Indy 500 Best Bets
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is also the most well known automobile racetrack in the USA, hosting the Indy 500 each year. Sports betting has continued to increase in popularity among Indianapolis residents over the past decade. On this page I will try to dispel some of the myths surrounding the legality of sports betting in the state. Best bets for the Daytona 500. Will work hard to give Simona the best car we can provide so she can achieve her best results,' Paretta said. 'The Indy 500 is the greatest race in the world. The absolute best bet, best teaser bet, best prop bet and best parlay bet for the NFL Divisional Round, according to the experts at BetOnline. So let’s take that $500 bankroll and put it on. Jan 19, 2021 Best bets for the Daytona 500. Will work hard to give Simona the best car we can provide so she can achieve her best results,' Paretta said. 'The Indy 500 is the greatest race in the world.
The 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 is set for Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, previously scheduled for May 24. The green flag drops at 1 p.m. ET with the race televised on NBC. Below, we analyze the Indianapolis 500 odds and betting lines, with IndyCar Series picks and tips with odds from BetMGM sportsbook.
Indy 500: What you need to know
Odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Saturday at 9:45 p.m. ET.
Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud kissed the bricks and drank the celebratory milk after taking checkers in the most recent installment of the Indy 500 on May 26, 2019.
Team Penske has won back-to-back Indy 500’s, with Will Power winning May 27, 2018. The historic owner also has three Indy wins in the past five starts, as Juan Pablo Montoya raced to the win on May 24, 2015.Pagenaud will start on Row 9, with Power going off from Row 8.Marco Andretti edged out Scott Dixon
during “Fast Nine” qualifying last Sunday by .017, so Andretti will lead the field to the green flag. Dixon, the 2008 Indy 500 winner, will also still start on Row 1.Seven drivers in the starting grid have won the Indianapolis 500, including Helio Castroneves with three Indy victories.Who is going to win the Indianapolis 500?
DIXON (+450) is the chalk for the 104th running of the Indy 500, and he is looking for his second brick kiss. He picked up three straight wins to kick off the 2020 season, winning the Genesys 300 on June 6, GMR Grand Prix on July 4, as well as Race 1 of the Grand Prix at Road America on July 11. Five of his six finishes are inside the top 5, and he sits atop the IndyCar Series standings with 244 points.
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PAGENAUD (+1400), the defending 500 champ, sits second in the overall standings. If he is to repeat, he’ll have to win all the way from Row 9. We haven’t had a back-to-back winner since Castroneves in 2001 and 2002, but Pagenaud has the goods to break that drought.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN (+1000) doesn’t have an Indy 500 win, but there’s a first time for everything. He has been on a roll, sitting third in the standings with one victory and 191 points. Newgarden won in the second end of the doubleheader in Iowa last time out, and he has back-to-back top-5 finishes. No one is hotter lately.
Indianapolis 500 long-shot bets
If you’re looking for a dark horse, look no further than Arrow McLaren SP driver PATO O’WARD (+4000). He is fourth in standings with 162 points, ahead of the likes of Power and Graham Rahal. O’Ward will fly under the radar leading up to Sunday’s big race, and he is a tremendous value. He enters with four finishes of eighth or better in his past five starts, including a runner-up finish in Race 2 at the Grand Prix at Road America on July 12.
Andretti Motorsport driver COLTON HERTA (+2000) isn’t as big of an underdog as O’Ward, but he is still a pretty strong value. He is seventh in the overall standings with 140 points, and he is on a roll with three top-5 finishes, including a season-best, fourth-place finish at the GMR Grand Prix on July 4. He struggled in Iowa in a doubleheader in mid-July, but other than that he has been rock solid.
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Indy 500 Best Bets Against
The Indianapolis 500 has had 102 editions over more than a century since it was first run in 1911, interrupted only by things such as world wars.
So, there should be plenty of evidence of how to pick winners, right? Not so fast, my friend (well, maybe like 230 mph, that's pretty fast).
