The statistician's guide to the 2025 Indy 500

Racing statistician Scott Richards has produced some great Indianapolis 500 statistics in recent years for readers of RACER to enjoy, and with the 109th edition almost here, he’s generated an extensive list of historical data points to help appreciate the achievements found throughout the field of 33.

Field summary:

·       253 previous starts among 30 veterans, the most experienced field since 1992 (260)

·       Three rookies in the field for the third time in history (1973, 1990) & the fewest since 2021

·       Pole speed (232.79) is 1.43mph slower than 2024, the first year-to-year drop since 2018

·       Field average of 231.063 (not including the three cars that did not requalify), down 0.885mph from 2024, and down 0.997 mph from 2023

·       First time since 2006-08 that consecutive 500s saw a drop in average field speed

·       Chevrolet on pole for the 14th time, tying Miller and Honda for second-most all-time

·       Chevrolet has 18 cars starting, the most for the brand since 2002 (26)

·       Honda has 15 cars starting, their fewest since 2012 (also 15)

·       Largest gap in age between the oldest starter (Helio Castroneves) and the youngest (Nolan Siegel) since 2008 (10,775 days or 29 years, 5 months, 29 days)

·       Each of the first four rows contains exactly one former winner, the first such occurrence in race history

·       Four former winners start in Rows 8-11, tied for the most (1992, 2020)

Front Row:

·       First front row to have drivers born in Israel, Japan or Mexico

·       First front row with a rookie and a former winner since 1997: Arie Luyendyk and Vincenzo Sospiri

·       First time ever a rookie and a former winner qualified 1st and 2nd

Robert Shwartzman (Pole):

·       First rookie to win the pole since Teo Fabi (1983) and first to start from pole since Tony Stewart (1996)

·       Youngest polesitter since Bruno Junqueira in 2002 (Shwartzman is 25 years, 8 months and 9 days old)

·       Third driver to win the 500 pole in their first IndyCar oval start: Jean Chassagne – 1914, Walt Faulkner – 1950

·       PREMA becomes the first team to win the 500 pole in its first attempt since 1984: Mayer Motor Racing – Tom Sneva

·       Hoping to be the third rookie to win Rookie of the Year driving a car numbered 83: Donnie Allison – 1970, Bill Puterbaugh – 1975

Takuma Sato (2nd):

·       Third start in the first two rows. The other two instances, Sato went on to win: fourth – 2017, third – 2020

·       Oldest driver to sit on the front row since 1993 (Sato is 48 years, 4 months old): Mario Andretti started second in 1993 at 53 years, 3 months old

·       Best 500 start for a Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing entry since 2004 (Buddy Rice – pole)

·       Highest qualifying result for an Indy 500-only entry since 2013 (Carlos Munoz – second): The second place starting position has produced 11 winners, but only once since 1970 (Juan Pablo Montoya – 2000)

Pato O’Ward (3rd):

·       First driver since Scott Dixon to qualify in the first five rows in each of his first six 500s

·       Joins Dixon as the only drivers to qualify inside the first five rows in his first five 500s, but not earn his first front row start until his sixth start

·       First driver since Ryan Hunter-Reay (2016) to qualify for the front row after having previously failed to qualify for the 500 in his career

O'Ward is creating a regular home for himself in the first few rows of the Indy starting grid. Joe Skibinski/IMS

Scott Dixon (4th):

·       14th start in the first two rows, trails only Mario Andretti (20) and AJ Foyt (16)

·       Best starting spot for a driver with at least 20 previous 500 starts since 1993: Mario Andretti – second with 28 prior 500s

Felix Rosenqvist (5th):

·       Best 500 qualifying effort for Meyer Shank (previous best: eighth – Helio Castroneves 2021)

Alex Palou (6th):

·       Average start of 6.0 in first six 500s is the best since Dan Wheldon (2003-08: 5.7)

·       Sixth place starting position has only produced one winner since 1960 (Dan Wheldon – 2011)

David Malukas (7th):

·       The last driver to win from the seventh starting position was Malukas’s owner AJ Foyt (1961)

·       Third consecutive year AJ Foyt Enterprises qualified a car in the first three rows, the longest streak for the team since 1997-2001

Christian Lundgaard (8th):

·       One of three drivers who started 28th or worse in three consecutive 500s, then started higher in their next start: Davy Jones (second – 1996) and George Bailey (sixth – 1939)

Marcus Ericsson (9th):

·       Has the biggest year-to-year improvement in 500 starting position among all drivers at 23 spots: 32nd to ninth

Conor Daly (11th):

·       Best 500 starting spot for Juncos Hollinger (previous best: 17th – Kyle Kaiser 2018)

Ed Carpenter Racing (Alexander Rossi – 12th, Ed Carpenter – 14th, Christian Rasmussen – 18th):

·       First 500 since the team's debut year (2012) that it didn’t qualify a car inside the top 10

Santino Ferrucci (15th):

·       Looking to become the first driver to complete every lap in their first seven 500 starts

