Track Walk: 106th Indianapolis 500

The sixth round of the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season is the 106th Indianapolis 500. Qualifying weekend saw some of the fastest speeds ever run around the 2.5-mile oval. We ended up with the fastest pole speed in event history as well as the fastest average speed over the entire field in event history. Seventeen Hondas and 16 Chevrolets make up this grid with drivers coming from 14 different countries, including one represented in the Indianapolis 500 for the first time. There will be seven rookies, the most in the field since 2014. There are also seven drivers enter that will have at least 15 Indianapolis 500 starts in the field. Eight past winners will be on the grid, three of which have multiple victories, one of whom could become the all-time leader in Indianapolis 500 victories. 

Coverage
Time: NBC's pre-race coverage begins at 11:00 a.m. ET on Sunday May 29.
TV Channel: NBC

Announcers: Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Kevin Lee, Dillon Welch, Dave Burns and Marty Snider will work pit lane. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will provide additional pit lane coverage. Mike Tirico and Danica Patrick will participate in pre-race and post-race coverage.

Indianapolis 500 Weekend Schedule
Carb Day:
Practice - 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. ET (2 hours). NBCSN will have live coverage.

Pit Stop Competition - 2:30 p.m. ET
Sunday:
Race - 12:30 p.m. ET (200 laps).

Dixon Leads Ganassi's Charge to End Decade Drought

For the second consecutive year, Scott Dixon will lead the field to the green flag for the Indianapolis 500, but there is a stronger Chip Ganassi Racing group behind Dixon than the year before. 

Four of the top six starters are Ganassi entries and Ganassi had all five entries make the Fast 12 in qualifying. It has been ten years since the team won this race, and after a runner-up result last year, it is primed to conquer the speedway once again. 

Dixon has gone over a calendar year since his most recent victory, and an early pit snafu last year at Indianapolis took him out of contention for victory barely 100 miles into the race. He fought back onto the lead lap and ran an alternate strategy hoping to catch a break but had to settle for 17th at the checkered flag. This will be Dixon's 20th Indianapolis 500 start, and his only victory was 14 years ago, from pole position coincidentally enough. There have been plenty of close calls and many laps led. Dixon enters third all-time in Indianapolis 500 laps led with a good shot at claiming the all-time record this year, needing only 75 laps led to surpass Al Unser's record. 

Dixon is 41 years old and only two months away from turning 42. Recent history suggest age could be in his favor. The last two winners have been over the age of 40 and drivers over 40 have won three of the last five years. However, only twice has drivers over the age of 40 won three consecutive Indianapolis 500s. The first time was 1947 to 1949, when Mauri Rose won his second and third "500s" at the ages of 41 and 42, and then Bill Holland won at the age of 41. The other time was 1980 to 1982 when Johnny Rutherford won at 42 years old, Bobby Unser won at 47 and Gordon Johncock won at 45. 

While Dixon has two decades of history at the speedway, Álex Palou is hoping the third time will be the charm for him, and after finishing second as a sophomore in 2021, Palou starts second for this year's race. The defending IndyCar champion had been on a great run of form prior to his spin in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis nearly two weeks ago. He has five podium finishes in the last eight races. Since joining Chip Ganassi Racing at the start of the 2021 season, Palou has 11 podium finishes from 21 starts. 

Palou has yet to win on an oval. He was second last year at Indianapolis. His only other top five finish on an oval was fourth in the first Texas race in 2021. 

If there is anything in Palou's favor for this race is the last defending IndyCar champion to win the subsequent Indianapolis 500 was a Ganassi driver and it was the driver of the #10 Ganassi entry. Dario Franchitti won the 2012 race after winning his third consecutive championship in 2011. However, Franchitti won that 2012 race with the #50 in a promotional tie with then sponsor Target, which was celebrating 50 years of business. Palou retains the #10 for this year's race. 

Though Marcus Ericsson has won more races than Dixon since last year's Indianapolis 500, and Ericsson has 13 top ten results in the last 16 races, the Swede does not get the same recognition as his Ganassi teammates. Coming off a sixth-place championship finish in 2021, Ericsson has improved each year has driven in IndyCar. Indianapolis qualifying is another area that shows it. He starts fifth this year and his starting position has improved every year he has come to the speedway. Last year, he picked up his best Indianapolis 500 finish in 11th, but he has yet to finish better than his starting position in this race. 

Ericsson is coming off a fourth in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and he was third at Texas, the top Honda runner in first oval race of the 2022 season. 

