Track Walk: 108th Indianapolis 500

The fifth round of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season will be the 108th Indianapolis 500. The average speed of this year's 33 qualifiers was 231.943 mph, the second fastest in the history of the race and only behind last year's 232.184 mph. The fastest four Indianapolis 500 starting grids have been set in each of the last four years. The record for the fastest pole position was broken again. We are also looking at Chevrolet taking the top eight starting positions on the grid, half of all the Chevrolets entered in this year's race. This is a milestone year for the Indianapolis 500 as with six rookies in this year's race, we will surprise 800 starters in the history of the race, and we will go into 2025 with 801 drivers having started at least one Indianapolis 500… well, if Mother Nature compromises. 

Coverage

Time: NBC's pre-race coverage begins at 11:00 a.m. ET on Sunday May 26.
TV Channel: NBC/Peacock

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. Kim Coon and Jeff Burton will provide additional pit lane coverage. Mike Tirico, Jimmie Johnson 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). 

Pit Stop Competition - 2:30 p.m. ET
Sunday:
Race - 12:45 p.m. ET (200 laps).

Penske Locks Out the Front Row

With a mighty qualifying weekend, Team Penske did something that had only happened once before in the history of the Indianapolis 500, and this organization was responsible for the first time as well. Last weekend, Team Penske went 1-2-3 in qualifying, sweeping the front row. It is only the second time a team has swept the front row for the Indianapolis 500. Team Penske did it in 1988.

Scott McLaughlin won pole position with a four-lap average of 234.220 mph, the fastest pole position winning qualifying run in the history of the "500." Will Power took second on the grid with four laps at 233.917 mph. Starting on the outside of the front row will be Josef Newgarden, who qualified at 233.808 mph. 

In terms of time, the different between McLaughlin and Power was 0.199 seconds over ten miles. Newgarden was 0.2709 seconds back. 

Team Penske had not had a car start on one of the first three rows in the last four years at the Indianapolis 500. 

For Penske, the similarities to 1988 are rather strong. 

Thirty-six years ago, it was Rick Mears taking pole position in the #5 Pennzoil Penske PC-17 Chevrolet at 219.198 mph. Danny Sullivan qualified second, though nearly three miles per hour slower than Mears at 216.214 mph in the #9 Miller High Life Penske PC-17 Chevrolet. Al Unser, a year removed from his fourth Indianapolis 500 victory, took third in the #1 Hertz Penske PC-17 Chevrolet. Unser was a little under a mile per hour slower than Sullivan.

Mears and Sullivan dominated the first half of the race. Sullivan took the lead on lap one and led 91 of the first 94 laps. Sullivan lost the lead during a pit cycle and pole-sitter Mears would not lead until lap 102, the same lap Sullivan suffered a front wing broke, causing an accident in turn one.

Mears led 89 of the final 99 laps. He won by 7.072 seconds over Emerson Fittipaldi. Al Unser was in third, one-lap down. It was Mears' third "500" victory. It was Penske's seventh. The team led a combined 192 laps. Jim Crawford led the other eight. 

In 2024, McLaughlin is looking for his first career Indianapolis 500 victory, which would also be his first career oval victory. He has never finished better than 14th in this race. McLaughlin would be the first pole-sitter to win the race since Simon Pagenaud did it for Team Penske five years ago. 

Power and Newgarden are each looking for their second Indianapolis triumph. For each, it would be a milestone victory. For Power, it would be the 42nd of his career, tying him with Michael Andretti for fourth all-time. For Newgarden, it would be his 30th career victory, a little over two months after he first thought he reached that milestone. It would also break a tie with Mears for 13th all-time.

Regardless of which Penske driver wins this race, it would be the 20th Indianapolis 500 victory for the team and the sixth time the team has won this race in consecutive years.

Newgarden's Defense

Only five drivers have successfully defended an Indianapolis 500 victory and it has only happened once in the last 50 years. Josef Newgarden will look to become the first driver to win consecutive Indianapolis 500s since Hélio Castroneves in 2001 and 2002. 

