Quick housekeeping: Things will likely be delayed next week post-Long Beach in terms of First Impressions and Musings. For the first time since 2002, a driver scored their first NASCAR Cup Series victory at Bristol, as Ty Gibbs was first. Someone had a vacation in Brazil. A half-million dollars was not awarded. A pair of sports car series got underway. The Supercross championship opened up a little bit in Nashville. Toyota won its first Supercars race. Formula Two confirmed it will be racing in Miami and Montreal, which had ripple effects into the Indianapolis 500, and Colton Herta will not be able to compete. In turn, Andretti Global will not run a fourth entry. At most, we are going to see 33 entries. This has left many upset with the prospect of no bumping.
Let's Talk About Bumping
In a quick about-face, a conflict formed when Formula Two confirmed it would go to Miami and Montreal at the end of last week, and Colton Herta's May went from 16th & Georgetown to a few trips to Miami Gardens and Île Notre-Dame. With Herta out, Andretti Global did not feel compelled to enter the planned fourth entry for the Indianapolis 500. The team cited focusing on "value-added programs," and to translate, there was not another driver out there they felt qualified enough to run its fourth car.
Bumping is off the table in all likelihood, and now the stretch is to get a 33rd. For all those concerned, there will be a 33rd entry even if it is not clear where it will come from. There is always a 33rd entry. DragonSpeed came back for one year with Ben Hanley to get 33 cars on the grid. It is going to happen.
Plenty expressed displeasure at this development. The Andretti program had entered an additional Indianapolis 500 entry for 16 consecutive years. In recent years, it has become a greater challenge to get beyond 34 entries. The one-off programs in recent years have been confirmed early in the offseason. We know Indianapolis one-offs before Christmas and New Years'. We have known the 31st entry (Takuma Sato) since St. Patrick's Day. It was once the case the final few entries were not set until early May or even after the first few practice days. Teams no longer operate that way.
This year will be the 110th Indianapolis 500, and the event has evolved greatly over that time. In its current form, the prospects of failing to qualify and the cost that goes into it makes entering less desirable once the entry list is at 33. The reward of making the race does not offset what goes into forming a program. This has been the truth for over 20 years.
Finger-pointing was rampant the last few days as to why it will be a struggle to get 33 entries. Charters and the engine manufacturers received a lot of the blame. It comes down to teams spending $1 million for one race, and they aren't even going to break even if they make the race. They aren't even going to break even if they finish in the top three of the race. All the rules in the world could be formed to force 36 or 37 entries, but that is not how it works. It sucks to hear it, but there is a business component, and not many people are comfortable setting $1 million on fire. Not many have $1 million to burn.
It is a shame because, as has been the case for most of the last two decades, there has been plenty of interest in running the Indianapolis 500. Drivers still want to be at the Indianapolis 500, but there has not been enough available entries for all of them. There might be 40 drivers interested, but at least six are going to be on the sideline and never get a chance to get behind the wheel, and this is causing another problem as drivers do not get Indianapolis 500 experience.
We don't have that many respectable Indianapolis 500 one-offs left. Plenty of past winners have retired in recent years, and the few that remain are claimed early. Beyond those drivers, we don't have an Indianapolis 500 veteran pool teams feel comfortable drawing from. I would argue the pool is deep though.
The likes of J.R. Hildebrand, Charlie Kimball, Sage Karam, Zach Veach, James Davison, Pippa Mann, Oriol Servià and Spencer Pigot are gone. You could even add Carlos Muñoz, Gabby Chaves and Ed Jones to this group. Ryan Briscoe is young enough to still be driving, and Sébastien Bourdais is still competing, but he does not return to Indianapolis unless it is in a sports car.
Think of all the IndyCar reserve drivers that now exist and none of them have Indianapolis 500 entries. What is the point of being a reserve driver in IndyCar if you are not at least getting the Indianapolis 500 or driving in Indy Lights for the team? What is in for Ed Carpenter Racing's Hunter McElrea, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's Jüri Vips and A.J. Foyt Racing's Toby Sowery? Congratulations! You get to use the simulator, every child's dream!
That is 16 drivers listed above, and I didn't even mention that Stefan Wilson is still hanging around. The drivers are out there, even if they are not looking. Deep down, most would love to do it again. Most are still at a reasonable age to attempt the Indianapolis 500, but their time was up. After years of struggling to form programs, the value of running has not match the cost and effort to put together one race a year where it was an uphill battle just to make it. Another generation of drivers who were fine working on a program for each May has not formed, and what makes it more difficult is the teams do not allow that group to form.