Sting Ray Robb (17th):

·       One of three drivers in the last 30 years to improve their starting position by at least six spots in each of their first 3 500s (Robb went from 31st to 23rd to 17th) – Will Power & Stan Wattles

Kyle Larson (19th):

·       Lowest starting spot for a driver attempting the Indy/Charlotte double since Tony Stewart in 1999 (24th)

Rows 8-11:

·       A combined 128 previous 500 starts among the 12 starts, the most for the final four rows of a 500 ever (previous record: 111 – 1992)

Row 8:

·       Helio Castroneves and Nolan Siegel: 10,775 days difference in age (29 years, 5 months, 29 days), the largest age gap between starters in the same row since 1992 (11,976 days - Buddy Lazier & AJ Foyt)

·       Eighth time in race history the youngest and oldest drivers in the field started in the same row, first time since 2015 (Sage Karam and Alex Tagliani – Row 7)

Helio Castroneves (22nd):

·       Starting 20th or worse for the fifthth time in the last six 500s. He had never started worse than 19th in any of his first 19 500s

·       Will be the only Brazilian driver in the starting lineup, the fewest for a 500 since 1996

Ryan Hunter-Reay (25th):

·       Lowest starting spot for the 500 since 2011 (originally DNQ’d, but replaced Bruno Junqueira and was moved to 33rd)

·       Along with Marco Andretti, he joins Johnny Rutherford, Gordon Johncock, Al Unser, Pancho Carter and Helio Castroneves as drivers who have started in 10 different rows for the 500 (Hunter-Reay has never started in Row 10)

Hunter-Reay joins the elite and secretive '10 different rows starters club'. Joe Skibinski/IMS Photo

Rows 10 and 11:

·       72 previous 500 starts, the most for the final two rows since 1986 (78)

·       First time in race history the two most experienced rows in the lineup are the last two rows

Marco Andretti (29th):

·       29th will be the 17th different starting position Marco has started the 500 from, the most for any driver since Al Unser (started 22nd in 1992, his 19th different spot)

·       Joins Johnny Rutherford and Helio Castroneves as the only drivers to start in each of the first 10 rows for a 500

Row 11:

·       First time since 2018 the final row featured a front row starter from the year prior, and first ever occurrence with two drivers

·       First time ever the final row consists of 3 drivers who previously started on the front row

·       First time Row 11 has featured two former winners

·       35 previous 500 starts, the 2nd most experienced Row 11 in race history: 1991 – 42 starts (Randy Lewis, Pancho Carter, Gordon Johncock)

Rinus VeeKay (31st):

·       Joins Tony Kanaan as the only drivers to qualify seventh or better in their first five 500s, then qualify on the last row in a later 500.

·       Mario Andretti also fits this, but only started in the last row due to a driver change

Josef Newgarden (32nd):

·       Lowest-ever starting position for a defending 500 winner: Previous low: 31st – Graham Hill 1967

·       Second multi-time 500 winner to start in Row 11 (Gordon Johncock - 1991)

Will Power (33rd):

·       Tied for biggest 500-to-500 drop in starting position (31 spots): Ralph Hepburn: second to 33rd (1931, 1933), Tom Sneva: second to 33rd (1979, 1980), Eddie Cheever: second to 33rd (1992, 1993)

·       Sixth former winner to start in Row 11 multiple times: Fred Frame, Mario Andretti, Tom Sneva, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Buddy Lazier

Recent top five finishes for drivers starting from Row 11:

·       2018 – Alexander Rossi (32nd to fourth – led one lap)

·       1992 – Scott Goodyear (33rd to second)

·       1981 – Mario Andretti (32nd to second – led 12 laps)

·       1980 – Tom Sneva (33rd to second – led 16 laps)

·       1980 – Gary Bettenhausen (32nd to third)

Best career 500 start (among veterans)

·       Takuma Sato: second (previous best third – 2020)

·       Pato O’Ward: third (previous best fifth – 2023)

·       David Malukas: seventh (previous best 13th – 2022)

·       Christian Lundgaard: eighth (previous best 28th – 2024)

·       Conor Daly: 11th (ties previous best 11th – 2019)

·       Kyffin Simpson: 13th (previous best 18th – 2024)

·       Devlin DeFrancesco: 16th (previous best 24th – 2022)

·       Sting Ray Robb: 17th (previous best 23rd – 2024)

·       Christian Rasmussen: 18th (previous best 24th – 2024)

Worst career 500 start (among veterans)

·       Kyle Larson: 19th (previous worst fifth – 2024)

·       Colton Herta: 27th (previous worst 25th – 2022)

·       Marco Andretti: 29th (previous worst 27th – 2011)

·       Marcus Armstrong: 30th (previous worst 16th – 2024)

·       Rinus VeeKay: 31st (previous worst seventh – 2024)

·       Josef Newgarden: 32nd (previous worst 25th – 2013)

·       Will Power: 33rd (previous worst 32nd – 2021)