Prior to last year, Newgarden had three top five finishes in the Indianapolis 500 and he had led only 38 laps in his first 12 Indianapolis starts. Newgarden didn't win in any dominating fashion last year. He led only five laps, but it was his second of four oval victories last year. Newgarden has won eight of the last 11 IndyCar oval races. While his oval form has been strong, Newgarden enters Indianapolis in the midst of one of the greatest lulls since joining Team Penske.

Through four races, Newgarden has only one top ten result, a fourth at Long Beach. He has finished outside the top fifteen in the other three races this season and in six of the last eight races dating back to last season. Four of those have been results outside the top twenty.  

Newgarden has not finished on the podium since he won the second Iowa race last July. His nine-race podium drought is his longest since a nine-race drought over the final six races of the 2014 season and the first three races of the 2015 season. That drought ended with his first career victory at Barber Motorsports Park.

This rough patch comes at a time when Newgarden is without race strategist Tim Cindric and race engineer Luke Mason. Cindric and Mason were suspended for two races starting at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis after the team's penalty for manipulating the push-to-pass system at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. 

Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director Jonathan Diuguid will be Newgarden's strategist for the Indianapolis 500. Jon Bouslog was Newgarden's strategist for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Bouslog moves to Will Power's timing stand as strategist, filling in for the suspended Ron Ruzewski. At the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Power's engineer David Faustino also took on strategist responsibilities. Raul Prados will continue as Newgarden's engineer for a second consecutive race. 

Diuguid has worked with Team Penske since 2005, and worked in IndyCar from 2010 through 2021. He was Ryan Briscoe's data engineer and race engineer from 2010 to 2012 before moving to Hélio Castroneves' stand from 2013 through 2017. He worked for the Penske's Acura program from 2018 through 2020, but worked on Castroneves' car for the Indianapolis 500 each of those seasons. Diuguid was Scott McLaughlin's engineer in 2021 before moving to his current position.

Since Hélio Castroneves won a $160,000 bonus for his second consecutive "500" victory in 2002, there have been 17 attempts at someone claiming the Borg-Warner bonus. In those 17 attempts, the defending Indianapolis 500 winner has an average finish of 13.117 with five top five finishes, nine top ten finishes and five finishes outside the top twenty. 

With Marcus Ericsson finishing second in last year's race, it was the first time defending Indianapolis 500 winners finished in the top ten in consecutive races since 2009 and 2010. The defending Indianapolis 500 winner has not finished in the top five in consecutive years since 2006 and 2007. 

Six times has Newgarden won at the same circuit in consecutive years. He did it at Barber in 2017-18, St. Petersburg in 2019-20, Iowa in 2019-20 and 2022-23, Gateway 2020-22 and Texas in 2022-23. 

Newgarden has won the first oval race of the previous two seasons. Indianapolis is the first oval race of the 2024 season.

Larson's Double

For the first time in ten years, a driver will be attempting "The Double," running the Indianapolis 500 and the NASCAR Cup Series' Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the same day. It is 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson making the attempt. 

Larson enters Indianapolis as the current NASCAR Cup Series championship leader. The Californian has won twice this Cup season, first at Las Vegas in March and then at Kansas at the start of May. He has started on pole position three times. 

Since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2021, Larson leads the NASCAR Cup Series in victories with 19, seven more than Hendrick teammate William Byron in second.

This will be the tenth "Double" attempt and Larson is the fifth driver to try and complete 1,100 miles in one day. 

John Andretti was the first driver to do it 30 years ago. Andretti started tenth in the #33 Lola-Ford for A.J. Foyt Enterprises in the 1994 Indianapolis 500. Andretti was able to finish ninth, but he was four laps down. At Charlotte, Andretti started ninth in the #14 Hagan Racing Chevrolet. It was his 14th Cup start, and it ended after 220 of 400 laps after a crankshaft broke. 

The next attempt was in 1997 with Robby Gordon, the first of five times Gordon attempted it. The first time was not great. For starters, the Indianapolis 500 was postponed to Monday due to rain. The rain followed Gordon to Charlotte. He only completed 186 of 333 laps as rain ended the "600" prematurely. On Monday, only 16 laps were completed before rain delayed the race to Tuesday. On the restart, Gordon suffered a fuel leak and retired due to a fire.