Tony Kanaan is back for his 21st Indianapolis 500, and for the second consecutive year Kanaan is starting on row two. This year, he is one position further to the outside. He was tenth in last year's race, his 11th top ten finish at Indianapolis, but he has not been in the top five since 2017. Kanaan enters this race 47 years old, the oldest driver on the grid.

Rounding out the Ganassi quintet is Indianapolis 500 rookie Jimmie Johnson. The Californian will start 12th, the best starting position of Johnson's IndyCar career. Johnson comes into this race with plenty of Indianapolis experience from his NASCAR days. He made 18 starts on the oval, winning four times and that is not including an IROC victory on the 2.5-mile speedway as well. 

In the Monday practice session, Ganassi had the three fastest cars with Palou leading Dixon and Johnson. Ericsson was fifth. Dixon has been in the top five at the end of every practice day while Ericsson and Johnson have each been in the top five at the end of three of four days. Ericsson has been in the top ten of every practice day. 

A Ganassi victory would make it the fourth team with at least five Indianapolis 500 victories. Chip Ganassi would tie Andretti Autosport and Lou Moore for second most victories among team owners.

An Uphill Fight For a Fifth

With Hélio Castroneves winning his fourth Indianapolis 500 in 2021, this year's race is the first time in 29 years a driver will have a chance at fifth Indianapolis 500 victory. The only problem is Castroneves has his work cut out for him. 

Castroneves will start 27th, the second time he has started outside the top twenty in the Indianapolis and the second time in three years after starting 28th in 2020. He has qualified outside the top ten in five of six races this year and four of those are starting positions outside the top fifteen. He has one top ten finish this season and one top ten finish in his ten starts since his Indianapolis 500 victory. 

This will be the 22nd attempt at fifth Indianapolis 500 victory for a driver. A.J. Foyt had 15 attempts at a fifth, Al Unser had five and Rick Mears had only one. Foyt was second in 1979 to Mears when Mears won his first. Foyt's only other top five finish after his fourth victory was fifth in 1989, albeit seven laps down. He finished outside the top ten in nine of those 15 attempts. 

Unser was third in the 1988 and 1992 races. In Unser's final three starts, he qualified 22nd or worse and each of those starts came with a different team. Mears made only one attempt at a fifth victory, 1992, which was also Foyt's final start. Mears retired from that race after an accident on lap 74.

Castroneves has won from outside the top twenty before. He won from 28th on the grid at Chicagoland in 2008 after his qualifying time was disallowed for dipping his tires below the white line on his qualifying run. It matched the worst starting position for a winner in IndyCar history. The other winners from 28th starting position? Ray Harroun in the 1911 Indianapolis 500 and Louis Meyer in the 1936 Indianapolis 500. 

The Youth Wave Ready to Break

There are eight past winners in the field, but there are 25 drivers looking for their first Indianapolis 500 victory and 14 of those drivers are under the age of 30. 

Besides Palou on the front row is fellow 20-something Rinus VeeKay, and VeeKay is one of four drivers who could become the youngest Indianapolis 500 winner. This is the second consecutive year VeeKay has started on the front row. VeeKay is looking to become the first driver to win a third career Indianapolis 500 start since Juan Pablo Montoya did it in 2015, albeit 15 years after Montoya won on his Indianapolis 500 debut. Before Montoya, Dan Wheldon won his first Indianapolis 500 in his third Indianapolis 500 start. 

Patricio O'Ward will be starting on the inside of row three and has finished sixth and fourth in his first two Indianapolis 500 starts. O'Ward won earlier this season at Barber, and he has three career victories. He has 17 top five finishes in 43 starts, a batting average of 0.395.

David Malukas is one of the other potential youngest winners, and Malukas will start 13th. This will be his sixth career start and he has yet to have a top ten finish. Two spots to Malukas' outside on row five will be Santino Ferrucci. Ferrucci has finished seventh, fourth and sixth in three Indianapolis 500 starts. Though he cannot be the youngest winner, Ferrucci could become the fifth youngest winner. 

Callum Ilott makes his Indianapolis 500 debut from 19th on the grid. Ilott is coming off his first career top ten finish in eighth in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Ilott could become the fourth youngest winner in the race's history. At 27 years old, Sage Karam will be making his ninth Indianapolis 500 start. Karam was seventh last year, his first top ten finish at Indianapolis since he was ninth as a rookie in 2014.

On the outside of row eight will be Devlin DeFrancesco, the worst starting position for DeFrancesco in his brief IndyCar career. The other rookies in the field, Kyle Kirkwood and Christian Lundgaard, will start 28th and 31st respectively. Lundgaard is another of the four potential youngest winners in this field. 

On the Back Foot

Many drivers are in a happy place ahead of race day, but some have to fight from behind once the green flag waves. 

