2024 Indianapolis 500 Preview – Odds

It’s Memorial Day, so time to start those engines. The 2024 Indianapolis 500 is set to take place Sunday (so not quite Memorial Day), and it’s always one of the biggest events on the calendar. This will be the 108th running of the ‘Greatest Spectacle in Racing,’ and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is ready. Race time is scheduled at approximately 12:45 PM ET.

Here’s a look at some of the Brickyard’s betting odds to win, and a look back at recent history… 

Newgarden in 2023

It was Josef Newgarden and Team Penske winning the 2023 Indianapolis 500, though not without plenty of controversy.

Sweden’s Marcus Ericsson, involved in the aforementioned incident a year ago, won this race in ‘22, while Helio Castroneves (12 years between victories) was the winner in 2021. Castroneves also won consecutively in 2001 and 2002. 

This time around, Newgarden qualified third, Castroneves 20th and Ericsson 28th. Scott McLaughlin won the pole at 234.220 miles per hour.

Here’s the 33-car field (starting spot, car no. team and qualifying time)… ..

1. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, Penske, 234.220
   2. (12) Will Power (W), Chevrolet, Penske, 233.917
   3. (2) Josef Newgarden (W), Chevrolet, Penske, 233.808
   4. (7) Alexander Rossi (W), Chevrolet, Arrow McLaren 233.090
   5. (17) Kyle Larson (R), Chevrolet, Arrow McLaren, 232.846
   6. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, AJ Foyt, 232.692
   7. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, Ed Carpenter Racing, 232.610
   8. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, Arrow McLaren, 232.584
   9. (60) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, Meyer Shank, 232.305
   10. (75) Takuma Sato (W), Honda, Rahal Letterman Lanigan, 232.171
   11. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, Andretti Global, 230.993
   12. (23), Ryan Hunter-Reay (W), Dreyer & Reinbold-Cusick, 230.567
   13. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, Andretti Global, 232.316
   14. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, Chip Ganassi Racing, 232.306
   15. (6) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, Arrow McLaren, 232.230
   16. (11) Marcus Armstrong (R), Honda, Chip Ganassi Racing, 232.183
   17. (20) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, Ed Carpenter Racing, 232.017
   18. (4) Kyffin Simpson (R), Honda, Chip Ganassi Racing, 231.948
   19. (98) Marco Andretti, Honda, Andretti Global, 231.890
   20. (06) Helio Castroneves (W), Honda, Meyer Shank, 231.871
   21. (9) Scott Dixon (W), Honda, Chip Ganassi Racing, 231.851
   22. (78) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 231.847
   23. (41) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, AJ Foyt Racing, 231.826
   24. (33) Christian Rasmussen (R), Chevrolet, Ed Carpenter Racing, 231.851
   25. (66) Tom Blomqvist (R), Honda, Meyer Shank, 231.578
   26. (77) Romain Grosjean, Chevrolet, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 231.514
   27. (8) Linus Lundqvist (R), Honda, Chip Ganassi Racing, 231.506
   28. (45) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, Rahal Letterman Lanigan, 231.465
   29. (24) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, Dreyer & Reinbold-Cusick, 231.243
   30. (30) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, Rahal Letterman Lanigan, 231.100
   31. (51) Katherine Legge, Honda, Dale Coyne Racing, 230.092
   32. (28) Marcus Ericsson (W), Honda, Andretti Global, 230.027
   33. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, Rahal Letterman Lanigan, 229.974

As a public service, here is a list of all Indianapolis 500 previous winners…

The Two Favorites

Looking at the betting odds, Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden are co-choices at 5-1 (+500) to win the race, according to Indianapolis 500 betting odds. Will Power, the 2018 winner, and Kyle Larson (more about him in a bit) are next, both priced at 7-1 (+700). 

The only other driver under double digits is Pato O’Ward, who’s sitting at 8-1 (+800),  

Some Other Contenders

Colton Herta and Alex Palou are 12-1 (+1200), while 2008 winner Scott Dixon is a 14-1 (+1400) proposition. All the way to 20-1 (+2000) after that, with Katherine Legge a 500-1 (+5000) shot.

Larson on Road

As was mentioned, Kyle Larson is a busy man Sunday afternoon and evening, ‘road trips’ in both IndyCar and NASCAR. Immediately after his first appearance in Indy 500, he’s off to Charlotte. Larson is the 17-4 (+425) favorite in that event, as per Coca-Cola 600 odds. 

Newgarden to Defend

Even without the drama of 2023’s last laps, expect Josef Newgarden (+500) to once again prevail, making him the first driver since Helio Castroneves (2001-02) to defend his title at Indy.