Beyond the Flag
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Indy 500: Top 10 Indianapolis 500 drivers of all-time

By Asher Fair

INDIANAPOLIS - MAY 27: Helio Castroneves, driver of the #3 Team Penske Dallara Honda, leads a pack of cars at the start of the IRL IndyCar Series 91st running of the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 27, 2007 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS - MAY 27: Helio Castroneves, driver of the #3 Team Penske Dallara Honda, leads a pack of cars at the start of the IRL IndyCar Series 91st running of the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 27, 2007 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images) /
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INDIANAPOLIS – MAY 07: Helio Castroneves drives his #3 Team Penske Dallara Honda (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS – MAY 07: Helio Castroneves drives his #3 Team Penske Dallara Honda (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images) /

#3 – Helio Castroneves

Helio Castroneves is a three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, and he is set to attempt to win his fourth career Indy 500 for the ninth time this season just like he has in the race every year since he won it for the third time back in 2009.

In 3,254 career laps in the Indy 500, Castroneves has led 305 (9.37%) of them, a total that ranks 18th on the all-time Indy 500 laps led list.

With three career Indy 500 victories, Castroneves, who is the only active driver with a ride in this year’s Indianapolis 500 who is discussed in this article, trails only three drivers on the all-time Indy 500 wins list, and those three drivers have just one more Indy 500 victory to their name than Castroneves does.

Castroneves, who has driven in the race 17 times, opened up his Indy 500 career in 2001 by winning the race after starting in 11th place as a rookie. He went on to win it again in his second attempt in 2002 after starting in 13th, although this win was controversial and is still discussed to this day since 2nd place finisher Paul Tracy appeared to be ahead of him when the final caution flag of the race came out.

As mentioned above, Castroneves’ third win in the race came in 2009.

However, Castroneves also has three 2nd place in the Indy 500, and he is only a fraction of a second from being a six-time champion of the race, which would put him on a whole other level than every other driver in the history of the race.

In the 2003 Indy 500, Castroneves finished in 2nd place behind race winner Gil de Ferran by just 0.2990 seconds. In the 2014 Indy 500, Castroneves finished in 2nd behind race winner Ryan Hunter-Reay by just 0.0600 seconds. Finally, in the 2017 Indy 500, Castroneves finished in 2nd behind race winner Takuma Sato by just 0.2011 seconds.

If not for those 0.5601seconds, Castroneves could be a six-time winner of the Indy 500.