Indy 500
Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of summer. With it comes one of the greatest traditions in auto racing; the Indianapolis 500. I’ll admit I’m not a fan of Indy Cars most weekends spending most of my hours covering the trio of top level NASCAR circuits but there’s just something about the history of open wheel racing at the Brickyard that captures even the casual fan. Drivers completed qualifying over the weekend (no thanks to the weather) meaning we saw oddsmakers forced to shuffle their odds a bit before the big race. Despite a previous best finish here of 8th back in 2013, Simon Pagenaud moved to co-favorite at 9-2 after a strong week of practice highlighted by a good result on Sunday. Pagenaud was widely available at 10-1 early last week. The other driver listed at 9-2 along side the talented frenchman? None other than 2008 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon, who also happens the pole sitter for Sunday’s race. Aside from shuffling at the top, long shot Justin Wilson’s odds to win the race dipped from 100-1 down to 30-1 now that he knows where he’ll be starting on the grid. However the implied probability of his heading to victory lane with a milk jug only changed minimally from 1% to 3%
What you should know about the starting lineup
Here’s a complete look at the side by side comparison of current prices post qualifying compared to the opening lines courtesy of the Westgate Superbook
Driver | Post Qualifying | Openers |
Scott Dixon | 9-2 | 6 |
Simon Pagenaud | 9-2 | 10 |
Helio Castroneves | 6 | 5 |
Juan Montoya | 7 | 5 |
Will Power | 5 | 7 |
Tony Kanaan | 6 | 6 |
Marco Andretti | 15 | 10 |
Ed Carpenter | 18 | 10 |
Carlos Munoz | 20 | 20 |
Ryan Hunter-Reay | 25 | 12 |
Josef Newgarden | 30 | 30 |
Jr Hildebrand | 30 | 30 |
Justin Wilson | 30 | 100 |
James Hinchcliffe | 40 | 30 |
Sage Karam | 50 | 30 |
Graham Rahal | 50 | 40 |
Sebastian Bourdais | 50 | 60 |
Field | 50 | 30 |
Oriol Servia | 75 | 60 |
Simona De Silvestro | 100 | 60 |
Jack Hawksworth | 100 | 75 |
Takuma Sato | 100 | 100 |
Alex Tagliani | 100 | 100 |
Carlos Huerta | 100 | 100 |