On Sunday 33 cars will fill the 2.5 mile flat-oval in Speedway, Indiana with over 300,000 spectators at the track and millions watching at home. The field represents a variety of countries, experience, and the same motivation to hoist the Borg-Warner trophy at the end of the day.
With the biggest field the Verizon Indycar Series sees all year, the mixture of new faces for the greatest spectacle in racing is expected. The biggest name of the newcomers is 2-time Formula one champion Fernando Alonso who has teamed with Andretti Autosport and Mclaren.
Alonso joins the likes Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart as champions of other racing disciplines to compete at Indy. Alonso has surprised many for the past week after making the fast nine qualifying shootout and earning a 5th place starting position. Over the course of the month he has been gaining confidence and will be in contention on Sunday
With about half the field with a real possible shot, it is impossible to count anyone out after Alexander Rossi won last years race as a rookie due to amazing fuel conservation. Rossi has been fast all month and was 7th fastest in final practice and has a great chance to repeat for Andretti Autosport.
There are seven former winners in the field: Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Alexander Rossi, Juan Pablo Montoya, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Buddy Lazier. These select few look to improve their already great resumes with another Indy win.
The category of drivers have been close and have the chance to win this year are: Will Power, Graham Rahal, and Carlos Munoz. Munoz who averages a 7th place finish in four races has the best average finish in the field looks to put A.J. Foyt’s No. 14 car back in Indianapolis Motor Speedway victory lane.
There will be drivers who will be in the field logging laps, avoiding trouble, and hoping for the best finish possible. Sebastián Saavedra, Gabby Chaves, and Pippa Mann are all hoping for some luck Sunday afternoon. Mann, the only female in the field will be looking to avoid her usual bad luck at Indy.
Regardless of luck this year, the last place finisher will receive over $200,000 for just entering the race. That’s an amazing amount for being the worst at anything especially in a race. But this isn’t just any race, this is “The Greatest spectacle in Racing”, The Indy 500.