“The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” is scheduled to take place this Memorial Day weekend as the Indianapolis 500 runs for the 107th time at The Brickyard. The field is wide open for this sixth race of the 2023 Indy Car season, with five different drivers taking home wins to start the campaign. 2022 IndyCar champion Alex Palou is first in the standings, six points ahead of Pato O’Ward, with 43 points separating the top six drivers.
Palou will also lead the field of Indianapolis 500 betting picks after running the fastest four-lap pole-qualifying speed ever last Sunday at 234.217 mph. He finished just ahead of Rinus Veekay by 0.006 mph to win the third straight Indy 500 pole for Chip Ganassi Racing. However, history has shown that winning the pole seldom results in a win at Indy, with just 20% of drivers completing the feat.
Race Information
Indianapolis 500
Location of the race: Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Speedway, IN.
Date & Time: Sunday, May 28. 10:45 AM.
How to watch: Peacock
Indy 500 Betting Picks and Analysis
Alex Palou +500
Palou led for 52 of 85 laps, holding off a late challenge by Christian Lundgaard to win the Grand Prix of Indianapolis on May 13. The most consistent driver on the IndyCar circuit this season, Palou has four top-five finishes and hasn’t finished lower than eighth this season.
Palou will also start at the pole position for Sunday’s race. Although only one driver has won from the pole since 2010, he’s one of the top Indianapolis 500 betting picks to win this event in 2023.
Pato O’Ward +500
O’Ward is still waiting for his first win of 2023 but has three second-place finishes this season and four top-five results. He finished second to Palou on the road course at Indy in the last event and has made the podium more than any other driver in the field this season.
O’Ward finished fourth at Indy 2021, followed by a second-place result last season. He’ll be starting in the fifth position on Sunday and is just behind Palou in Indianapolis 500 odds to improve in 2023 and take this year’s title.
Scott Dixon +1000
One of the best drivers in this year’s field, Dixon last won at Indianapolis in 2008 when he also won the IndyCar Championship. However, since winning his sixth IndyCar title in 2020, his performance has dropped off, and he now sits seventh in the 2023 standings.
He has four top-tens in five races this season, finishing no lower than seventh in all but one race. Dixon will be starting sixth this Sunday, and many who bet on motorsports will pick him to take another victory at Indy.
Josef Newgarden +550
Newgarden is a proven winner that can’t be ruled out for this year’s Indy 500 and is one of the top betting picks. He has three top-ten finishes in 2023, with a win in the Grand Prix of Texas in the season’s second race.
Newgarden has two top-five finishes in this event but hasn’t finished in the top ten since 2019. He’s sixth in the IndyCar standings, 43 points behind Palou, and is one of the Indianapolis 500 predictions to take the checkered flag this weekend.
Indianapolis 500 Betting Prediction
While the chances of winning the Indy 500 from the pole are slim, Palou seems poised to take his first Indy 500 win. After breaking the record for the fastest qualifying time, he’ll have one of the fastest cars on Sunday and is in great form this season, finishing in the top ten in every race.
Palou has also finished in the top ten in his last two appearances here, including a second-place finish behind Helio Castroneves in 2021.
- As a result, Palau is at the top of 2023 Indianapolis 500 betting picks and looks like the safe bet to win his first race at The Brickyard on Sunday.
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