IndyCar: 2021 Indy 500 entry list total rises to 31 with Carlin

Max Chilton is set to compete for Carlin in the 13 road and street course races and the Indy 500 in the 2021 IndyCar season, bringing the Indy 500 entry list total to 31.

Carlin became the latest IndyCar team to confirm their plans for the 2021 Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, announcing that Max Chilton is set to return for the team for the 105th running of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” this May.

Chilton is set to do what he did last season: compete in all of the road and street course races as well as the Indy 500 behind the wheel of the #59 Chevrolet.

Chilton gave up competing in the oval races after failing to qualify for the 2019 Indy 500, but he returned for last year’s Indy 500 following the introduction of the Aeroscreen.

Carlin have not yet confirmed their driver for the other three oval races on the 17-race schedule.

More from IndyCar

Those three races include the doubleheader at Texas Motor Speedway and the race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. Chilton’s schedule includes a total of 14 events.

Conor Daly has been tipped to land that ride for those three races. Like last season, he is set to compete in a Chilton-esque role for Ed Carpenter Racing, driving the #20 Chevrolet in the road and street course races and competing for the team in a separate third car in the Indy 500 alongside team owner Ed Carpenter in the #20 Chevrolet and full-time driver Rinus VeeKay in the #21 Chevrolet. During the shortened 2020 season, he drove the #59 Chevrolet for Carlin in the non-Indy 500 oval races.

With the addition of Chilton and the #59 Chevrolet for this year’s running of the 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) oval in Speedway, Indiana, there are now 31 confirmed entries and 30 confirmed drivers for the race, two entries shy of a full field with several other entries still looming.

The one confirmed car for the Indy 500 which does not yet have a confirmed driver is the #52 Honda of Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing, although James Davison has been speculated as the driver who will land that seat.

Pietro Fittipaldi is set to drive the #51 Honda for Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing in this race as well as the other three oval races on the schedule while Ed Jones is set to drive the #18 Honda for Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan on a full-time basis. Romain Grosjean is set to drive the #51 Honda in the road and street course races.

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

The 105th running of the Indy 500 is set to be broadcast live from Indianapolis Motor Speedway on NBC beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, May 30.