Gordon would have better luck. In 2000, he finished sixth at Indianapolis, but he did not make it to Charlotte in time for the start and P.J. Jones started the race. Third time was the charm for Gordon as he was eighth in the Indianapolis 500 and he made it to Charlotte in time for the start. He completed 399 of 400 laps and finished 16th. He made two more attempts in 2003 and 2004. A gearbox failure took him out of the 2003 "500" and the "600" was rain-shortened. In his final attempt, rain forced Gordon to leave Indianapolis after completing only 27 laps and Jaques Lazier took over his seat. 

Tony Stewart had the greatest success among "Double" drivers. In 1999, his rookie season in the NASCAR Cup Series, Stewart drove for TriStar Motorsports at Indianapolis. He started 24th but finished ninth, albeit four laps down. In Charlotte, Stewart was fourth in his first "600" start and he completed all 400 laps. 

Two years later, Stewart returned to Indianapolis with Chip Ganassi Racing, qualified seventh and spent much of the race in the top ten. He finished sixth and was the final car on the lead lap. Stewart was set to start 12th at Charlotte, but missed the drivers' meeting and had to start at the back of the field. Stewart spun on the second lap but the car suffered no damage. Despite the adversity, Stewart ended up finishing third, completing all 600 miles and remains the only driver to successful complete all 1,100 miles over the two races.

The most recent driver to attempt the "Double" was Kurt Busch in 2014. Driving for Andretti Autosport, Busch qualified 12th for the Indianapolis 500, and he spent much of the race outside the top ten. After a handful of cautions in the final quarter of the race, Busch climbed up the order and wound up finishing sixth. Like Stewart, Busch had to go to the back of the field for the "600," but Busch suffered an engine failure after completed 271 of 400 laps.

Starting in fifth position, Larson is not the best a "Double" driver has started in the Indianapolis 500. Gordon started fourth in 2000 and third in 2003.

While Larson will be making his Indianapolis 500 debut, he has made nine Coca-Cola 600 starts. He won the race in 2021, but he has only three top ten finishes in the event and he has gone the distance only four times, including in 2022 when the race went 619.5 miles due to overtime.

Palou's Exclusive, But Unwanted Company

Since joining Chip Ganassi Racing in IndyCar in 2021, Álex Palou has been the best driver in IndyCar.

Palou has won two championships, including last year. His ten victories are second only to Josef Newgarden's 11, but Palou leads in podium finishes with 26, six more than the next closest driver. He leads in top five finishes with 33 and he is tied with Scott Dixon for most top ten finishes over that span with 46. Palou enters this weekend on a streak of 22 consecutive top ten finishes. 

At Indianapolis, Palou has finished in the top ten all three years with Ganassi. He was runner-up to Hélio Castroneves in 2021, ninth in 2022 and overcame contact with Rinus VeeKay in the pit lane last year to finish fourth after starting on pole position. 

In four trips to 16th & Georgetown, Palou has been at the top and knocking on the door. At 27 years old, he has plenty of opportunities ahead of him, but at 27 years old he is already in exclusive but unwanted company. Every driver would love two championships, especially two in three seasons and becoming the first driver to clinch a title with a race in hand in over 15 years, but Palou's titles put him in a club he hopes not to remain a member. 

Palou is one of seven drivers to win multiple IndyCar championships but not have an Indianapolis 500 victory. 

Again, Palou is young, but it is a group one likely does not want to be associated with for long. 

Sébastien Bourdais won four Champ Car championships and 37 races, good enough for tied for third and seventh all-time in each category, but Bourdais never won the Indianapolis 500. Due to the split, he only made one Indianapolis 500 start over his first five seasons competing in the United States. Bourdais did make eight Indianapolis 500 starts after returning in 2012. Of course, the year he looked his best was 2017, where Bourdais had the fastest car leading into qualifying only for the Frenchman to have an accident in turn two, fracturing his hip and pelvis and causing him to miss the race. 

Bourdais only had two top ten finishes in nine Indianapolis 500 starts. His best result was seventh in 2014.

Ted Horn won three consecutive AAA championships form 1946 through 1948, but like Bourdais, Horn never won the Indianapolis 500. What Horn did accomplish was one of the greatest careers in Indianapolis 500 history. After finishing 16th as a rookie in 1935 and completing only 145 laps, Horn had nine consecutive top five finishes in the "500" and he completed 1,799 of 1,800 laps during that span. 

