2023 Indianapolis 500 Betting Preview
The milk will be on ice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend, awaiting the winner of the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500.
Two weeks ago on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course Alex Palou won his first race of the season, and at the Bovada Sportsbook Palou is the favorite to win on the oval this weekend at +550.
Palou has also captured the pole position this weekend and if he were to win he would be the first pole sitter to capture the checkered flag since Simon Pagenaud in 2019. His best career finish in the Indy 500 came in 2021 when he finished second.
O'Ward, Dixon, Sato follow in Indy odds
Following Palou on the Indianapolis 500 odds are Pato O’Ward at +600, Scott Dixon at +850, and Takuma Sato at +1000.
O’Ward has just missed out on victory lane three times this season with three second-place finishes, which includes a second-place result on the Indy Road course two weeks ago. O’Ward also finished second in last year’s Indy 500, which was his best career finish in the race in four starts.
Dixon won the Indy 500 way back in 2008. Since then he’s cracked the Top 5 at Indy six times which includes finishing second in 2012 and 2020. He hasn’t had much success at Indy recently with a 21st-place finish last year and a 17th-place finish in 2021. In both those races he started on the pole.
Sato is a two-time Indy 500 winner, having won in 2017 and 2020. Outside of those two wins Sato has only cracked the Top 10 in the Indy 500 once with a third-place finish in 2019. Sato has only been racing part-time on the Indy circuit this season and has only appeared in one race so far, at Texas Motor Speedway where he finished well back in 28th place.
Others to watch at Indianapolis this week
Along with Sato and Dixon there are several other former Indy 500 winners in this year’s field. They include 2013 winner Tony Kanaan (+2000), 2014 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay (+5000), 2016 winner Alexander Rossi (+1200), 2018 winner Will Power (+1600), 2022 winner Marcus Ericsson (+1200), and three-time winner Helio Castroneves (+4000) who last won in 2021.
If you’re looking for historic names in this year’s Indy 500 you’ll find Graham Rahal and Marco Andretti on the starting grid. Rahal, the son of 1986 Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal, is a +4000 underdog, while Andretti, the son of Michael Andretti and grandson of legend Mario Andretti, is a +5000 underdog.