Andretti Autosport has not had the pace it was once feared for. Romain Grosjean did qualify ninth, the top rookie qualifier, but three of the five Andretti cars qualified outside the top twenty with Alexander Rossi starting 20th. Colton Herta is the worst of the Andretti bunch in 25th on the grid.

The practice results do not give any excitement for race day. Rossi was 19th or worse in three of the four days. The exception being Friday practice where he was second on a day that was mostly no tow runs. Herta has been outside the top fifteen after each practice day. 

Andretti isn't the only team with all its cars toward the rear. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is in a hole as well. Graham Rahal was the top RLLR qualifier in 21st, and the other two cars are on the last row with Lundgaard a spot ahead of Jack Harvey in 32nd. Rahal was outside the top twenty on all four practice days while Harvey has been outside the top twenty on three of four days. 

Scott McLaughlin will start 26th after making an extra qualifying attempt in hopes of advancing to the Fast 12. Instead of gaining time, McLaughlin lost time and instead of being in the middle, he is in the bottom third of the grid with more traffic ahead of him. 

Those in Waiting

Castroneves' fourth victory means a lot of drivers are returning hoping to break their duck this year at Indianapolis, and there are plenty of drivers who could make history. 

This will be Ed Carpenter's 19th Indianapolis 500 start, the most on the grid without and Indianapolis 500 victory, and he is one of three drivers who could break Sam Hanks' record for most starts before a first Indianapolis 500 victory. Carpenter starts fourth for a second consecutive year, and he has finished in the top ten of three of the last four years, including two top five finishes, one of which was runner-up to Will Power in 2018. Carpenter had only three top ten finishes in his first 14 Indianapolis 500 starts. 

Marco Andretti will be making his 17th Indianapolis 500 start and could break Hanks' record. This is the second consecutive year Andretti is back as a one-off entry and he will start 23rd, his second consecutive year starting outside the top twenty. He had only started outside the top twenty once in his first 15 Indianapolis 500 appearances. Since Andretti's last IndyCar start, he competed in the Superstar Racing Experience and finished fourth in that championship with a victory at Slinger Speedway in Wisconsin. 

Graham Rahal is the only full-time driver who could break Hanks' record. This will be Rahal's 15th Indianapolis 500. Last year was one of Rahal's most promising runs before a loose tire from a pit stop caused him to spin on the access road on the inside of turn two. He has only there top five finishes and four top ten finishes in this race. He has finished outside the top 30 four times in the Indianapolis 500. 

Not quite in range to top Hanks' record, J.R. Hildebrand and Josef Newgarden are the other two drivers in the race with at least ten starts but no victories. This will be Hildebrand's 12th start, one shy of Hanks' record. Hildebrand has finished outside the top ten in the Indianapolis 500 the last five years, but his 17th-place starting position is his best Indianapolis qualifying effort since 2017. 

Newgarden is making his 11th Indianapolis 500 start, and he has finished in the top five in two of the last three years and in three of the last six. Newgarden is the only repeat winner this IndyCar season, but he enters in strange form. While having two victories, Newgarden has finished 14th or worse in the other three races this season. 

Who Are We Forgetting?

Takuma Sato. 

Sato qualified tenth, but he topped all three practice days ahead of qualifying. In the Monday practice, he was fourth overall. 

This will be the fourth time Sato has started in the top ten for the Indianapolis 500. The last two times he started in the top ten, Sato won the race. He also started tenth in 2011 and was the first car out of the race after an accident in turn one on lap 21.  

And how could we forget the IndyCar championship leader, Will Power?

Power has five consecutive top five finishes, his best run to open a season and his best streak since the 2016 season when he was first or second in six consecutive races that summer. Power bounced back in Indianapolis 500 qualifying this year after starting outside the top twenty the previous two years. Last year was his worst Indianapolis 500, starting 32nd and finishing 30th. 

After four consecutive seasons with at least one 500-mile race victory, Power has not won on an oval since Pocono 2019. He was outside the top ten in three of four oval races last season, but he has top five results in his last two oval appearances. 

The Championship

The Indianapolis 500 gathers much attention but putting the historical importance of the race on its own aside, this is a pivotal point in the 2022 IndyCar championship. This is the only double points race of the season, and with the championship tightly contested through five races, Indianapolis will separate the wheat from the chaff. 

Points have already been awarded from qualifying. The top 12 cars each picked up bonus points with pole-sitter Scott Dixon picking up 12 points and the 11 other drivers receiving one fewer points than the one in front of him, all the way down to Jimmie Johnson getting a single point for 12th. 