The race has undergone a transformation over the past decade, becoming far more competitive. It's no longer a race of follow the leader. Going back to 2010, there's been a lead change each year during the final 10 laps; the average final lead change over those years has come with 4.2 laps to go. And in each of the past seven years, there's been at least 30 lead changes over the race's 200 laps. That happened once over the race's first 95 years.
So, while history might not offer a clear trend, there's no shortage of data. Although the IndyCar Series runs mostly on street and road courses, drivers spend two weeks getting ready for the Indy 500, and there are plenty of practice sessions and data to work with over the fortnight. Plus, we've seen many of these drivers run at the 2.5-mile oval before, so we can see how they work in race conditions.
There will be 33 drivers in the starting field, and the competition will be fierce. In qualifying, less than 3 MPH separated the fastest and slowest cars .
So, digging into a driver's track history and their performance over these last couple weeks, here's some of the best value plays in the field.
Drivers with short odds
Simon Pagenaud (6-1): It's easy to pick a pole sitter, and it's easy to pick the favorite. But that's not a reason to totally stay away, especially when you're getting somebody who doesn't have much shorter odds than the other front-runners.
Pagenaud finished sixth in this race last year and is driving Team Penske equipment, which has appeared to be the class of the field in practice. He was the fastest car in Monday's practice. The only drawback is a lack of success historically at the track. His sixth-place finish last year was his best in seven career starts in the 500.
Josef Newgarden (7-1): There's four Penske drivers in the field, and they all have a realistic shot of winning this race. You have Pagenaud on the pole, three-time winner Helio Castroneves, defending champion Will Power -- and then there's Newgarden, who gets somewhat lost in the shuffle considering he's the 2017 series champion.
Helio Castroneves (10-1): Castroneves is a three-time 500 winner, although his last win came in 2009. But it's not like he's been struggling in this race since then, finishing runner-up in 2014 and 2017.
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The drawbacks are that he's 44 years old and hasn't been a full-time IndyCar driver in two years, but that could also be framed with that the entirety of his focus for the year is on this single race.
Medium odds
James Hinchcliffe (50-1): There's no doubt that Hinchcliffe's history at Indy makes him a sentimental choice. He nearly died following a practice incident at the track in 2015, then came back to win the pole in 2016. He failed to qualify in 2018, and nearly did so this year after wrecking his primary car in practice.
The nice thing about the build-up to the Indianapolis 500 is that you have some time to fine-tune your car. Hinchcliffe will start 32nd, but this is the best era in the 500 in terms of being able to practice. The team showed speed, putting up the third-fastest time in Monday's practice, and if he did that while not struggling in qualifying, you definitely wouldn't be able to get these type of odds.
Ed Jones (15-1): The three cars from Ed Carpenter Racing will start second, third and fourth on Sunday, but Jones gives you the longest odds among the three. Jones will be making his third start in this race. He wrecked out last year but finished third as a rookie in 2017.
Conor Daly (40-1): Daly is in solid equipment for the race, running for Andretti Autosport, and will start in 11th place. Unlike fellow 40-1 shot and teammate Zach Leach, Daly showed improvement through the first week of practice, pacing Fast Friday, However, he struggled to start the second week, as did his teammates. If Daly can regain that speed, he's worth a look. And you can ignore his previous five efforts at Indy, when he didn't finish any better than 21st, because he hasn't had the Andretti equipment under him like he'll have this year.
The long shots
Charlie Kimball (150-1): Kimball's speed has zigzagged up and down. In the first week of practices, twice he was the eighth-fastest, twice he wasn't in the top 15. But to start the second week of practice, Kimball was the sixth-fastest. He has also shown that he can race with the leaders at Indy, finishing third in 2015 and fifth in 2016.
Jack Harvey (125-1): If a single 100-1-plus shot isn't enough odds for you, here's another shot at a big payout in the Englishman Harvey. Harvey was a respectable 13th in Monday's practice and 16th last year. He might be your best shot to turn a couple of bucks into a couple of hundred bucks.