The 2024 Indianapolis 500 will feature eight former winners and the fifth driver to attempt both the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day.
Here’s what you need to know ahead of the 108th edition of the race. The Green Flag is scheduled for Sunday at 12:45 PM ET with television coverage on NBC and streaming on Peacock.
Kyle Larson’s double attempt
Kyle Larson is trying to be the latest driver to run the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. He will start the Indy 500 fifth after a strong run in the final round of qualifying and will start the 600 at the back of the field after missing the pre-race driver’s meeting while en route to Charlotte Motor Speedway from Indianapolis. the 500.
Larson should have about two hours to get to Charlotte from Indy after the 500. With a start time of 12:45 PM ET, the 500 should be ready around 4:00 PM and the green flag for the 600 will be ready for 6:00 PM
Kurt Busch, the last driver to run both races on the same day in 2014, reached 600 with time to spare. Larson should have no problem getting to the track if there are no delays in Indianapolis.
Larson also has a great chance to be the second driver to complete all 600 laps in the same day. Tony Stewart finished sixth in the Indy 500 and third in the Coca Cola 600 in 2001. He is the only driver to finish on the lead lap in both races and no driver to finish both in the top five at Indianapolis.
Penske is going for 20 Indy wins
The winningest team in Indy 500 history is looking to go back-to-back after a front-row win in qualifying.
Josef Newgarden earned the 19th Indianapolis 500 victory in Team Penske history in 2023 and will start third behind teammates Scott McLaughlin and Will Power this year.
It is the first time since 1988 that Penske cars have occupied the front row. Polesitter Rick Mears won the race ahead of Emerson Fittipaldi and Penske’s drivers led 192 of the race’s 200 laps.
It’s unrealistic to expect this kind of dominance from Penske on Sunday, but the team’s drivers are the top three favorites to win at BetMGM. McLaughlin is +550 for the win, ahead of Newgarden at +600 and Power at +700.
Larson, meanwhile, has the same odds of winning as Power and is the top non-Penske favorite. It is not entirely impossible that Larson will win the 500 on Sunday. However, you’re probably better off betting on a full-time IndyCar driver.
A Penske win will be the team’s second official victory of the season. Newgarden and McLaughlin were disqualified after a 1-2 finish in the season-opening race in St. Petersburg because their cars’ engines were programmed to allow too much Push to Pass boost.
The Push to Pass error was discovered during the second race of the season in Long Beach and was the storyline of the IndyCar season, as Roger Penske also owns the series and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Penske has suspended several crew members from the Indianapolis 500 as a result of the scandal.
How will Chevy’s qualifying dominance translate?
As Penske moved through the field, Chevrolet-engined cars took the top eight starting positions for the race. Honda clearly didn’t have the horsepower to compete with the Chevys with the engines up.
Chevy is clearly the favorite manufacturer to take the win. But don’t rule out Honda in racing trim. Reliability is always an issue in Indianapolis, and you also need a car that can weave its way through traffic. The biggest non-Chevy favorite on the board is Scott Dixon at +1000 and Colton Herta at +1200. Herta set the fastest lap during the practice session on Monday. That was the last practice session before the annual Carb Day training on Friday.
Former winners in the field
Power (2018) and Newgarden are two of the former Indianapolis 500 winners in the field for Sunday’s race. 2016 winner Alexander Rossi starts fourth and was the highest non-Team Penske qualifier on Sunday. Two-time champion Takuma Sato starts tenth and should probably be considered the favorite among the part-time drivers in the field. Sato won the Indy 500 in 2017 and 2020.
2014 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay starts 12th, ahead of Hello Castroneves in 20th and Dixon in 21st. Castroneves is going for his fifth Indianapolis 500 victory after taking his fourth win in surprising fashion in 2021. The 49-year-old Castroneves is tied with AJ Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears for the most wins in Indy 500 history.
2022 winner Marcus Ericsson had an exciting qualifying weekend. After crashing during pre-qualifying practice, Ericsson failed to qualify in the top 30 on the first day of qualifying. That left him among the four drivers for the last three places on the second day of qualifying, and a miscommunication on his first qualifying attempt saw him take his foot off the gas on the final lap of his four-lap attempt.
Ericsson went out again with less than 10 minutes to go in the qualifying session on the last row, posting a time good enough for 32nd and bumping rookie Nolan Siegel from the field. Siegel crashed during his final qualifying attempt and was the only driver to miss the race.
