Indy 500: The top driver who is again without a ride

Juan Pablo Montoya is set to return to the Indy 500 for the first time in several years, but another fast Colombian doesn’t have a ride.

Two-time Indy 500 Juan Pablo Montoya is set to return to the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” for another attempt in 2021, having not competed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway since his sixth place effort in 2017 which followed his first career DNF in 2016. He is set to drive the #86 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren SP.

Montoya dominated the race as a rookie in 2000 with Chip Ganassi Racing, but he did not return until 2014 when he competed full-time for Team Penske. He battled back from a penalty to finish in fifth place, and in 2015, he battled back from 30th following an early incident to win the race for a second time in three tries.

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With two wins in his first three attempts and a record 15 years between those victories, the 45-year-old Colombian is in the discussion as one of the best drivers at the speedway.

That driver is Carlos Munoz.

He may not be the first name mentioned when discussing the matter, but Munoz has to be considered one of the greatest drivers, if not the greatest driver, not to win the Indy 500 — or at least second to team owner Michael Andretti.

Andretti Autosport are running six cars in this year’s Indy 500 once again, but Munoz will not be behind the wheel of any of them, despite two being one-off efforts.

Munoz competed in the race six times from 2013 to 2018, doing so with Andretti’s team on five occasions and putting himself in position to win multiple times.

The big storyline entering the 2013 race was that there was some hotshot 21-year-old kid on the front row who had never driven in an IndyCar race in his life. He had no experience with live pit stops, and his driving style supposedly made his #26 Chevrolet destined for the fence.

But the race itself had other ideas.

In fact, had experienced three-time winner Dario Franchitti not been destined for the fence himself, maybe Munoz would have been destined for victory lane.

The scrutinized rookie methodically hung around the top five all race and finished in second place behind Tony Kanaan under caution, shocking practically everybody — but disappointing himself.

In 2014, he drove the #26 Honda and silently finished in fourth place without leading a lap. In 2015, Andretti Autosport’s cars were, for lack of a better word, slow, and he finished in 20th after a late fuel mileage gamble — his only hope for a top 10 finish — didn’t pay off.

On speed alone, he would have won in 2016, but he was left heartbroken again when rookie teammate Alexander Rossi utilized a different fuel strategy to perfection and limped across the finish line on fumes.

Munoz took out roughly 16 seconds of Rossi’s massive lead on the final lap around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) oval in Speedway, Indiana as Rossi coasted around the track, only to come up 4.498 seconds shy of what could have been a win yet again.

After he was replaced by Takuma Sato in 2017, he took an A.J. Foyt Enterprises car that had no business running in the top 20 and finished in 10th place in 2017 after starting back in 24th. Ironically, it was Sato, who had competed for A.J. Foyt’s team in what became Munoz’s car from 2013 through 2016, who won the race.

Munoz hasn’t been a full-time driver since 2017, but he returned as a one-off driver for Andretti Autosport in 2018 and finished in seventh place despite the fact that the team didn’t have much speed throughout the month of May. He had qualified back in 21st.

His only IndyCar starts since then came with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports at the end of the 2018 season as the replacement for the injured Robert Wickens at Portland International Raceway and Sonoma Raceway. He did not compete in the Indy 500 in 2019 or in 2020.

And it’s an even bigger shame that he won’t be back in 2021 as well.

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Will Carlos Munoz ever compete in another Indy 500? The 106th running of the race is scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 29, 2022. This year’s running of the race is scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 30, and it is set to be broadcast live on NBC from Indianapolis Motor Speedway beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET. A total of 35 drivers are set to attempt to qualify for 33 spots in the starting lineup on Saturday, May 22 and Sunday, May 23.