The Indianapolis 500 is Sunday and the starting grid has already been set. Alex Palou starts on pole position and is the betting favorite (+600).
There are plenty of reasons to like Palou in this race. The Spaniard won the 2021 IndyCar Series championship and is the championship leader through five races this season in a Honda-powered Chip Ganassi Racing car. He is also coming off a win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, although that was on the road course on May 13.
Advertisement
Palou, also the reserve driver for the McLaren Formula One team this season, was second in the Indy 500 two years ago and has two top 10 finishes in three starts.
Rinus VeeKay (+1300) and Felix Rosenqvist (+1100) join Palou on the front row. Pato O’Ward (+800) and Scott Dixon (+800), who will start on the second row, are higher up the odds than VeeKay and Rosenqvist. O’Ward is second in the championship with three-second place finishes and another fourth-place finish in five races.
There are nine former winners in the 33-car field. Six former winners are starting in the top 12. Four-time winner Hélio Castroneves is starting in the middle of the seventh row. The 48-year-old won two years ago and is +4500 to win the race.
This year’s race is the 107th running of the Indy 500.
British driver Katherine Legge is making her third Indy 500 start, the most recent of which was in 2013.
Graham Rahal was a late addition to the field, taking the spot of Stefan Wilson, who had to withdraw due to injury. Wilson qualified 25th, but Rahal will start 33rd in Wilson’s Dreyer & Reinbold entry.
How to watch and stream the 2023 Indianapolis 500
Date: Sunday, May 28
Time: 12:45 p.m. ET
TV: NBC, Universo
Streaming: Peacock
2023 Indianapolis 500 starting order
| Row | Inside | Middle | Outside |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Alex Palou | Rinus VeeKay | Felix Rosenqvist |
2 | Santino Ferrucci | Pato O'Ward | Scott Dixon |
3 | Alexander Rossi | Takuma Sato | Tony Kanaan |
4 | Marcus Ericsson | Benjamin Pedersen | Will Power |
5 | Ed Carpenter | Scott McLaughlin | Kyle Kirkwood |
6 | Conor Daly | Josef Newgarden | Ryan Hunter-Reay |
7 | Romain Grosjean | Hélio Castroneves | Colton Herta |
8 | Simon Pagenaud | David Malukas | Marco Andretti |
9 | Devlin DeFrancesco | Agustin Canapino | Callum Ilott |
10 | R.C Enerson | Katherine Legge | Christian Lundgaard |
11 | Sting Ray Robb | Jack Harvey | Graham Rahal |
2023 Indianapolis 500 odds
(Photo of Alex Palou: Justin Casterline / Getty Images)
