After Alexander Rossi pulled off a big upset to win the 2016 Indianapolis 500 as a 66/1 longshot, bettors are looking for another underdog who may take the checkered flag this year. Rossi is listed at +1400 odds to repeat at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this Sunday, a feat that has not been accomplished since 2002.
Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com
Brazil’s Helio Castroneves is the last driver to do it in 2001 and 2002, and he is listed as the +1200 fourth choice to win the 2017 Indy 500 along with Juan Pablo Montoya, Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay. Of that group, only Andretti has not won the race previously, with Montoya finishing first in 2015 and Hunter-Reay the previous year.
Both Americans Rossi and Hunter-Reay won it for Andretti Autosport, led by Marco’s father Michael, whose father Mario also placed first in 1969. The racing team also won the Indy 500 in 2005 (Dan Wheldon) and 2007 (Dario Franchitti) as Andretti Green Racing.
Wheldon won the race twice with different teams before passing away tragically following a crash at the IndyCar World Championship in Las Vegas six years ago. Franchitti retired in 2013 as a three-time Indy 500 champ, last winning it in 2012.
The top two drivers very close to each other on the betting board are Fernando Alonso (+450) and Scott Dixon (+475), with Will Power a more distant third choice (+800).
Dixon won the Indy 500 back in 2008 while Alonso and Power are still chasing their first victory in the race. The 35-year-old Alonso is a two-time Formula One champion (2005 and 2006), and the Spaniard missed the Monaco Grand Prix so he could compete in the Indy 500 this weekend.
Dixon, a New Zealander, won the pole position for this year’s race, the third time he has accomplished that overall. He will be joined in the first row by Rossi and fellow American Ed Carpenter, who has the same odds as last year’s winner at +1400. Power, who hails from Australia, won the 2017 IndyCar Grand Prix at the same track on May 13. He was one of the favorites to win last year’s Indy 500 as well and finished 10th.
