It’s finally here. The race that dwarfs the overall season for many fans and can create iconic moments that live on long after a driver retires from the sport. Foyt. Unser. Mears. Milk. Kissing the bricks. When you hear these names and traditions, you know it’s time for the Indy 500.

With the biggest race of the year also comes the biggest grid of the year, as the traditional 33 cars make up the field for the 103rd running of the Indy 500. Three cars failed to qualify last Sunday and were “bumped” from making the official field. Max Chilton and Pato O’Ward of Carlin, along with two-time Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso of McLaren (in a technical partnership with Carlin) couldn’t come ahead of underdog Kyle Kaiser of Juncos Racing.

In order to provide a preview that contains all the story lines heading into the race, I decided to organize it by going row-by-row for the starting grid.

Row 1: Simon Pagenaud, Ed Carpenter, Spencer Pigot

Pagenaud continued his renaissance during May by claiming pole after coming through with a surprising win in the rain at the Indy GP. He put together his best career finish at Indy last year with a sixth place result, and he will be looking to equal Will Power’s performance in 2018 of winning the Indy GP and Indy 500 in the same month. Carpenter almost came away with the win last year and has been on the pole three times at Indy, but last year was his first time finishing on the podium. His teammate Spencer Pigot made the Fast Nine in qualifying for the second consecutive year and put in his best-ever qualifying effort in IndyCar. He’s faced trouble in his first three appearances at Indy and has never finished higher than 18th. Pigot will be trying to build off his top-five finish at IMS earlier this month to secure his best career result at a large oval.

Row 2: Ed Jones, Colton Herta, Will Power

Jones equaled his best career starting position in IndyCar by securing fourth in qualifying behind Ed Carpenter Racing teammates Carpenter and Pigot. His road course effort this season has been in partnership with Scuderia Corsa, which allowed him to be able to run a third car for ECR in Sunday’s race. Jones had his struggles last season at Ganassi, but like Pigot put in a season-best effort of sixth at the Indy GP two weeks ago. Most notably he finished third behind Takuma Sato and Helio Castroneves at the 2017 Indy 500. Herta is the only rookie to start in the first four rows, but he didn’t look new to the speedway when he threw down a four-lap average of over 229 miles per hour on pole day. He’s faced three straight terrible results after becoming the youngest-ever IndyCar winner at COTA, so fortunes may be looking up for Herta. Power starts on the outside of row two as the defending Indy 500 champion for Team Penske. He currently sits sixth in the standings despite only one top-five finish this year, and he will undoubtedly be aggressive from the start.

Row 3: Sebastien Bourdais, Josef Newgarden, Alexander Rossi

Bourdais has never finished better than seventh at Indy, but he’s qualified within the Fast Nine the past two seasons after his horrific crash in qualifying cost him almost all of the 2017 season. He was the second fastest Honda behind Herta and is my darkhorse pick to win the race. Newgarden qualified within the first three rows for the fifth time in the last six years and is one of the top drivers still searching for that elusive Indy 500 win after finishing third in 2015. Lining up next to him is the man he couldn’t catch at the line in 2015 in Alexander Rossi. Rossi raced all the way to fourth after qualifying 32nd last year and has finished in the top-seven in his three career starts at Indy. The winner of the 100th Indianapolis 500 put himself in a much better position to start this year, and I’d be surprised to not see him on a podium.

Row 4: Marco Andretti, Conor Daly, Helio Castroneves

Marco Andretti has finished on the podium four times at the Indy 500 in his 14 starts, but he’s failed to land on any podium in the NTT IndyCar Series since 2015. With this year being the 50th anniversary of his grandfather Mario’s win at the 1969 Indy 500, Marco will be hoping for his own sake he can prove he’s still capable of top-level results in the series. Daly has always had speed but seems to never be able to find the right car or funding to take advantage of it. With support from a major team like Andretti this year, Daly will be extremely focused on bringing the car home in a good position to possibly get a chance at races with Andretti or a different team later this season. Castroneves enters the race as the only active driver to have won the race more than once, winning in 2001, 2002 and 2009. He also has three runner-up finishes to his name, notably the incredibly close result against Takuma Sato two years ago. Last year he crashed at the Indy 500 and could be heard begging team boss Roger Penske for another shot at a fourth win. This may be his final chance to join the likes of A.J. Foyt, Al Unser Sr. and Rick Mears as the only four-time winners at the legendary track.

