petersburg 2017 with Sébastien Bourdais.
This is the fourth time car #48 has made the Indianapolis 500 in the 21st century (Andy Hillenburg 2000, Felipe Giaffone 2005 and Alex Tagliani 2015).

Row 8:
Ryan Hunter-Reay
This will be Hunter-Reay’s 12th Indianapolis 500 start.
2014 Indianapolis 500 winner.
His 2014 victory is the only Indianapolis 500 victory for car #28.
Twice has the winner started 22nd but not since Kelly Petillo in 1935.
Five times has 22nd starting position produced a winner in IndyCar history, the 1927 Indianapolis 500 with George Souders, the 1935 Indianapolis 500 with Petillo, Phoenix 1987 with Roberto Guerrero, Orlando 2000 with Robbie Buhl and Mid-Ohio 2014 with Scott Dixon.
Hunter-Reay has led a lap in five of the last six Indianapolis 500s and he has led the most laps in the race twice in that timespan.
Hunter-Reay needs to lead 37 laps to reach the 200 laps led milestone in the Indianapolis 500.
This is Hunter-Reay’s worst starting position since he started 22nd at Pocono in 2016. In that race, Hunter-Reay finished third and he led 31 laps.

Santino Ferrucci
This will be Ferrucci’s first Indianapolis 500 start.
Car #19 has never won the Indianapolis 500.
The best finish for the 23rd-starter is second by Wilbur Shaw in 1933.
Ferrucci could become the youngest Indianapolis 500 winner at 20 years and 360 days old.
This is one of two chances Ferrucci will have to become the youngest winner in Indianapolis 500 history.
This matches Ferrucci’s worst career starting position. He started 23rd for the St. Petersburg season opener and he finished ninth in that race.
Only one IndyCar race has been won from 23rd on the grid. It was Scott Dixon’s first career victory at Nazareth in 2001.
Ferrucci could become the first Nutmugger to win the Indianapolis 500. Connecticut could become the 22nd different state to produce an Indianapolis 500 winner.

Matheus Leist
This will be Leist’s second Indianapolis 500 start.
Best Finish: 13th (2018)
Car #4 has won the Indianapolis 500 five times but not since Emerson Fittipaldi in 1993.
The best finish for the 24th-starter is fourth on five occasions (Denny Hulme in 1967, Mel Kenyon i 1969, Sammy Sessions in 1972, Eliseo Salazar in 1995 and Townsend Bell in 2009).
The 24th starting position has never produced a race winner in IndyCar history.
Leist is coming off his career best finish in IndyCar when he finished fourth in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. The last time the Indianapolis 500 winner finished fourth in the race prior to the Indianapolis 500 and then gone on to win the Indianapolis 500 was Sam Hornish, Jr. in 2006. Hornish had finished fourth at Motegi the race before.
Leist could become the youngest Indianapolis 500 winner at 20 years, eight months and 18 days old.

Row 9:
Jack Harvey
This will be Harvey’s third Indianapolis 500 start.
Best Finish: 16th (2018).
Car #60 has never won the Indianapolis 500.
Only once has the winner started 25th and that was Johnny Rutherford in 1974.
Three races have been won from 25th starting position in IndyCar history, the 1974 Indianapolis 500, Milwaukee 1981 when Mike Mosley won as a promoter’s option and Laguna Seca 2001 with Max Papis.
This will be the 14th time the #60 will be in the Indianapolis 500 and the first time it will be used in consecutive years since Scott Brayton and Mike Groff used it in 1995 and 1996.
Harvey is the first driver to use the #60 in multiple Indianapolis 500s.
The best finish for car #60 in the Indianapolis 500 is fifth at the hands of Johnny Parsons in 1977.
Harvey could become the first driver to win the Indianapolis 500 after finishing third in the race prior since Juan Pablo Montoya in 2015.

Jordan King
This will be King’s first Indianapolis 500 start.
Car #42 has never won the Indianapolis 500.
The best finish for the 26th-starter is third by Don Freeland in 1956 and by Paul Goldsmith in 1960.
Only one IndyCar race has been won from 26th starting position and that was with Buddy Lazier at Phoenix in 2000.
This will be King’s first oval start in IndyCar. He started 12 races last year, all on road and street courses.
King returned to Formula Two competition this season and he is missing the Monaco round. King finished third in the Baku feature race, eighth in the Bahrain sprint race and he had a pair of seventh place finishes at Barcelona.
King could become the ninth youngest winner in Indianapolis 500 history at 25 years and three months old.