Horn's nine consecutive top five finishes is still the record for most consecutive top five results in the Indianapolis 500. Only two drivers have surpassed Horn's career mark. Al Unser had 13 top five finishes and A.J. Foyt had ten. Rick Mears, Hélio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan have all matched Horn. Horn remains the only driver with at least six top five finishes in the Indianapolis 500 to not win the race. 

Rex Mays preceded Horn in American open-wheel dominance. Mays won the 1940 and 1941 championships. In each of those seasons, he finished runner-up in the Indianapolis 500. Mays led at least one lap in six of his first eight Indianapolis 500 starts. He won pole position for the event three times in that time frame. After World War II, Mays made four more starts at Indianapolis, won one more pole position and led at least one lap in three more races. 

Though his 266 laps led remains 22nd all-time and his nine Indianapolis 500s led are still tied for eighth, Mays never won the race. The only driver who led more laps in the "500" than Mays and never won the race is Michael Andretti, who also led nine different "500s."

Tony Bettenhausen won the second-most races in the 1950s with 17. Bettenhausen won two championships during that decade. The first was in 1951 when he won eight of 15 races. The other was in 1958 when he didn't win any of the 13 races but he had four runner-up finishes, two third-place finishes and ten top five finishes. 

For his aura around IndyCar in the 1950s, Indianapolis was never Bettenhausen's place. Only once did he start on the front row (1958). That was also the only year he finished second. In 14 "500" starts, Bettenhausen only had three top five finishes. The only time he led the race as in 1958 when he led 24 laps and finished fourth. Bettenhausen lost his life in an accident at the Speedway on May 12, 1961 while testing a car for Paul Russo.

Joe Leonard won consecutive championships in 1970 and 1971. Already a three-time American Motorcycle Association Grand National Champion and two-time Daytona 200 winner, Leonard turned to open-wheel racing in 1961. His first Indianapolis 500 came four years later. Leonard was ninth in the 1966 race. He qualified fifth and finished third the following year.

For 1968, he caught the eye of Lotus and Leonard put the wedged-shaped Lotus 56 on pole position. He took the lead with 26 laps remaining after Bobby Unser made his final pit stop. On the final restart on lap 192, Leonard suffered a fuel shaft failure. Unser went on to claim the victory. Leonard was classified in 12th. He would score two more top ten finishes, including another third in 1972.

Of the seven multi-time champions not to win the Indianapolis 500, one never even attempted the race. The Split kept many drivers from IndyCar's greatest race. Alex Zanardi is arguably the greatest omission of them all. Zanardi came to CART in 1996, the first year of The Split. Instead of heading to Indianapolis with Chip Ganassi Racing, he went to the U.S. 500 at Michigan. He won three races and was third in the championship as a rookie.

In his sophomore season, Zanardi took the championship with five victories, including a U.S. 500 triumph but this time in July and not on Memorial Day weekend. Zanardi successfully defended his championship in 1998 with seven victories, including a victory on Memorial Day weekend, but at Gateway not Indianapolis. After two titles, Zanardi went to Formula One with Williams F1. It was a fruitless season and he lost his ride, leading to a sabbatical in 2000.

Zanardi returned to CART in 2001 with Mo Nunn Racing. Results were difficult for Zanardi, but he was in the middle of his best race at the Lausitzring before he spun on cold tires on the access road exiting the pit lane, colliding with Alex Tagliani and causing Zanardi to lose both legs in the accident. 

The good news for Palou is this club lost a member last year. Josef Newgarden had been the seventh member for four years but Newgarden returned his card. Palou will look to make it consecutive years with a driver relinquishing membership. The other good news for Palou, who will start 14th, is Newgarden won from 17th last year.

Can Andretti Global Return to the Top?

Since the introduction of the DW12 chassis, only two teams have won at least three Indianapolis 500s. One is Team Penske. The other is Andretti Global, but the Andretti organization has not won in the last six visits to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

From 2012 through 2017, Andretti won three of six Indianapolis 500s. The team led 445 of 1,200 laps run over those six races. The team had nine top five finishers over those six races. 