Row 5: Marcus Ericsson, Takuma Sato, James Davison

Ericsson hasn’t impressed in all of his races since joining IndyCar from Formula 1 this season, but qualifying 19 spots ahead of his more experienced teammate James Hinchcliffe is a good start. Rossi had a difficult start to his first season in IndyCar before his success at the 500, so a good top-10 result could go a long way in giving Ericsson confidence for the rest of the season. Sato is one of seven active winners of the Indy 500 and is in one of the best stretches of his career after a win at Portland last year and a win at Barber in April. His suprising Indy win two years ago is his only time finishing within the top-10 in nine career starts. Davison is probably the biggest surprise in the top rows after qualifying 15th in his one-off effort with Dale Coyne Racing. He’s ran at the Indy 500 in four of the previous five seasons but has never finished higher than 16th in 2014. This will be the highest he’s ever qualified at Indy.

Row 6: Tony Kanaan, Graham Rahal, Scott Dixon

Kanaan has struggled mightily the past two seasons as his career comes to a close, but he did win the Indy 500 back in 2013. Rahal took a big risk in qualifying last Saturday as he dropped his original time to have one shot at not having to feature in the bump day race of six cars going for the final three spots. His risk paid off as he moved up from the final rows all the way up to 17th. Rahal made a drive from 30th to 10th at last year’s race, but it was only his third top-10 finish at Indy in 11 attempts. He will line up next to five-time series champ and 2009 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon, who had a pretty lackluster run to only qualify 18th. He’s been on pole three times at Indy and has found himself on a podium on four occasions in 18 starts.

Row 7: Oriol Servia, Charlie Kimball, JR Hildebrand

Servia may be the oldest in the field along with Kanaan and Castroneves at 44 years old, but a good result could prolong his career in the series. He was the last driver confirmed for this year’s race as Schmidt Peterson’s third entry. However, MotoGator Team Strange Racing partnership could extend to a six-year run next season, according to a RACER magazine story on Thursday. Servia starting 19th is his second-lowest qualifying effort since 2012. Kimball is in his first part-time season with Carlin after being a full-time driver in the series since 2011. Considering every other Carlin-associated car failed to qualify for the race, Kimball putting the car 20th is pretty remarkable. It also proves he probably should be running a more complete schedule than his five races in 2019. Hildebrand will always have to face the demons of crashing on the final corner to finish second at the 2011 Indy 500. He will compete for the second time with Indy-only Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.

Row 8: Ryan Hunter-Reay, Santino Ferrucci, Matheus Leist

Hunter-Reay is starting the furthest back of any former winner in 22nd this year. He will have to slice his way through the field to catch up to his teammates starting in the top-10. When he did win the race in 2014 he climbed all the way from 19th to come across the line ahead of Castroneves. Ferrucci will be entering his first-ever Indy 500 and did a solid job to comfortably make the race beyond the final row. Leist had a good result last year by qualifying 11th and finishing 13th in his first start at Indy, and he’s coming off his first-ever finish in the top-10 with a fourth place at the Indy Grand Prix.

Row 9: Jack Harvey, Jordan King, Ben Hanley

Harvey will be making his third start at Indy after running part-time seasons in 2017 and 2018. He’s already put in some impressive performances this year with Meyer Shank Racing with three top-10’s and his first podium finish at the Indy GP. King will be entering his first Indy 500 with Rahal Letterman Lanigan this year after only running on road/street courses last season with Ed Carpenter Racing. Hanley did a great job in qualifying 27th in Dragonspeed’s first season as an IndyCar team.

Row 10: Zach Veach, Felix Rosenqvist, Pippa Mann

Veach continues to have a tough time putting together big results at Andretti by slotting in at 28th on the starting grid. He has yet to finish within the top-10 in five races this season and will need a stellar drive through the field to contend for top positions on Sunday. Rosenqvist sits atop the Rookie of the Year race so far with 106 points through five races, six points ahead of Herta. The Swede has put in exciting performances like his fourth at St. Pete’s and landing on pole two weeks ago at the Indy GP. The month of May hasn’t been as kind to him on the oval track, where he struggled in qualifying to barely avoid bump day. Pippa Mann will be especially pleased to have clinched the last spot in the 10th row after being one of two cars to be bumped from last year’s Indy 500. She ran for Dale Coyne Racing at the Brickyard the previous six seasons and managed a career-best result of 17th in in 2017.

