Indy 500 history in the making

A potential three-peat for Josef Newgarden or Helio Castroneves’s fifth victory are merely the highest profile records on offer in today’s 109th running of the Indianapolis 500: there are numerous chances of landmarks being laid at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this afternoon.

The understandable furor around Team Penske over the last eight days has diverted attention away from Newgarden’s potential to score a unique third consecutive Indy win, but it has also overshadowed the fact that he or teammate Will Power can now become the first driver in 500 history to win from the back row of the grid. At the moment, the record for a winner’s climb to victory is held by Ray Harroun in the inaugural event in 1911 and Louis Meyer in 1936, each of whom came through from 28th.

Naturally, achieving a top three from the back row is a tad less rare. In 1980, Tom Sneva started his privateer McLaren in 33rd and finished second, beaten only by a car/driver combo that would have beaten him anyway even if he’d started from the front row, namely the Chaparral of Johnny Rutherford. A year later, Mario Andretti drove his Wildcat from the back row to second, and his fans will argue it should have been first, but for Bobby Unser’s interesting interpretation of how to blend from the pit warm-up lane onto the track when joining the pack in a caution period. The most recent back-row-to-top-three-finish came from Scott Goodyear in 1992, when Al Unser Jr. outdueled him to score the closest ever Indy win, by 0.043s.

So going from the back to the front over the course of 200 laps is most definitely feasible. This is not to make light of the challenge faced by the No. 2 and No. 12 branches of the Penske squad today. But the pit crews of Newgarden and Power were effortlessly slick in the Pit Stop Challenge, and Newgarden in particular looked highly impressive in Carb Day’s final practice, able to run seemingly anywhere and pass seemingly anyone. All it could take is one bold strategic gamble and an inadvertently well-timed caution period to put either or both Penske aces right back where they belong.

Castroneves’s attempt to start a unique five-time Indy winners’ club began the year after his remarkable 2021 triumph, when he joined A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears. But this year he also has the chance to become the first 50-year-old to conquer the Brickyard. Unser currently holds the record for his 1987 victory, when he was 47 years, 360 days old. However, the Meyer Shank Racing-Honda driver will have to come from 22nd on the grid, so right now, it appears a stronger candidate for becoming oldest Indy winner is Takuma Sato, who will start today’s race from the middle of the front row. The two-time Indy winner had a heavy shunt in April’s open test, but it’s a testament to Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Honda that it had enough resources to give its one-off “extra” entry the spit ’n’ polish necessary for Taku to shine in qualifying.

Could it be five at 50 for Castroneves? Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Sato will start between Prema Racing-Chevrolet’s rookie, shock polesitter Robert Shwartzman, and Arrow McLaren-Chevy ace Pato O’Ward. Shwartzman, who has already made history by becoming the first Israeli to take pole, as well as the first rookie to take pole since Teo Fabi in 1983, also heads into the race knowing he can become the first Israeli to win the race. Perennial favorite O’Ward, who has excelled at the Speedway ever since 2020, could become the first Mexican winner.

While Castroneves is the most experienced Indy 500 driver in the field – this will be his 25th start – Scott Dixon already holds the all-time record for most laps led here, at 677, despite having won the race “only” once, in 2008. Well, today will mark his 408th Indy car start, breaking Mario Andretti’s record, but the Chip Ganassi Racing legend would probably also like to separate himself from the icon by taking a second 500 win. Should he achieve that, he will also pass Juan Pablo Montoya’s record for the largest gap between two wins (2000 and 2015).

It's definitely worth noting that, like Shwartzman and O’Ward, Alex Palou (Spain), Kyffin Simpson (Cayman Islands), as well as Christian Lundgaard and Christan Rasmussen (both from Denmark) could become their respective countries inaugural Indy 500 winner. Palou, Ganassi’s three-time IndyCar champion and currently the runaway points leader, has yet to win on an oval, but that’s unfairly unrepresentative of his form on ovals, and he’s always been impressive at the Brickyard. And besides, given that folks liken the Speedway’s nature to that of a stunningly quick road course, given the relative flatness of the corners, it’s surely only a matter of time before Palou conquers it. But is that time today?

Speaking of his 20-year-old teammate Simpson, he, along with McLaren’s Nolan Siegel (20) and RLL’s Louis Foster (21), each have a chance of breaking a 73-year-old record. Troy Ruttman was the youngest winner in Indy history – 22 years

and 80 days old – when he won the 500 in 1952, and it’s perhaps surprising that in a sport where kids often reach the top levels while they’re teenagers, this record has withstood the test of time.

Any or none of these records could be on the brink of a reset, and it’s worth perusing our guide to some interesting statistics surrounding the 33 starters for today’s race. But whatever the outcome, this is The Greatest Spectacle in Racing and whoever prevails this afternoon will have etched his and his team’s name in history.