The show must go on for this year’s Indianapolis 500, even without fans and only half the overall prize money. This surely isn’t how Roger Penske would’ve liked for his first year of track and series ownership to go, but rest assured, there will be a field of 33 open-wheel racers competing for 200 laps around Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In fact, that’s happening next week—for real this time—and the final entry list has been confirmed.
The old guard will, of course, be there with the likes of Andretti Autosport, Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske making up the early favorites. Helio Castroneves is back once more to drive for The Captain, though RP won’t be on the stand making strategy calls this time around in the interest of fairness. Regardless, Will Power, Simon Pagenaud and Castroneves are poised to claim another Indy win while reigning series champion Josef Newgarden hopes to nab his first.
Fernando Alonso is returning with the Arrow McLaren SP squad in hopes of building on his strong 2017 appearance and forgetting last year altogether. Luckily for the two-time F1 champion’s sanity, there’s no Bump Day in the plans for 2020.
New faces include Oliver Askew, Dalton Kellett, Pato O’Ward and Alex Palou, all of whom will be making their Indy 500 debuts on Aug. 23. O’Ward attempted to qualify for the 2019 race but was one of the three drivers bumped from the field in an especially memorable day at IMS.
Oh, and there’s also a slew of new sponsors, most notably the United States Space Force. Our nation’s sixth and newest military branch is backing Ed Carpenter in the No. 20 Chevrolet, while the Air Force has put its support behind Conor Daly in the No. 47 Chevy.
Here’s the complete list of drivers along with their teams that’ll be vying for a trip to victory lane next Sunday
1 Josef Newgarden – Team Penske – Chevrolet
3 Helio Castroneves – Team Penske – Chevrolet
4 Charlie Kimball – A.J. Foyt Enterprises – Chevrolet
5 Pato O’Ward – Arrow McLaren SP – Chevrolet
7 Oliver Askew – Arrow McLaren SP – Chevrolet
8 Marcus Ericsson – Chip Ganassi Racing – Honda
9 Scott Dixon – Chip Ganassi Racing – Honda
10 Felix Rosenqvist – Chip Ganassi Racing – Honda
12 Will Power – Team Penske – Chevrolet
14 Tony Kanaan – A.J. Foyt Enterprises – Chevrolet
15 Graham Rahal – Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing – Honda
18 Santino Ferrucci – Dale Coyne Racing w/ Vasser Sullivan – Honda
20 Ed Carpenter – Ed Carpenter Racing – Chevrolet
21 Rinus VeeKay – Ed Carpenter Racing – Chevrolet
22 Simon Pagenaud – Team Penske – Chevrolet
24 Sage Karam – Dreyer & Reinbold Racing – Chevrolet
26 Zach Veach – Andretti Autosport – Honda
27 Alexander Rossi – Andretti Autosport – Honda
28 Ryan Hunter-Reay – Andretti Autosport – Honda
29 James Hinchcliffe – Andretti Autosport – Honda
30 Takuma Sato – Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing – Honda
41 Dalton Kellett – A.J. Foyt Enterprises – Chevrolet
45 Spencer Pigot – RLL w/ Citrone/Buhl Autosport – Honda
47 Conor Daly – Ed Carpenter Racing – Chevrolet
51 James Davison – Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing, Byrd & Belardi – Honda
55 Alex Palou – Dale Coyne Racing w/ Team Goh – Honda
59 Max Chilton – Carlin – Chevrolet
60 Jack Harvey – Meyer Shank Racing – Honda
66 Fernando Alonso – Arrow McLaren SP – Chevrolet
67 J.R. Hildebrand – Dreyer & Reinbold Racing – Chevrolet
81 Ben Hanley – DragonSpeed USA – Chevrolet
88 Colton Herta – Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport – Honda
98 Marco Andretti – Andretti Herta Autosport w/ Marco & Curb-Agajanian – Honda
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