Row 11: Sage Karam, James Hinchcliffe, Kyle Kaiser

The last row had to qualify in the high-pressure conditions of bump day on Sunday. Six drivers had one final run to make it into “the show”, and Karam came away with the best time. This will be his fourth year in a row racing with Dreyer & Reinbold at the Indy 500. Karam is well known for his work in Indy simulators and is always focused on making his one run a year at Indy count. Hinchcliffe was relieved to make the field after an up-and-down couple of years at Indy. Hinch almost lost his life during a crash in 2015, came back to win the pole in 2016 and then failed to qualify in 2018. His ability to manage the mental hurdles of possibly missing the race for a second-straight year after needing to use a backup car to qualify was an impressive feat. However, Kaiser’s run with the underfunded Juncos team to bump Fernando Alonso and McLaren out of the race drew plenty of David vs. Goliath comparisons. Juncos feared they wouldn’t be able to qualify after a crash in practice, but they were able to rebuild the car overnight and push ahead to make the field. After running no sponsors earlier in the month, sponsors have come flooding in to the tiny team as they prepare for Sunday.

Predictions

Winner: Sebastien Bourdais

Second: Ed Carpenter

Third: Alexander Rossi

A different driver has won the Indy 500 for the first time in five of the last six seasons, with many coming from former series champions as well. Bourdais qualified well to put himself in the top-seven, and I think he might be able to sneak away with a win at the Brickyard this year. Carpenter proved last year he can do more than just qualify at the top (five top-two starts) and should finish on the podium again. Rossi has proved he has a knack for slicing through traffic and drafting better than most, and I think he will be able to put in another good performance to get back on track after a tough result earlier this month. Team Penske has won 17 times at Indy, while no other owner has won more than six times (Andretti). I’ve gotten burned picking the Penske cars earlier this season, but Pagenaud, Newgarden and Power should all be finishing within the top-10 if they don’t get caught up in accidents.

Race: Sunday, May 26 at 11:30 a.m. CST, NBC

With the biggest month of the IndyCar season finally here, tomorrow will serve as the opening act for the Indy 500 on May 26. The Indianapolis Grand Prix will be run for the sixth time on Saturday in its combined road course setup of using part of the oval track along with the road course in the infield. Will Power has won the race three times and is the two-time defending winner, while also winning pole in each race win in 2015, 2017 and 2018.

Simon Pagenaud is the only other driver to win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. One came in 2014 in the inaugural event with Sam Schmidt Motorsports, and the other was in his championship-winning season with Penske in 2016. Penske has won four of the five Indy Grand Prix’s. After running 82 laps around the 2.4 mile course for the first three years, the race distance was increased to 85 laps in 2017-18 before growing to 90 laps for Saturday’s race.

Josef Newgarden has a 28-point lead atop the standings after four races through the best opening stretch of results in his career. However, the Indy GP has been one of his least successful tracks in his seven-plus years in the series. He’s never even finished within the top-10, finishing 11th the past two years after finishing 17th or worse in his first three appearances. Two seasons ago he suffered a pit limiter problem that made him serve multiple penalties late in the race, and last year he made a risky move trying to take third place from Sebastien Bourdais in the second half of the race before hitting the curb and spinning out. With one setback coming from mechanics and one from questionable driving, Newgarden needs to run a tidy race to keep his championship lead as they enter the double-points weekend on May 26.

Alexander Rossi is the only driver besides Newgarden to finish in the top-10 in every race this season, while the other contenders have each had at least one poor result to create the sizable gap to Newgarden this early in the season. But just like any season in IndyCar, one early mistake can make a lead go from feeling dominant to extremely vulnerable in a single weekend.

Race Predictions

Pole: Will Power

1st: Will Power

2nd: Ryan Hunter-Reay

3rd: Scott Dixon

While I’ve picked Power on my podium three times this season and it’s only came through once, there is no other track besides St. Petersburg that I’d feel more confident in his ability to run away with the weekend. Power has gone through a bit of a slump the past three races, which always seems to lead to successful stretches like his domination last year by completing the Indy-double of reigning victorious in the Indy GP and Indy 500.

Hunter-Reay has had a quietly strong start to the season after having his engine blow in the opening race, and he sits at fifth in the standings after three top-10 results. He’s finished on two podiums at IMS before, and I expect him to be able to race Power hard throughout the weekend as one of the leaders for Honda. Dixon has finished runner-up to Power the past two races at this track, and he should also be in contention in the closing stages of Saturday’s race.