After qualifying, Will Power still leads the championship with 172 points, but Álex Palou's 11 points for second on the grid decreased the deficit to five points entering race day. Scott McLaughlin is now 20 points off the championship lead in third while Dixon is up to fourth on 145 points, five ahead of Josef Newgarden. 

Colton Herta and Patricio O'Ward are now tied on 132 points, but Herta holds the tiebreaker with his victory and fourth topping O'Ward's victory and fifth. Marcus Ericsson now sits on 125 points while Rinus VeeKay moves up to ninth on 123 points. Romain Grosjean drops to tenth with 118 points. 

Simon Pagenaud is still 11th on 109 points and Graham Rahal remains 12th on 98 points. Takuma Sato and Felix Rosenqvist are now tied on 90 points after Sato was tenth in qualifying and Rosenqvist was eighth. Rosenqvist owns the tiebreaker with his best finish being sixth to Sato's seventh. Alexander Rossi still rounds out the top fifteen with 81 points, a point ahead of Conor Daly, two ahead of Christian Lundgaard and ten clear of Hélio Castroneves. 

There are still 100 points on the table for winning the race, plus a point for at least one lap led and two bonus points for most laps led. 

Anyone from Power to Lundgaard in 17th could leave Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the championship leader after this race.

The Weather Report

Carb Day could see some rain showers at any point in the afternoon. There is a 69% chance of precipitation with a Western wind at 11 mph. Temperatures will remain comfortable should the weather clear. The high is forecasted for 67º F. 

After Friday, things look better heading to race day. Saturday's chance of precipitation drops to 7% while temperatures should rise into the mid-70s. Winds should drop to about 6 mph from the Northwest. Sunday will be warmer with a high around 84º F. Winds should also pick up, increasing to about 13 mph from the South.

Carb Night Classic

Friday night will feature the lower two rungs of the Road to Indy in competition at Indianapolis Raceway Park for the Carb Night Classic. 

This is the first of two oval races in Indy Pro 2000 this season, and Nolan Siegal enters IRP as the championship leader with 141 points, three ahead of Louis Foster. Foster picked up his first victory on the IMS road course nearly two weeks ago. Siegel has made three starts at IRP in U.S. F2000, but he has finished tenth, 11th and ninth in those races.

Reece Gold also won on the IMS road course, and he is third in the championship, 11 points behind Siegel. Gold was second in the IRP U.S. F2000 race last year. Braden Eves was first on the road in the first IMS road course race earlier this month, but Eves was disqualified for a technical infringement. Eves was second to Foster in the final race and he has three podium finishes and five top five finishes in seven races this season, but Eves continues to look for victory. Eves has 120 points while Enaam Ahmed rounds out the top five on 114 points with five top five finishes this season. 

Colin Kaminsky and Kiko Porto are tied on 108 points, but Kaminsky has three podium finishes while Porto's best finish is fourth. Josh Green won the first race of the season, but he has not finished in the top five since. Green has 106 points. Jack William Miller has finished in the top five of the last two races and sits 94 points. Yuven Sundaramoorthy picked up a runner-up finish in the first IMS road course race and he rounds out the championship top ten with 90 points. 

Wyatt Brichacek has 89 points, one point more than Salvador de Alba, who won the first IMS road course race after Eves' disqualification. Jonathan Browne and Jordan Missig round out the full-time drivers in the championship with 72 points and 70 points respectively.

The Indy Pro 2000's Freedom 90 will be at 8:05 p.m. ET on Friday May 27. 

U.S. F2000 is coming off quite a shock from the IMS road course weekend where Alex Quinn made his debut and swept all three races. Quinn had previously competed in the Formula Renault Eurocup and Formula Regional European Championship. Quinn's weekend earned him 93 points and has him seventh in the championship despite having run fewer than half the races. However, Quinn is not entered for the IRP race.

Jagger Jones leads the championship with 132 points, one more than Billy Frazer. Jones has four podium finishes this season and Jones won all three pole positions on the IMS road course. Frazer also has four podium finishes, but he has yet to win a race this season. Michael d'Orlando won the U.S. F2000 race at IRP last year, and d'Orlando is back, currently third in the championship on 130 points. D'Orlando has three podium finishes and six top five finishes in seven races but is winless so far in 2022. 

Myles Rowe has the funding for a full U.S. F2000 season, but he dropped to fourth in the championship on 127 points after finishes of 17th, third and sixth on the IMS road course. Jace Denmark rounds out the top five on 116 points. Simon Sikes was ninth in all three IMS road course races after having three finishes of fifth in the first four races of the season. Sikes has 98 points. 