In the six years since, Andretti Global has had only four top five finishers in the Indianapolis 500, and the team has failed to have a top five finisher in three of the last four years. During that time, the team has led only 81 laps.

Andretti Global is arriving with one fewer car than in recent seasons. With only three full-time entries, Andretti has four cars in this year's race. This was the first time the team has entered only four cars for the Indianapolis 500 since 2009. Though running fewer cars, it has been a good start to the season.

Kyle Kirkwood had his top ten finish streak snapped in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, but that was with an 11th-place finish. Kirkwood had never had a three-race top ten streak prior to the start of this season. This start has Kirkwood eighth in the championship. His only two top five finishes have been his two victories. In ten career oval starts, Kirkwood has only one top ten finish, a seventh in the first Iowa race last year. His average oval finish is 18.7. Last year, Kirkwood was in the top five when the spinning Felix Rosenqvist clipped Kirkwood's car, shearing off the left rear tire and flipping Kirkwood upside down.

Kirkwood was the lone Andretti car to make the Fast 12 session. He ended up qualifying 11th, but it is his best starting position in three years at the Speedway. 

Colton Herta has opened this season with four consecutive top ten finishes. Herta was classified as a podium finish in the first two races. This is the first time Herta has had four consecutive top ten finishes since the final three races of 2021 and the 2022 season opener. He has not had five consecutive top ten finishes since a seven-race stretch during the 2020 season. He is tied for third in the championship with Scott Dixon on 127 points. 

Herta missed out on the Fast 12 by 0.0463 seconds over the four-lap, ten-mile run last Saturday. He had started outside the top twenty the previous two years at Indianapolis. Three of Andretti Global's five Indianapolis 500 victories have come from outside a top ten starting position.

Marcus Ericsson had a nerve-wracking qualifying experience. After a practice accident last Thursday, Ericsson struggled to find speed and had to participate in the last chance qualifying session on Sunday. He nearly made a costly error when he slowed after his third qualifying lap on his first attempt thinking he had completed four. The Swede was able to get back in line but he will start 32nd in this year's race.

Ericsson has finished first and second in the last two Indianapolis 500s, but it has not been as cozy for the Swede in his first four races with Andretti Global. Though he was fifth at Long Beach, Ericsson is 15th in the championship, tied with Santino Ferrucci on 63 points. Ericsson suffered a mechanical failure at St. Petersburg and he finished outside the top fifteen in the last two races.

Marco Andretti makes it four Andretti Global cars. This will be Andretti's 19th Indianapolis 500 start, and he will start 19th in this race, but he has finished outside the top ten in the last six Indianapolis 500s. He has not finished in the top five in this race since he was third in 2014. 

Andretti Global is tied for the second-most Indianapolis 500 victories among teams with Lou Moore and Chip Ganassi Racing. All three teams have won this race five times. 

Are We in for a Surprise?

We are entering this year's Indianapolis 500 with four different teams having won this race in the last four years. The last time five different teams won this race in as many years was from 2011 to 2015. Six different drivers have won this race in the last six years. Team Penske drivers do account for half of those winners, but Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Meyer Shank Racing have also won in that timespan.

Last year, Santino Ferrucci was an unexpected front-runner, having an average running position of 5.72. Ferrucci spent 158 laps in the top five and 178 laps in the top ten. He led 11 laps and ended up finishing third, but was in the picture frame with Josef Newgarden and Marcus Ericsson in the closing laps. Ferrucci will be in the picture again at the start of this year's race. The A.J. Foyt Racing driver will start sixth. He is one of three drivers to have finished in the top ten in the first five starts of an Indianapolis 500 career along with Harry Hartz and Hélio Castroneves. Hartz and Castroneves each finished 25th in their respective sixth Indianapolis 500 starts.

Rinus VeeKay might have his worst starting position in the Indianapolis 500, but he is still starting seventh. VeeKay led 24 of the first 67 laps, but a minor spin and contact with Álex Palou exiting pit lane led to a penalty and it shuffled VeeKay down the order. The Dutchman did drive forward to a tenth place finish. VeeKay's only career victory was just over three years ago in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. It is Ed Carpenter Racing's only victory in the last seven seasons.

