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As 12 teams and 34 drivers put together their final preparations for this week's pivotal two-day Indianapolis 500 Open Test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway — the final on-track action on the IMS oval until Day 1 of practice for the 500 kicks off May 13 — the field for the 109th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing appears to be set.
At 18 entries — 14 full-time and four one-offs — a spokesperson with Chevorlet told IndyStar earlier this year that the engine manufacturer has been set for some time with their prospective Indy 500 lineup. On Tuesday, an official with Honda Racing Corp. USA confirmed to IndyStar that the engine manufacturer has no imminent plans in the works to add to their current Indy 500 lineup of 16 entries, and that barring any unforeseen circumstances, that is where their crew would settle for next month.
The final iron in the fire that could've led to a 35th entry for this year's fight for the 33 spots on the grid — two-time winner Takuma Sato with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was No. 34 — was Katherine Legge, the four-time 500 starter who ran in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing each of the last two years with RLL (2023) and Dale Coyne Racing (2024). Earlier this month, Legge unveiled a 12-race stock car schedule to end 2025 — 14 total for the season, including ARCA at Daytona in February and Phoenix in a Cup car in March — that will see her make seven starts in the Xfinity Series, including last weekend's race at Rockingham, and five more appearances in the Cup series backed by popular cosmetics company e.l.f. Legge's major backer originally appeared as a sponsor of the 44-year-old's for the 2023 Indy 500 and returned last year as her primary sponsor with a major activation component around IMS that made it one of the most visible brands in the race, despite Legge starting 31st and finishing 29th with an engine failure after just 22 laps.
For a stretch of this offseason, Legge and e.l.f. seemed primed to make a return to the 500 again in a one-off entry. Last year, Legge ran the oval-only portion of Dale Coyne Racing's No. 51 Honda, including the 500. Honda Racing Corp. USA was keen to see her find a spot and had an engine earmarked for her use, but she seemingly ran into trouble acquiring a chassis to drop that Honda engine into, with teams wanting to hold onto their spares in hopes of not having to buy many (or any) more before Penske Entertainment rolls out a new car and corresponding technical regulations in a couple years. One spare known to be on the market, previously owned by the Enerson family, was purchased by new IndyCar team Prema Racing this offseason, and Abel Motorsports (and its namesake and owner Bill Abel) have opted to hold onto theirs they purchased from Dallara in 2024 in case it's needed by Abel's son, IndyCar rookie and Dale Coyne Racing driver Jacob Abel.
After running into too many dead ends in search of a 500 deal this year, Legge and e.l.f. opted to take the stock car route. As part of her announced NASCAR schedule, Legge will race at Charlotte Motor Speedway during Memorial Day weekend, a sign when the first parts of her upcoming schedule were released April 10 that this year's 500 was no longer an option for Legge.
Katherine Legge talks NASCAR experience: 'Hate mail, death threats, inappropriate sexual comments'
Here are the 34 drivers slated to attempt to qualify for this year's race, with one driver guaranteed to be bumped and miss the race:
A.J. FOYT RACING (Chevy, two cars)
ANDRETTI GLOBAL (Honda, four cars)
ARROW MCLAREN (Chevy, four cars)
CHIP GANASSI RACING (Honda, three cars)
DALE COYNE RACING (Honda, two cars)
DREYER & REINBOLD RACING/CUSICK MOTORSPORTS (Chevy, two cars)
ED CARPENTER RACING (Chevy, three cars)
JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING (Chevy, two cars)
MEYER SHANK RACING (Honda, three cars)
PREMA RACING (Chevy, two cars)
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING (Honda, four cars)
TEAM PENSKE (Chevy, three cars)
Drivers, schedule, more: 6 things to know about Indy 500 Open Test
Though he went through the whole Month of May process a year ago, because he was bumped during qualifying, Nolan Siegel remains a rookie for this year's Indy 500 for the second year running. Here's who's in the running to follow in Kyle Larson's footsteps for Indy 500 Rookie of the Year honors:
This year's Indy 500 field includes eight former winners whose accomplishments account for 13 total 500 wins, each of the last five, eight of the last nine and 11 of the last 16. That group includes:
Here's a list of IndyCar race-winners who've yet to win their first Indy 500:
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Who's on the Indy 500 entry list? Full lineup, rookies, former winners
Continue reading...
At 18 entries — 14 full-time and four one-offs — a spokesperson with Chevorlet told IndyStar earlier this year that the engine manufacturer has been set for some time with their prospective Indy 500 lineup. On Tuesday, an official with Honda Racing Corp. USA confirmed to IndyStar that the engine manufacturer has no imminent plans in the works to add to their current Indy 500 lineup of 16 entries, and that barring any unforeseen circumstances, that is where their crew would settle for next month.
Is Katherine Legge running in the Indy 500?
The final iron in the fire that could've led to a 35th entry for this year's fight for the 33 spots on the grid — two-time winner Takuma Sato with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was No. 34 — was Katherine Legge, the four-time 500 starter who ran in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing each of the last two years with RLL (2023) and Dale Coyne Racing (2024). Earlier this month, Legge unveiled a 12-race stock car schedule to end 2025 — 14 total for the season, including ARCA at Daytona in February and Phoenix in a Cup car in March — that will see her make seven starts in the Xfinity Series, including last weekend's race at Rockingham, and five more appearances in the Cup series backed by popular cosmetics company e.l.f. Legge's major backer originally appeared as a sponsor of the 44-year-old's for the 2023 Indy 500 and returned last year as her primary sponsor with a major activation component around IMS that made it one of the most visible brands in the race, despite Legge starting 31st and finishing 29th with an engine failure after just 22 laps.
