2011 Indianapolis 500 Preview

Next Sunday is my favorite racing day of the year other than the running of the Daytona 500. Three historical races will take place. First at 8:00am, we have the Formula One race on the Streets of Monte Carlo (Monaco Grand Prix), then at noon, we have the Indy 500 and at 6pm, the green flag flies for NASCAR's longest race of the year: Coca-Cola 600. This blog will be focused on my favorite race of the year, the Indianapolis 500.

The 100th Anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 could have possibly the most competitive field of drivers ever in the history of the race. This is also the closest matched field set by time during qualifying...only 2.5 seconds separates pole-sitter Alex Tagliani (first Canadian to win pole for Indy 500) and slowest qualifier Ana Beatriz. During qualifying this weekend, there was a lot of drama, something that we will expect during next Sunday's race.

FAVORITES
1) Alex Tagliani- I wouldn't count out Tagliani to win this race, dominating the practice sessions last week with a top speed of over 228 mph. In his second year full-time driving for Sam Schmidt Motorsports, Tagliani has proved himself to be a great driver in his career. In 2011, with a best-finish finishing 5th in Long Beach, he is 7th in points and looking to have a great run next Sunday and could steal a win.

2) Penske Racing- Roger Penske is no stranger to victory lane at Indy, where his drivers have won 15 times over the past 40 years. Helio Castroneves has 3 wins at Indy, looking to be the fourth driver to have 4 wins at Indy. Helio is starting 16th so he has work to do to get up to the front. Will Power has 2 wins so far this season, but he has never won on an oval course. He's starting 5th, has led laps at Indy and his luck could change this weekend. Ryan Briscoe wrecked his primary car during Saturday morning practice, had to go to a backup, forced to qualify on Bump Day (Sunday) and is starting 27th. He's got a lot of cars to pass and could finish in the top-10.

3) Ganassi Racing- The defending winner of the Indy 500 is Dario Franchitti, who is looking for his 3rd Indy 500 win. He's starting 10th, while teammate Scott Dixon won the race in 2008. Dixon has 2 IndyCar series championships and is looking to win another race in Indianapolis. He's starting middle of row 1 on Sunday. Graham Rahal & Charlie Kimball, new drivers for Ganassi's organization this season are starting in the back and could play spoiler if they play cards right to get up to the front.

DARK HORSES
1) KV Racing- After losing sponsorship during the offseason while with Andretti Autosport, Tony Kanaan has found himself a new ride with KV Racing, who had struggled all of 2010. TK's luck at Indy has been horrible due to pit-stop strategies, weather, mechanical issues and wrecks, all part of the "Andretti Curse". This year with a new team, Kanaan (starting 23rd) looks to end the curse and may have a car that could win if his cards play right on pit road. He did struggle in practice but has a week to make the car faster. Takuma Sato is starting 10th and almost won his first race earlier this month in Sao Paulo, but a late pit-stop costed him the victory. E.J. Viso is also in the field, starting 19th.

2) Past 500 winners- Without a ride in 2011, 2004 Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice & 2005 winner Dan Wheldon found rides with Panther Racing & Bryan Herta Autosport respectively. They are starting 6th and 7th this Sunday and will look for a way to steal a win from the regulars. They've won at Indy before and anything can happen in the race, by avoiding accidents and sticking to their gameplan.

3) Andretti Autosport- The 3rd best team in the IndyCar series had their own issues all week in practices & in qualifying. Only 3 of the 5 cars in the stable have made the grid for next Sunday's race. Long Beach Grand Prix winner Mike Conway (who had a slow car & struggled all week in practice) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (bumped out by teammate Marco Andretti) failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, leaving only Danica Patrick, John Andretti & Marco Andretti racing on Sunday. With the exemption of J. Andretti, the other 4 drivers were forced to qualify on Bump Day. Danica was able to get herself in the field with an average speed of 224.861 mph, starting 26th, while Marco Andretti was the last driver to make an attempt, had a good enough time to make the field at 6pm (when qualifying ended) to start 28th and knocking Hunter-Reay out of the race. All 3 cars had issues to their cars during practice, but the teams have a week to fix their cars to have good runs come race day.

So the Top 10 to start the race are: Tagliani, Dixon, Oriol Servia, Townsend Bell (finished 5th in 2010), Power, Wheldon, Rice, Ed Carpenter, Franchitti and Sato.

Like I said this 2011 field is very competitive, but I'm gonna take Scott Dixon to win the 500 for the 2nd time in career, and I'd like to see Tagliani & TK make the podium as well.