Felix Rosenqvist has been one of the revelations of the 2024 season. Rosenqvist has started in the top ten of every race this season and he has finished in the top ten in every race as well. It is only the second time Rosenqvist has had four consecutive top ten finishes in his career. He enters the Indianapolis 500 ranked fifth in the championship. Prior to this season, Rosenqvist had not been ranked in the top five of the championship since after his debut race in IndyCar, the 2019 St. Petersburg season opener, after he finished fourth. Add to it where Meyer Shank Racing was in 2023. MSR had one top ten finish over the entire 2023 season. Prior to this season, the team had not had a top five finish in 29 consecutive races. It has two in the first four races this year. MSR had its car finish 15th and 25th last year at Indianapolis.

Takuma Sato is back for his 15th Indianapolis 500, but unlike previous seasons, this is Sato's only start on tap for 2024. Last year, Sato contested all the oval races for Chip Ganassi Racing. He had two top ten finishes, including a seventh in the Indianapolis 500. Sato is back with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, the team where he won his second Indianapolis 500 in 2020. Sato scored his best championship finish with the RLLR organization. Four of his six career victories came with the team. Though he has won twice, Sato has only finished in the top ten four times in his Indianapolis 500 career. He was third in 2019.

No one expected Dreyer & Reinbold Racing to take a spot in the Fast 12 during qualifying, but Ryan Hunter-Reay stunned everyone in the closing hour of Saturday's session and the 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner marks the tenth anniversary of that victory with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's best starting position since Oriol Servià started 12th in the 2013 season opener at St. Petersburg. This is D&R's best starting spot in the Indianapolis 500 since Justin Wilson started 11th in 2010. The team has only one victory in its history. It won on debut at in the 2000 season opener at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando. It was the first IndyCar race of the 21st century. 

The Weather Report

The forecast is looking iffy ahead of this weekend's festivities. 

Carb Day will be mostly cloudy but there is a chance of showers in the evening, about 20%. The high will be 83º F with an 11 mph wind from the South Southeast.

While Saturday looks to be dry, Sunday sees an 88% chance of precipitation with thunderstorms, but the storms could hold off until the afternoon. Temperatures will drop back down to about 75º F with winds still around 14 mph from the Southeast. Rain showers could persist into Monday with the chance of precipitation still around 49%.

Weather has not affected the Indianapolis 500 since the 2007 race was rain-shortened. The Indianapolis 500 has not been postponed due to weather since 1997 when two days of rain meant most of the race took place on Tuesday.

Carb Night Classic

On Friday evening from Indianapolis Raceway Park, two of the three Road to Indy Series will be competing in their annual Memorial Day weekend event. 

In USF Pro 2000, Nikita Johnson has won four of eight races with two runner-up results and a fourth. Johnson was disqualified from the second race from the IMS road course due a technical infraction, costing him a victory. Despite the penalty, Johnson remains the USF Pro 2000 Championship leader on 172 points. 

Hunter Yeany is second on 148 with Lochie Hughes on 144 points in third. Liam Sceats inherited the IMS road course second race victory after Johnson's penalty, and Sceats is on 136 points while Christian Brooks rounds out the top five on 124 points. 

Jack Denmark is a point outside the top five with Simon Sikes up to seventh in point after Sikes won the final race on the IMS road course. Sikes has 114 points. Nicolás Baptiste has 97 points, four ahead of Ricardo Escotto with Frankie Mossman rounding out the top ten on 92 points. After three finishes of 18th or worse on the IMS road course, Mac Clark plummeted to 11th on 85 points.

The Freedom 90 will run at 9:30 p.m. ET on Friday May 24. The race will run for 90 laps or 50 minutes.

Max Garcia has won four of seven U.S. F2000 races this season and with Garcia's worst result being sixth, he is leading the championship on 184 points, 40 points ahead of Evagoras Papasavvas. Papasavvas had finished on the podium in the first five of the season before finishing fourth and 19th on the IMS road course. 

Sam Corry opened the season with six consecutive top five finishes, including a victory at NOLA Motorsports Park. Corry is on 140 points. Max Taylor went first and second on the IMS road course and he is now fourth in the championship with 121 points. 