I could see a scenario where Newgarden or Rossi have their first setback of the year after a run of limited problems in the opening months of the season. Look for Colton Herta to bounce back after two lackluster results after winning at COTA in the second race of the year. Last season he swept the two Indy Lights races at the Indy GP.

Race: Saturday, May 11 at 2:30 p.m. CST, NBC

The IndyCar season is now approaching a frantic pace as we head towards the month of May and the Indy 500. There’s no off-week this weekend as 23 cars will line up to take on the famous streets of Long Beach, California on Sunday for the season’s fourth race. The teams will have almost a month off following the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach before they head to the Indianapolis Road Course on May 11, followed by the Indy 500 on May 26.

Josef Newgarden enters the weekend with a 27-point lead over Scott Dixon for the championship lead. Newgarden has finished in the top-10 for his last four starts at Long Beach but has only finished on one podium in 2017. Dixon hasn’t had as much success on the street circuit as he has at many other tracks on the calendar. He’s only won once here in 2015 during the past 10 seasons, and he’s only finished within the top-five in four of those 10 races. He finished 11th at Long Beach last season for his second-worst finish of his championship season, but he finished within the top-five in 2015-17.

This circuit has one of the widest varieties of winners over the past decade, with eight current drivers having stood upon the top step of the podium. However, there’s been a first-time winner each of the past four years. Six of the current drivers (Ryan-Hunter Reay in 2010, Takuma Sato in 2013, Dixon in 2015, Simon Pagenaud in 2016, James Hinchcliffe in 2017 and Alexander Rossi in 2018) have only won the race once. Will Power was victorious in 2008 and 2012, while Sebastien Bourdais won three-straight times at the track during the Champ Car era.

With the past string of results at the track, it really is a wide-open race at this point in the season. No team has shown particular dominance at the track in the past decade, with Andretti having the highest win total of three.

Race Predictions

Pole: Alexander Rossi

Winner: Scott Dixon

2nd Place: Alexander Rossi

3rd Place: Will Power

Although it’s very early in the season, Rossi and Newgarden are the only two drivers to finish in the top-10 for all three races. Rossi grabbed a pole and win at Long Beach last season that put him ahead in the championship early in the year, and it seems like it’s time that Rossi gets back in the hunt after already trailing Newgarden by 40 points back in fourth place. Dixon already has two runner-up performances through three races, and I expect him to bounce back to show his pace from the past couple of races at Long Beach to take the win.

Power has had a tough start to the season after a mechanical problem at COTA and a spin out at Barber, but no run of tough form ever seems to be able to hold him down for long. Last week was the first time since Road America last year (nine races) that he hadn’t led at least one lap at a race. I think he will battle with the Honda leaders but just fall short in a closely-contested race.

Newgarden should be able to keep his championship lead by finishing within the top-10. Expect veteran Honda drivers like Hunter-Reay, Bourdais, Hinchcliffe and Rahal to mix it up for top-five positions after solid starts to the year. Rookies Colton Herta, Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Ericsson have each shown one really strong result through three races, but making those finishes consistent will be key to battling with these series leaders as the season progresses.

Race: Sunday, Apr. 14 at 3:30 p.m. CST, NBC Sports Network

The NTT IndyCar series will make their third stop of the season when they travel to Barber Motorsports Park this Sunday. Josef Newgarden enters the race on top of the championship standings after finishing second at Circuit of the Americas following his win at St. Petersburg.

The biggest surprise through the first two races is Circuit of the Americas winner Colton Herta and the Harding Steinbrenner team. Outlook for the young team looked bleak after news that they had to cut ties with Pato O’Ward prior to the season due to budget issues and would be fielding a one-car entry of Herta. Herta led three of the four preseason testing sessions at COTA in February, but it’s difficult to read too much into if what happens before the opener at St. Pete’s will affect the actual season.

Will Power and Alexander Rossi were clearly the fastest at COTA, but unfortunate timing for a crash between James Hinchcliffe and Felix Rosenqvist caused the pit lane to close on a caution and allow third-place Herta to acquire the lead for the closing stretch of the race. Power had a problem leaving the pits that caused him to retire from the race, while Rossi climbed back up to ninth in the closing laps.

