2018 Indy 500: Driver history at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
By Asher Fair
The 102nd running of the Indy 500 is scheduled to take place next week. Here is the Indy 500 history for each of the 35 drivers entered in the race.
A total of 35 IndyCar drivers are set to attempt to qualify for the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500 this weekend for next Sunday’s race, and 33 of those 35 drivers will actually qualify to race in the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”.
The total of 35 drivers who are set to attempt to qualify for the race is the highest since 42 drivers attempted to do so back in the 2011 Indy 500. The 35-driver total will also result in the first Bump Day qualifying session since 34 drivers attempted to qualify for the 2015 Indy 500, leaving one driver, Buddy Lazier, on the outside looking in.
Of the 35 drivers who are set to attempt to qualify for the 2018 Indy 500 at the four-turn, 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana, 31 have driven in the race before, and 28 did so last year.
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Matheus Leist, Robert Wickens, Kyle Kaiser and Zachary Claman DeMelo are the four drivers who are set to attempt to qualify for the race this year that have not done so before. Danica Patrick, Sebastien Bourdais and Stefan Wilson are the three drivers who are set to attempt to qualify for the race this year after doing so before but not doing so last year.
Here is the Indy 500 history for each of the 35 drivers who are set to qualify for the race this weekend.
The first list gives each driver’s basic statistics, including the number of Indy 500 races in which they have driven and the number of times they have finished in the top 10, finished in the top five, finished on the podium and actually won the race. It is sorted by number of Indy 500 races in which each driver has driven.
Here is the first list.
| Driver | Races | Top 10 | Top 5 | Podiums | Wins |
| Helio Castroneves | 17 | 14 | 8 | 7 | 3 |
| Tony Kanaan | 16 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 1 |
| Scott Dixon | 15 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 |
| Ed Carpenter | 14 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Marco Andretti | 12 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| Will Power | 10 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Graham Rahal | 10 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Ryan Hunter-Reay | 10 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Oriol Servia | 9 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Takuma Sato | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Danica Patrick | 7 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Charlie Kimball | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| J.R. Hildebrand | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Josef Newgarden | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| James Hinchcliffe | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sebastien Bourdais | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Simon Pagenaud | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pippa Mann | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carlos Munoz | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Conor Daly | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sage Karam | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| James Davison | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gabby Chaves | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jay Howard | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Spencer Pigot | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Alexander Rossi | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Max Chilton | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Ed Jones | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Stefan Wilson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Zach Veach | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jack Harvey | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Matheus Leist | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Robert Wickens | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kyle Kaiser | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Zachary Claman DeMelo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The second list gives each driver’s average Indy 500 finish, average finish in their last five Indy 500 races, their most recent Indy 500 finish and their best Indy 500 finish. It is sorted by each driver’s average Indy 500 finish.
Here is the second list.
| Driver | Avg. | Avg. – last 5 | Most recent | Best |
| Ed Jones | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3rd (2017) | 3rd (2017) |
| Alexander Rossi | 4.00 | 4.00 | 7th (2017) | 1st (2016) |
| Helio Castroneves | 7.00 | 5.60 | 2nd (2017) | 1st (2001, 2002, 2009) |
| Carlos Munoz | 7.60 | 7.60 | 10th (2017) | 2nd (2013, 2016) |
| Danica Patrick | 8.71 | 9.80 | 10th (2011) | 3rd (2009) |
| Max Chilton | 9.50 | 9.50 | 4th (2017) | 4th (2017) |
| Marco Andretti | 10.75 | 6.80 | 8th (2017) | 2nd (2006) |
| Scott Dixon | 10.87 | 17.40 | 32nd (2017) | 1st (2008) |
| Tony Kanaan | 12.13 | 12.40 | 5th (2017) | 1st (2013) |
| J.R. Hildebrand | 12.71 | 14.60 | 16th (2017) | 2nd (2011) |
| Will Power | 13.00 | 12.40 | 23rd (2017) | 2nd (2015) |
| Simon Pagenaud | 13.17 | 12.60 | 14th (2017) | 8th (2013) |
| Charlie Kimball | 13.43 | 14.60 | 25th (2017) | 3rd (2015) |
| Oriol Servia | 14.56 | 16.80 | 21st (2017) | 4th (2012) |
| Sebastien Bourdais | 14.67 | 15.20 | 9th (2016) | 7th (2014) |
| Gabby Chaves | 15.00 | 15.00 | 9th (2017) | 9th (2017) |
| Ed Carpenter | 17.21 | 21.80 | 11th (2017) | 5th (2008) |
| Ryan Hunter-Reay | 17.60 | 14.00 | 27th (2017) | 1st (2014) |
| Takuma Sato | 17.75 | 14.40 | 1st (2017) | 1st (2017) |
| Graham Rahal | 18.10 | 17.80 | 12th (2017) | 3rd (2011) |
| James Hinchcliffe | 18.83 | 16.80 | 22nd (2017) | 6th (2012) |
| Josef Newgarden | 19.00 | 17.80 | 19th (2017) | 3rd (2016) |
| James Davison | 21.00 | 21.00 | 20th (2017) | 16th (2014) |
| Spencer Pigot | 21.50 | 21.50 | 18th (2017) | 18th (2017) |
| Pippa Mann | 21.83 | 22.20 | 17th (2017) | 17th (2017) |
| Sage Karam | 25.25 | 25.25 | 28th (2017) | 9th (2014) |
| Zach Veach | 26.00 | 26.00 | 26th (2017) | 26th (2017) |
| Stefan Wilson | 28.00 | 28.00 | 28th (2016) | 28th (2016) |
| Conor Daly | 28.50 | 28.50 | 30th (2017) | 22nd (2013) |
| Jack Harvey | 31.00 | 31.00 | 31st (2017) | 31st (2017) |
| Jay Howard | 31.50 | 31.50 | 33rd (2017) | 30th (2011) |
| Matheus Leist | 0.00 | 0.00 | N/A | N/A |
| Robert Wickens | 0.00 | 0.00 | N/A | N/A |
| Kyle Kaiser | 0.00 | 0.00 | N/A | N/A |
| Zachary Claman DeMelo | 0.00 | 0.00 | N/A | N/A |
Next: Top 10 Indianapolis 500 drivers of all-time
ABC is set to broadcast this year’s running of the Indy 500 live on Sunday, May 27 starting at 11:00 a.m. ET. Qualifying, which is set to begin at 11:00 a.m. ET on Saturday, May 19 and 2:45 p.m. on Sunday, May 20, is also set to air live on ABC at 4:00 p.m. ET on both days. Be sure not to miss any of the action from the four-turn, 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana this month.