Indy 500: The two puzzle pieces still missing for 2021

By Asher Fair | May 6, 2021

Pietro Fittipaldi, Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing, IndyCar (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /

The entry list for the 2021 Indy 500 is coming together as the race inches closer, but there are still two key things up in the air.

On Monday, the Andretti Autosport IndyCar team confirmed a sixth entry for the 105th running of the Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, naming Stefan Wilson the driver of the #25 Honda.

Wilson is the 34th confirmed driver for this year’s running of the 200-lap “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) oval in Speedway, Indiana, meaning that we will officially have bumping to lock into the 33-car field.

But Wilson’s confirmation isn’t the final puzzle piece of this year’s Indy 500 entry list; there are still two more puzzle pieces — that we know of — that have yet to fall into place.

Danica Patrick's worst crash. light. Also

By the time practice rolls around on Tuesday, May 18 and qualifying commences on Saturday, May 22, it looks as though there will be 36 drivers attempting to lock into the 33-car field, meaning that three drivers, tied for the highest since 2011, will ultimately fail to qualify. We last saw bumping in 2019, when three drivers also failed to make it into the race.

More from IndyCar

How we get from 34 confirmations to 36 is simple. Two entries not included in those 34 entries have already been announced, just without official confirmation regarding significant details.

Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing are set to run the #52 Honda in select races this season, and the Indy 500 is one of those races. They have not yet named a driver of this car for the Indy 500, although Cody Ware appears to be the frontrunner after testing the car at the Brickyard during the offseason.

Additionally, Top Gun Racing have announced that they plan to make their IndyCar debut in this year’s Indy 500 ahead of what they hope will be a full season in 2022. They have already announced RC Enerson as their driver, but we await official confirmation on the entry itself, specifically what engine they will run — if they do end up running.

They had planned to compete in last year’s Indy 500 but cited a lack of fans in the stands as the reason they didn’t do so, noting that this would not have helped them sponsorship-wise.

The only other possible addition to the entry list would be a second Dreyer & Reinbold Racing car, but that is all but out of the question at this point.

Next. Top 25 IndyCar drivers of all-time. dark

So which drivers will be on the outside looking in once Indy 500 qualifying is complete on Sunday, May 23? NBC is set to broadcast the 105th running of the race live from Indianapolis Motor Speedway beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, May 30.