Ben Hanley
This will be Hanley’s first Indianapolis 500 start.
Car #81 has never won the Indianapolis 500.
Only once has the winner started 27th and that was by Fred Frame in 1932.
Frame’s victory is the only time 27th starting position has won a race in IndyCar history.
This is the first time car #81 has made the Indianapolis 500 since Katherine Legge since 2013 and only the second time car #81 has been in the Indianapolis 500 in the 21st century.
Hanley won the European Le Mans Series season opener from Circuit Paul Ricard earlier this year with DragonSpeed.

Row 10:
Zach Veach
This will be Veach’s third Indianapolis 500 start.
Best Finish: 23rd (2018).
Car #26 has won the Indianapolis 500 twice including last year with Takuma Sato.
Twice has the winner started 28th, inaugural winner Ray Harroun in 1911 and Louis Meyer in 1936.
Besides those two Indianapolis 500s, the only other IndyCar race won from 28th position was with Hélio Castroneves at Chicagoland in 2008.
The 28th-starter has not finished in the top ten of the Indianapolis 500 since Eliseo Salazar finished seventh in 2001.
Since finishing fifth at Gateway last year, Veach has finished outside the top ten in the last seven races.
All three of Veach’s Indianapolis 500 starts have come from row nine or worse.
Veach could become the seventh youngest Indianapolis 500 winner at 24 years, five months and 17 days old. He would be three days older than Billy Arnold when Arnold won the race in 1930.
Veach could become the sixth Ohioan to win the Indianapolis 500 and first since Sam Hornish, Jr. in 2006.

Felix Rosenqvist
This will be Rosenqvist’s first Indianapolis 500 start.
Car #10 has won the Indianapolis 500 once, Dario Franchitti 2010.
The best finish for the 29th-starter is second in 1911 by Ralph Mulford and in 2002 by Paul Tracy.
The last Swede to start the Indianapolis 500 was Kenny Bräck in 2005.
Bräck has the best starting position for a Swede in the Indianapolis 500 when he started third in 1998.
Sweden could become the sixth nationality with multiple drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 joining the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, France and Italy.

Pippa Mann
This will be Mann’s seventh Indianapolis 500 start.
Best Finish: 17th (2017)
Car #39 has never won the Indianapolis 500.
The best finish for the 30th-starter was fourth in 1936 by Mauri Rose.
Mann has never started better than row eight in the Indianapolis 500.
This will be the 20th consecutive Indianapolis 500 to feature at least one female driver.

Row 11:
Sage Karam
This will be Karam’s sixth Indianapolis 500 start.
Best Finish: 9th (2014).
Car #24 has won the Indianapolis 500 once, Graham Hill 1966.
The best finish for the 31st-starter is fourth in 1951 by Andy Linden.
Since Karam finished ninth on his Indianapolis 500 debut in 2014, his average finish in the race is 29.5 and he has averaged 93 laps completed.
Karam has retired from his last four IndyCar starts and from five of his last seven starts.
The last time the 31st-starter finished in the top ten of the Indianapolis 500 was in 2014 when Karam finished ninth.
Karam could become the sixth youngest winner at 24 years, two months and 21 days old.
Karam could become the first Pennsylvanian-born winner since Bill Holland in 1949.

James Hinchcliffe
This will be Hinchcliffe’s seventh Indianapolis 500 start.
Best Finish: 6th (2012).
Car #5 has won the Indianapolis 500 six times but not since Arie Luyendyk in 1997.
The best finish for the 32nd-starter is second in 1957 by Jim Rathmann and 1981 by Mario Andretti
Canada could become the sixth nationality with multiple drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 joining the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, France and Italy.
This is Hinchcliffe’s worst career starting position. His previous worst was 22nd at Phoenix, Road America and Iowa with all three times occurring in 2016.
This is only the fourth time Hinchcliffe has started outside the top twenty in his IndyCar career.

Kyle Kaiser
This will be Kaiser’s second Indianapolis 500 start.
Best Finish: 29th (2018)
Car #32 has won the Indianapolis 500 but not since George Souders in 1927.
The best finish for the 33rd-starter is second in 1980 by Tom Sneva and 1992 by Scott Goodyear.
Kaiser is coming off his first career lead lap finish at Austin earlier this season.
Kaiser could become the fourth youngest winner at 23 years, two months and 21 days old.
The last time the 33rd-starter finished in the top ten of the Indianapolis 500 was in 2001 when Felipe Giaffone finished tenth.
Kaiser could become the eighth Californian-born driver to win the Indianapolis 500, breaking a tie with Indiana for most different Indianapolis 500 winner by state.

NBCSN's pre-race coverage will begin at 9:00 a.m. ET. NBC's coverage of the 103rd Indianapolis 500 will begin at 11:00 a.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 12:45 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 200 laps.