IndyCar: 2019 Indianapolis 500 entry list has stalled at 33 drivers

By Asher Fair | Apr 6, 2019

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MAY 27: Max Chilton, driver of the #59 Gallagher Chevrolet, races during the 102nd Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motorspeedway on May 27, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana.(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

The entry list for this year’s Indianapolis 500 has been full at 33 IndyCar drivers for four weeks, but it has not yet overflown.

When Dale Coyne Racing confirmed James Davison as their third driver for this year’s Indianapolis 500, which is the sixth of 17 races on the 2019 IndyCar schedule, Davison became the 33rd driver to be confirmed for this race.

As a result, for every additional driver on the entry list for the 103rd running of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”, one additional driver will be bumped from the field.

But four weeks have passed since Dale Coyne Racing’s announcement about Davison took place, and bumping has not yet been confirmed for this year’s running of the 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana, as the entry list total has not yet reached 34.

More from IndyCar

That said, with the Indy 500 being scheduled to take place in just over seven weeks, don’t expect the entry list to continue to sit at just 33 drivers for much longer. There are several anticipated if not nearly guaranteed entries that have simply not yet been confirmed.

If all goes according to plan, a plan that you can see in more detail here, the entry list for this year’s running of the Indy 500 should feature 36 or 37 drivers. If everything else goes right in addition to this expectation, this total has the potential to increase to 39.

Regardless, there should be more drivers entered into this year’s running of the race than there have been in any Indy 500 since the 95th running of the race back in 2011 when 41 drivers were on the entry list and eight ended up failing to qualify for the race.

Last year’s Indy 500 entry list total of 35 drivers is the highest entry list total since then, and it resulted in full-time driver James Hinchcliffe of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports as well as part-time driver Pippa Mann of Dale Coyne Racing being bumped from the field.

Next. Top 10 Indianapolis 500 drivers of all-time. dark

Which drivers who have not yet been confirmed for this year’s Indianapolis 500 will be confirmed for the race, and for which teams will they drive when they attempt to qualify for it? Which 33 drivers will end up competing to win the 103rd running of the crown jewel on the IndyCar schedule, and which drivers will end up being bumped from the field?

With the race itself scheduled to take place in just over a month in a half on Sunday, May 26, expect to know the answers to these questions in the near future.