Date/Time:
Race length: 500 miles (200 laps)
Track length: 2.5 miles (4.023 km)
Defending winner: Tony Kanaan
Forecast: Mostly Sunny, 80F
Television: United States - ABC (tape delay until the evening in Indiana); International check your local listings
Radio: Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network; Armed Forces Network; Sirius channel 212/XM channel 94:
The field this year includes 6 former Indianapolis 500 winners and for the first time in the history of the race, both a former NASCAR champion (Kurt Busch) and a former F1 World Champion (Jacques Villeneuve)
So there's a whole series based around the cars that race in the Indianapolis 500?
Yes, here's a quick recap
Will Power the "Stone Cold" Steve Austin of race car drivers is first in the points with a win at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix and good results elsewhere. However the road course ace usually is a mere mortal when he can't turn both left and right.
Simon Pagenaud who claims to have acted in Talledega Nights won the inagural Indy Grand Prix. That and a bunch of other Top 5s give him another markers for second.
The best 'Merican driver in the series Ryan Hunter-Reay won at Barber again and sits at 3rd in the standings.
Who is the polesitter?
That'd be Indianapolis native Ed Carpenter for the second year in a row. The driver/owner has gotten better on the ovals every year and has wins at Kentucky & Fontana. His team owns a race win with Mike Conway at Long Beach this year (Conway drives the road/street circuits and Carpenter drives on the ovals).
Who are the favorites?
Here are the odds from sportsbook.com
Helio Castroneves 5/1 (Helio is going for his 4th Indianpolis 500 win)
Marco Andretti 6/1 (Marco drives like an Andretti at Indy, despite not living up to his name elsewhere)
Juan Montoya 7/1 (Montoya has started slowly in his return from NASCAR, but 1999 CART champ & 2000 Indy 500 champ is a threat)
Ed Carpenter 8/1
Carlos Munoz 9/1 (Finished 2nd last year and everyone was shocked he didn't wreck... will his luck hold up?)
James Hinchcliffe 10/1 (Canadian hope starting 2nd on the grid is a very good driver)
Tony Kanaan 10/1
Ryan Hunter-Reay 10/1
Will Power 10/1
Scott Dixon 10/1 (Scott "The Nielsen Ratings Killer" Dixon may have the best car in the field in race trim)
Simon Pagenaud 12/1
What are the other storylines to follow?
2004 NASCAR champion Kurt Busch is attempting to run the infamous Indianapolis 500/Coca-Cola 600 double where he runs 1100 miles in one day. He's the most talented stock car driver to attempt the double without open-wheel experience. His times have been fairly competitive so he does have a chance at winning.
Young Americans in the field: Newgarden needs a breakthrough performance in his 3rd year in the IndyCar series. JR Hildebrand is Ed Carpenter's teammate and is still trying to recover from his epic 2011 choke on the last lap. 19-year old Sage Karam shares a hometown with the Andretti family (Nazareth, PA) and has been thought of as potentially being the "next great American driver" since he was 15. He's won at every level he's raced at but it's hard when the Indy 500 is your first race in the big cars. I'm really excited to see how he does.
Former winners returning: Montoya should be competitive, but 1995 winner Jacques Villeneuve and 1996 winner Buddy Lazier are also in the field. Lazier has quietly been putting up fast times in race trim, so he should move up from the last row.