Any team entering an extra entry for the Indianapolis 500 should not be expecting to get another potential race winner. The options are the journeymen, the drivers who know how to run the race and have some good pace, or a young talent hoping to turn some heads. Maybe everything clicks for a top ten finish, but victory is a stretch for most of the full-time competitors let alone the one-offs. These lofty expectations caused Andretti Global to pass upon viable options, and another entry is lost. This mindset will keep the pool at 33 cars with a chance of 34. The belief isn't there in the drivers for the teams to take the chance, but also it cost too much for any of those drivers to convince a team otherwise.
Everyone has a price, but how much would it cost J.R. Hildebrand to get Andretti Global to change its mind? I am sure a stupid check of $3 million would have any team field him, but no one is stupid enough to spend that much on one race.
Motorsports in 2026 is not a free-for-all. It is not a place for dreams where a group of a half-dozen people can throw together a program, afford to spend most of May working on a car either to make the race without much hope of doing well or miss the race and not be that hurt by it. The only Indianapolis 500-only team we have had for the last decade is Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Everything is done with the budget in mind.
There is no magical fix. Even a third or fourth manufacturer joining IndyCar would not change much. Instead of two manufacturers deciding whether to support 17 or 18 programs, they would be deciding to support 10-12 programs or 8-9 programs. It is not set up for teams to come out of the woodwork nor are there any teams looking to enter out of the blue.
I wish it was different. I wish it was feasible for the Indy Lights teams to each field an entry. Abel Motorsports will likely do it with Jacob Abel this year and help get the field to 33, but I wish all Indy Lights team could do it.
May is a little open for the Indy Lights teams. On paper, it would be nice if they could use this time at the end of May to try and put a car in the field, and the cost were reasonable for the attempt while not hurting their full-time programs. It would be nice if HMD Motorsports, Cape Motorsports and Cusick Morgan Motorsports each could use that idle time to field an entry each and use it to gain knowledge, whether that be with a veteran showing those programs the ropes or a young driver getting an opportunity. It sounds great on paper. Everything is more practical on paper.
In the past 23 Indianapolis 500s, 15 have had 33 or 34 entries. The only years during this time that saw an excessive number of entries was 2008 to 2011 when the only option was the Dallara-Honda, a time everyone hated because of spec chassis and engines and a lack of competition. The event has evolved. It is normal to only get 33 or 34 entries and they go to the drivers who can secure the funding the fastest. Let's not act like this is a new thing.
The Indianapolis 500 is going to be fine. For all the hand-wringing over the lack of bumping, the race still attracts 300,000 people. There wasn't bumping for the 100th edition, and that race was the first sell out that lifted the blackout restrictions. Last year's race had one car go home for the third consecutive year, and the race still sold enough tickets to lift the blackout again.
The series would love to have 36 or 38 cars entered every year, but there is no way to force it. You cannot snap your fingers and make it affordable. Things should not drastically change because of the lack of bumping either. Qualifying proceedings should not be completely revamped because of the lack of bumping. IndyCar already did that for over decade and it didn't make anything better.
Perhaps one day it will change and it will be practical for such a number of entries to enter and bumping to be plentiful. Let's calm down over what has been the course of business for over 20 years. It isn't a tragedy.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Ty Gibbs, but did you know...
Connor Zilisch won the NASCAR Grand National Series race from Bristol. Christopher Bell won the Truck race.
The #36 TGR Team au TOM'S Toyota of Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita won the Super GT race from Okayama. The #777 D'station Racing Aston Martin of Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg won in GT300.
The #29 Forestier Racing by Panis Oreca-Gibson of Oliver Gray, Esteban Masson and Louis Rousset won the 4 Hours of Barcelona. The #5 Rinaldi Racing Ligier-Toyota of José Cautela, Mikkel Gaarde Pedersen and Alvise Rodella won in LMP3. The #75 Proton Competition Porsche of Richard Lietz, Tom Sargent and Matt Kurzejewski won in LMGT3.
The #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin of Mattia Drudi, Marco Sørensen and Nicki Thiim won the 6 Hours of Circuit Paul Ricard.
Brodie Kostecki and Ryan Wood split the Supercars races from Taupō.
Hunter Lawrence won the Supercross race from Nashville, his fourth victory of the season. Cole Davies won the 250cc race, his fourth victory of the season.
Takamoto Katsuta won Rally Croatia, his second consecutive victory.
Coming Up This Weekend
IndyCar is back for the Grand Prix of Long beach and IMSA will be there.
NASCAR is in Kansas.
The FIA World Endurance Championship finally has its season opener, this one from Imola.
World Superbike visits Assen.
Supercars makes it first visit to Ruapuna Park.
Supercross is in Cleveland for the first time in 31 years.
