Defending champion Helio Castroneves will start on the pole and be the favorite at sports betting companies to win his fourth Indy 500. The 94th running of the Indy 500 will be on Sunday and the main sportsbetting contenders are in the first two rows.
Sports betting companies list Castroneves as the +250 favorite. Scott Sixon is on the inside of row two and he is the second choice at +275. Castroneves is on the pole with Will Power and Dario Franchitti completing row one. Power is +600 while Franchitti is +375. The pole sitter has won four of the last six Indy 500 races so Castroneves is a deserving favorite. Castroneves has eight Top-10 finishes in his nine career starts including his three wins.
The five drivers with single digit sports betting odds are Castroneves, Dixon, Franchitti, Briscoe and Power. If one of those five drivers doesn’t win the race on Sunday it would be a surprise. The only real long shot contender is Alex Tagliani who is 11-1 in Indy 500 odds.
Last year it was Castroneves winning the pole and leading for 66 laps including the final 58. Castroneves led early but it was Franchittit who led after the first few laps. Ryan Briscoe was in the mix for a while before Dixon took over. Castroneves got the lead back and the race was really over. Dixon dominated the race two years ago and was the Indy 500 winner. Franchitti won the race three years ago.
There are other drivers on the odds board but realistically none of them have much of a chance. Marco Andretti is 15-1, Danica Patrick, Tony Kanaan and Dan Wheldon are 22-1, and Hideki Mutoh is 32-1 while Vitor Meira is 42-1. Not many of those drivers have much of a chance. Kanaan was lucky to qualify at all and he is starting next to last while Patrick has looked terrible all week in practice.
Normally in an auto race you can look for some value and try and pick a long shot to win. With the Indy 500 that doesn’t look to be the case. The drivers in the top two rows look to be the only ones that have a realistic chance of winning the Indy 500 on Sunday.