IndyCar: Several 2019 Indianapolis 500 entries we are still waiting on

By Asher Fair | Mar 9, 2019

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MAY 25: Jay Howard of England, driver of the #7 One Cure SPM Honda drives during Carb Day for the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motorspeedway on May 25, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /

With 33 IndyCar drivers entered for the 2019 Indianapolis 500, the field will be full. But there are still several entries that we are waiting on.

Upon Dale Coyne Racing’s confirmation that James Davison is set to drive the team’s third car, the #33 Honda, in the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 this May, the entry list total for the sixth race of the 17-race 2019 IndyCar season reached 33 drivers.

In other words, for every additional driver who is entered for the 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana, one more driver will be bumped from the field on Bump Day, which is scheduled to take place one week before the race itself.

With there still being several entries that have not yet been confirmed but will likely be confirmed in the near future, this year’s Bump Day could be the biggest Bump Day since 2011 when 41 drivers were entered for the Indy 500.

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Since 2011, the largest entry list total for an Indy 500 race is 35 drivers. A total of 35 drivers entered last year’s Indy 500. Full-time driver James Hinchcliffe and Indy 500 regular Pippa Mann ended up being the two drivers who were bumped from the iconic “field of 33”.

Possible entries that we are still waiting on include a sixth Andretti Autosport Honda, a third Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda, a second Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet, a second Harding Steinbrenner Racing Honda and either one or two Juncos Racing Chevrolets.

Of these six possible additional entries, only one has been confirmed. Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports are set to field a third car in this year’s Indy 500, but the driver of that car has not yet been confirmed. Oriol Servia and Jay Howard are the top candidates for this ride at this point.

If Andretti Autosport field a sixth car, it would likely be driven by either Carlos Munoz or Stefan Wilson, both of whom drove for the team in the 102nd running of the race last year. Munoz also drove for the team in the four Indy 500 races contested from 2013 through 2016. If Dreyer & Reinbold field a second car, it would likely be driven by J.R. Hildebrand, who drove for the team in last year’s race.

Harding Steinbrenner Racing fielding a second car in this year’s Indy 500 seems somewhat unlikely, especially after releasing Patricio O’Ward, who was set to drive for the team on a full-time basis. But if it happens, don’t be surprised to see Munoz or Wilson driving it, especially given the team’s new technical alliance with Andretti Autosport.

As far as Juncos Racing is concerned, it is still anybody’s guess. Their only confirmed car for any race throughout the 2019 season is the #32 Chevrolet, which is set to be driven by Kyle Kaiser in the season’s second race at Circuit of the Americas in just over two weeks.

In the 2017 Indy 500, which was their first ever IndyCar race and their only race of the 2017 season, Juncos Racing fielded two cars. The 2018 season was their first season as more than an Indy 500-only IndyCar team, but they only fielded one car in the Indy 500. They fielded this car, the #32 Chevrolet, in 11 of the season’s other 16 races as well. If they field any cars in this year’s Indy 500, Kaiser would be the top candidate to drive one of them.

As of now, the maximum entry list total for this year’s running of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” appears to be 39 drivers, but the most likely entry list total is in the 36 to 37 range.

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When qualifying for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 rolls around on Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19, how many IndyCar drivers will attempt to qualify for the race, which is scheduled to be held on Sunday, May 26? Which drivers will be bumped from the “field of 33”?