Newgarden will be excited to arrive at Barber this weekend after winning the race three of the past four seasons. It’s the only track where has the most career wins at on the calendar and is the closest location to his hometown of Hendersonville, Tennessee. He has finished on the podium the past four years and has finished within the top-10 in six of his seven entries at Barber.

Last year was the first season he had taken pole at the track, and he will be looking to use that advantage to get his second win of the year. He already has about a 40-point advantage to front runners like Scott Dixon, Rossi and Power after each have had a disappointing result in the first two races. A showcase of his usual dominance in Alabama will go a long way in seeing if Newgarden can chase his second championship with Penske.

The 90-lap race at Barber has been run since 2010 and has occurred in April for all nine events. Team Penske has won the race six times, with two wins coming from Ryan Hunter-Reay at Andretti and one from Newgarden when he raced for CFH Racing for a season before joining Penske. Power won at the track in 2011 and 2012 and should’ve taken the win in 2017 before a tire gauge malfunction caused the Penske team to bring Power in during the final laps as Newgarden inherited another win. Simon Pagenaud also won at Barber during his 2016 championship season.

Race Predictions

Pole: Josef Newgarden

Winner: Josef Newgarden

2nd place: Will Power

3rd place: Simon Pagenaud

Until someone breaks the streak of Penske dominance at Barber, it seems silly to predict this race to go any other way. Newgarden has his best start of his career through two races and should be poised to take pole after claiming it last season and barely missing it at St. Petersburg. Will Power is still hunting down Mario Andretti’s record of 67 career poles and is well on his way after claiming his 55th and 56th career pole at St. Pete’s and COTA to begin the season. Power could’ve had a chance at the win last season before a dangerously wet track claimed him on lap 17 of the race on a restart and forced a red flag period that wasn’t resumed until the next day. Pagenaud has only been on a podium twice in his last 19 races and should have the ability to stay competitive with his two Penske teammates at a track that has been very kind to them in recent years.

Dixon, Rossi, Hunter-Reay and the other Hondas will need to put in strong performances if they’re going to upset the Penske trio and keep them off the podium. Keep an eye on if Herta can build off his first win from two weeks ago or if Pato O’Ward can push higher than his top-10 finish at COTA. Marcus Ericsson also had tough luck with a pit penalty at COTA after running close to the top-five, and he will be on a mission to put in his first solid performance in his young IndyCar career.

Race: Sunday, Apr. 7 at 3 p.m. CST, NBC Sports Network

The first race of the 2019 season is set to hit the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida on March 10. There will be 24 entries into the race on Sunday, which equals the amount of entries in 2018. The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was initially run in the Champ Car Series in 2003, but it has been a part of the NTT IndyCar Series since 2005. It has been the season opening-race since 2009, leading to lots of doubt and questions about which team will emerge on top entering the race each year.

Sebastien Bourdais has won the last two installments of the race, and only four active drivers have ever stood atop the podium at St. Pete’s. Graham Rahal won the race all the way back in 2008, James Hinchliffe won in 2013 and Will Power has finished on top in 2010 and 2014. Power has started on pole position an unbelievable seven times at St. Pete’s, with all seven coming between 2010 and 2017. He also qualified on the front row last season.

The race distance was increased to 110 laps in 2013, which raised it from 180 miles to 198. Since the switch, the race has lasted anywhere between 2 hours and 4 minutes to 2 hours and 22 minutes. Three rookies started within the top-four in the 2018 race, but Matheus Leist and Jordan King never got close to replicating that kind of pace for the rest of the season.

Team Penske has been the most successful team on track by far, winning eight of the 14 races since 2005. Bourdais won the race in 2017 after qualifying in last place, and he stormed back from 14th to grab the victory in 2018. Last year’s race was drama-filled as Alexander Rossi and rookie Robert Wickens battled into turn one on a restart on the final lap. Rossi dove inside and punted Wickens, effectively ending his race as Rossi came in third place. Bourdias benefited from the crash as he came home in front after a caution to end the race.

Race Predictions

Pole: Will Power

Winner: Will Power

2nd place: Alexander Rossi

3rd place: Scott Dixon

These three were the top drivers for the majority of last season, and I think that success will carry over into 2019. While Power hasn’t always converted his poles to wins at St. Pete’s, I think he will start off 2019 on a high note after four podiums in his final five races in 2018. Rossi and Dixon will continue to fight for wins this year, and they should be in close contention entering week two at Circuit of the Americas.

Race: 12:30 p.m. CST, NBC Sports Network