For a stretch of this offseason, Legge and e.l.f. seemed primed to make a return to the 500 again in a one-off entry. Last year, Legge ran the oval-only portion of Dale Coyne Racing's No. 51 Honda, including the 500. Honda Racing Corp. USA was keen to see her find a spot and had an engine earmarked for her use, but she seemingly ran into trouble acquiring a chassis to drop that Honda engine into, with teams wanting to hold onto their spares in hopes of not having to buy many (or any) more before Penske Entertainment rolls out a new car and corresponding technical regulations in a couple years. One spare known to be on the market, previously owned by the Enerson family, was purchased by new IndyCar team Prema Racing this offseason, and Abel Motorsports (and its namesake and owner Bill Abel) have opted to hold onto theirs they purchased from Dallara in 2024 in case it's needed by Abel's son, IndyCar rookie and Dale Coyne Racing driver Jacob Abel.
After running into too many dead ends in search of a 500 deal this year, Legge and e.l.f. opted to take the stock car route. As part of her announced NASCAR schedule, Legge will race at Charlotte Motor Speedway during Memorial Day weekend, a sign when the first parts of her upcoming schedule were released April 10 that this year's 500 was no longer an option for Legge.
Katherine Legge talks NASCAR experience: 'Hate mail, death threats, inappropriate sexual comments'
The entry list for the 109th Indy 500
Here are the 34 drivers slated to attempt to qualify for this year's race, with one driver guaranteed to be bumped and miss the race:
A.J. FOYT RACING (Chevy, two cars)
- David Malukas, No. 4
- Santino Ferrucci, No. 14
ANDRETTI GLOBAL (Honda, four cars)
- Colton Herta, No. 26
- Kyle Kirkwood, No. 27
- Marcus Ericsson, No. 28
- Marco Andretti, No. 98
ARROW MCLAREN (Chevy, four cars)
- Pato O'Ward, No. 5
- Nolan Siegel, No. 6
- Christian Lundgaard, No. 7
- Kyle Larson, No. 17
CHIP GANASSI RACING (Honda, three cars)
- Kyffin Simpson, No. 8
- Scott Dixon, No. 9
- Alex Palou, No. 10
DALE COYNE RACING (Honda, two cars)
- Rinus VeeKay, No. 18
- Jacob Abel, No. 51
DREYER & REINBOLD RACING/CUSICK MOTORSPORTS (Chevy, two cars)
- Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 23
- Jack Harvey, No. 24
ED CARPENTER RACING (Chevy, three cars)
- Alexander Rossi, No. 20
- Christian Rasmussen, No. 21
- Ed Carpenter, No. 33
JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING (Chevy, two cars)
- Conor Daly, No. 76
- Sting Ray Robb, No. 77
MEYER SHANK RACING (Honda, three cars)
- Helio Castroneves, No. 06
- Felix Rosenqvist, No. 60
- Marcus Armstrong, No. 66
PREMA RACING (Chevy, two cars)
- Robert Shwartzman, No. 83
- Callum Ilott, No. 90
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING (Honda, four cars)
- Graham Rahal, No. 15
- Devlin DeFrancesco, No. 30
- Louis Foster, No. 45
- Takuma Sato, No. 75
TEAM PENSKE (Chevy, three cars)
- Josef Newgarden, No. 2
- Scott McLaughlin, No. 3
- Will Power, No. 12
Drivers, schedule, more: 6 things to know about Indy 500 Open Test
Who's in the running for Indy 500 Rookie of the Year?
Though he went through the whole Month of May process a year ago, because he was bumped during qualifying, Nolan Siegel remains a rookie for this year's Indy 500 for the second year running. Here's who's in the running to follow in Kyle Larson's footsteps for Indy 500 Rookie of the Year honors:
- Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren
- Jacob Abel, Dale Coyne Racing
- Robert Shwartzman, Prema Racing
- Louis Foster, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
How many former Indy 500 winners are in this year's field?
This year's Indy 500 field includes eight former winners whose accomplishments account for 13 total 500 wins, each of the last five, eight of the last nine and 11 of the last 16. That group includes:
- Helio Castroneves (four wins: 2001, 2002, 2009, 2021)
- Josef Newgarden (two wins: 2023, 2024)
- Takuma Sato (two wins: 2017, 2020)
- Scott Dixon (one win: 2008)
- Ryan Hunter-Reay (one win: 2014)
- Alexander Rossi (one win: 2016)
- Will Power (one win: 2018)
- Marcus Ericsson (one win: 2022)
Which notable drivers are looking to win their first Indy 500?
Here's a list of IndyCar race-winners who've yet to win their first Indy 500:
- Alex Palou (13 wins, 3 IndyCar championships)
- Colton Herta (9 wins)
- Pato O'Ward (7 wins)
- Scott McLaughlin (7 wins)
- Graham Rahal (6 wins)
- Ed Carpenter (3 wins)
- Kyle Kirkwood (3 wins)
- Marco Andretti (2 wins)
- Felix Rosenqvist (1 win)
- Rinus VeeKay (1 win)
- Christian Lundgaard (1 win)
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Who's on the Indy 500 entry list? Full lineup, rookies, former winners
Continue reading...