Quinn is a point ahead of Thomas Nepveu, who has three top five finishes, but has yet to get on the podium. Bijoy Garg and Spike Kohlbecker round out the top ten with each driver on 86 points. Garg's best finishes are third and fourth this season, while Kohlbecker's best result is sixth in three races.

U.S. F2000's Freedom 75 takes place at 7:05 p.m. ET on Friday night.

Fast Facts

This will be the tenth IndyCar race to take place on May 29 and the first since Alexander Rossi won the 100th Indianapolis 500 in 2016. 

Andretti Autosport/Bryan Herta Autosport has won the last three Indianapolis 500s held on May 29. Beside Rossi, Dan Wheldon won on that date in 2005 with Andretti Green Racing and in 2011 with Bryan Herta Autosport. 

This year's race will be the 51st anniversary of Al Unser's first Indianapolis 500 victory and May 29 would also have been Unser's 83rd birthday. 

This will be the 175th 500-mile race in IndyCar history.

The United States has produced the most 500-mile race winners with 66. Brazil and the United Kingdom has each produced seven 500-mile race winners. Canada has had four, Italy and France have each had three winners. The Netherlands, Sweden, Mexico, Colombia, New Zealand, Australia and Japan have each produced one winner. 

Chevrolet has won 12 of 20 500-mile races since 2012. 

Last year's Indianapolis 500 was the fastest in race history, completed in two hours, 37 minutes and 19.3846 seconds at an average speed of 190.690 mph. It was the fifth fastest 500-mile race in IndyCar history.

Seven of the last 11 Indianapolis 500s have been completed in under three hours. Only five of the first 87 Indianapolis 500s that went the distance were completed in under three hours.

This year's grid features...

13 Americans.

Three Brtions.

Two New Zealanders.

Two Swedes. 

Two Brazilians. 

Two Frenchmen.

Two Canadians. 

One Spaniard. 

One Dutchman. 

One Mexican.  

One Japanese.

One Australian. 

One Colombian and...

One Dane.

Denmark becomes the 30th different country represented in the Indianapolis 500.

Ed Carpenter, Josef Newgarden, Jack Harvey or Colton Herta could become the first driver to win the Freedom 100 and the Indianapolis 500.

Eight drivers have won on both the oval and road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. They are Alex Lloyd, Jack Harvey, Dean Stoneman, Colton Herta, Will Power, Simon Pagenaud, Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden.

The drivers who could become the ninth driver to win on both the oval and road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend are Marco Andretti, Patricio O'Ward, Rinus VeeKay, David Malukas and Kyle Kirkwood.

Josef Newgarden, Rinus VeeKay or Colton Herta could join Will Power, Simon Pagenaud and Scott Dixon as the only drivers to win an IndyCar race on the IMS oval and road course. 

The average starting position for an Indianapolis 500 winner is 7.4328 with a median of fourth. 

Last year, Hélio Castroneves became the first winner to start eighth since Kenny Bräck in 1999.

Five consecutive Indianapolis 500s have been won from one of the first three rows, the longest streak since six consecutive winners from 2006 through 2011.

The average number of lead changes in the Indianapolis 500 is 13.819 with a median of ten.

In the DW12-era, the average number of lead changes in the Indianapolis 500 is 37.7 with a median of 34.5.

The driver who led the most laps has won only two of the last 11 Indianapolis 500s, Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2014 and Simon Pagenaud in 2019. 

The average number of cautions in the Indianapolis 500 is 7.6595 with a median of 7.5. The average number of caution laps is 43.914 with a median of 43. 

Last year's race had two cautions, the fewest since 1969.

This will be the 73rd Indianapolis 500 victory for Firestone. 

This will be the 22nd Indianapolis 500 victory for Dallara, extending Dallara's record for most Indianapolis 500 victories for a chassis manufacture.

If Honda wins the race, it will be the manufacture's 15th Indianapolis 500 victory. Honda is currently second all-time in victories for engine manufactures, 13 victories behind Offenhauser's 27. 

If Chevrolet wins the race, it will tie Miller for third all-time on 12 Indianapolis 500 victories. 

Predictions

Let's go with Scott Dixon again. And he will get the record for most laps led in Indianapolis 500 history. Jimmie Johnson will not finish better than Kurt Busch's finish and Johnson will not be Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year. Andretti Autosport will have at least two cars finish in the top ten. There will not be a caution for a car spinning into the pit lane. Stefan Wilson will not be the first retirement. Marco Andretti will surpass his grandfather's career Indianapolis 500 laps completed total. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has at least one driver finish at least ten spots better than his starting position. Hélio Castroneves spends fewer than 10 laps in the top ten. There will be a new championship leader after this race. Sleeper: Marcus Ericsson.