Elliot Cox and Joey Brienza makes it six American drivers in the top six of the championship. Cox is coming off his best finish of the season in third of the second IMS road course race. Brienza had four consecutive top five finishes before he was 22nd in that IMS road course race. Cox has 99 points, four more than Brienza.

Nico Christodoulou was outside the top 15 in both races at 16th and Georgetown, and Christodoulou is down in seventh on 92 points. Ayrton Houk has 79 points, one more than Hudson Schwartz. Quinn Armstrong rounds out the top ten with 68 points.

The Freedom 75 will be at 8:30 p.m. ET. The 75-lap race has a 45-minute time limit.

Fast Facts

This will be the tenth IndyCar race to take place on May 26 and the first since Simon Pagenaud won the 103rd Indianapolis 500 in 2019.

This will be the eighth Indianapolis 500 to take place on May 26. Team Penske has won four of the seven Indianapolis 500s held on this date. 

This year's race is on the 50th anniversary of Johnny Rutherford's first Indianapolis 500 victory, which was also McLaren's first Indianapolis 500 victory as a team. 

This year's race is also the 39th anniversary of Danny Sullivan's "spin and win," the 33rd anniversary of Rick Mears' fourth Indianapolis 500 victory, and the 22nd anniversary of Hélio Castroneves' controversial victory over Paul Tracy.

This will be the 177th 500-mile race in IndyCar history.

The United States has produced the most 500-mile race winners with 67. 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. Sweden has two winners. The Netherlands, Mexico, Colombia, New Zealand, Australia and Japan have each produced one winner. 

Nine of the last 13 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...

12 Americans...

Three New Zealanders...

Three Britons...

Three Swedes...

Two Danes...

Two Brazilians...

An Australian...

A Dutchman...

A Mexican...

A Japanese...

A Spaniard...

A Caymanian...

An Argentine and...

A Frenchman.

The Cayman Islands will become the 31st country with a representative to start the Indianapolis 500 as Kyffin Simpson will start the race.

This is the first Indianapolis 500 without a Canadian starter since 2006.

Nine 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, Josef Newgarden and Alexander Rossi.

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

Josef Newgarden, Rinus VeeKay, Colton Herta or Álex Palou could join Will Power, Simon Pagenaud, Scott Dixon and Alexander Rossi 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 7.5046 with a median of fifth.

Last year, Josef Newgarden became the first winner to start fifth since Eddie Cheever in 1998.

The average number of lead changes in the Indianapolis 500 is 14.4018 with a median of ten. 

In the DW12-era, the average number of lead changes in the Indianapolis 500 is 38.91667 with a median of 35. 

The driver who led the most laps has won only two of the last 12 Indianapolis 500s, Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2014 and Simon Pagenaud in 2019. 

The driver who led the most laps has not won the last four Indianapolis 500s. The last time there were at least five consecutive Indianapolis 500s with the driver who led the most laps not winning was an eight-year streak from 1990 through 1997.

The average number of cautions in the Indianapolis 500 is 7.571 with a median of seven. The average number of caution laps is 43.306 with a median of 42.

In the last 13 Indianapolis 500s, eight races have had more than five cautions.

This will be the 75th Indianapolis 500 victory for Firestone. 

This will be the 24th Indianapolis 500 victory for Dallara, extending Dallara's record for most Indianapolis 500 victories for a chassis manufacturer.

If Honda wins the race, it will be the manufacturer's 16th Indianapolis 500 victory. Honda is currently second all-time in victories for engine manufacturers, 12 victories behind Offenhauser's 27. 

If Chevrolet wins the race, it will surpass Miller for third all-time on 13 Indianapolis 500 victories. 

Predictions

Scott McLaughlin wins from pole position and Team Penske will combined to lead over 125 laps, but at least one Penske car finishes outside the top five. Honda will get at least one top five finish and at least four top ten finishes. Scott Dixon will make up at least ten spots. Kyle Larson will complete fewer than 200 laps on Sunday in Speedway, Indiana. The Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year will finish in the top ten. There will be fewer than two red flags for incidents. The final 16 laps will take less than an hour to complete. The final green flag run will be at least 20 laps long. Sleeper: Alexander Rossi.