On Sunday, the latest edition of the Indianapolis 500 will get underway at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, an event that dates back to 1911. Drivers complete 200 laps on a 2 ½-mile asphalt circuit. No driver has ever won more than four Indy 500s, as it is the premier race in a sport that can be unpredictable, with mechanical issues, crashes and even weather keeping things from happening ideally. Nine different winners have won in the last 10 editions of this race.
We have some IndyCar betting thoughts on the three best choices to win, so read on before you lock in your wagers.
NTT IndyCar: Indy 500 Top Three Picks
Scott Dixon is the favorite to win on Sunday. In fact, this is the second year in a row in which he is the favorite to win. He will start on the pole, as he had the best qualifying run, beating Colton Herta by just 0.03 mph. Dixon’s qualifying time was the fifth-fastest ever recorded in the history of the Indy 500.
Takuma Soto, the defending champion, enters this race with 20/1 odds. He also won the Indy 500 in 2017, the only multiple winner in the last decade. He raced out of the third position in 2020, but this time around his qualifying runs only landed him 15th position.
Will Power had a difficult time even qualifying for this year’s Indy 500. He won the whole thing in 2018, but he had to rely on his time at Bump Day and got one of the last two spots in the race. He will start from the 32nd position, which will make winning extremely challenging for him.
Pato O’Ward did not make it to the Fast Nine Shootout, and so he will start in 13th position. Josef Newgarden struggled at qualifying and will start in 21st position.
So who are the top three?
Scott Dixon led for 111 laps here a year ago and, at one point, led the rest of the field by seven seconds. Soto would eventually pass him, but Dixon stayed close. It was not until a caution at the 195th lap that his chances to win faded. This year, he was speedy in qualifying, and he won the Grand Prix of Texas’ opening race on May 1. In 18 races this season, he has a dozen top-ten finishes.
Rinus VeeKay is just 20 years old, and this will just be his second Indianapolis 500. However, he already has a win at this track, winning on May 15 in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. He started in seventh position but moved up to lead the race for 33 laps, the second highest total for any driver who competed. The Indy 500 is a much longer than the Grand Prix, but the Grand Prix winner in 2018 and 2019 followed that up with a win at the Indy 500. In five races this season, he has four top-ten finishes. He picked up some lessons in his Indy 500 debut last year and should race better. He runs out of third position on Sunday, but his odds do not reflect that, which means that he adds some serious value.
Scott McLaughlin is an interesting rookie, who comes in at +3300 odds to win the Indy 500 in his debut. He will run out of 17th position, and he just came in eighth at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Only three rookies have won the Indy 500, but all of those have taken place since 2016. Alexander Rossi pulled off the feat most recently, back in 2016. It is true that experience is important at any race, but if you are looking for some value on a real sleeper pick, this is an interesting driver.
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