Indy 500: A way-too-early look at the 2022 entry list

The 106th running of the Indy 500 is still more than three months away, but considering how close it really is in the grand scheme of things, let’s take a way-too-early look at the entry list for IndyCar’s biggest race.

The 2022 IndyCar season got underway this past weekend with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. This race was contested on Sunday, February 27.

While a February start to an IndyCar season hadn’t happened since 2004, one thing remains the same: the Indy 500 will be here before we know it.

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The 106th running of the 200-lap “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana is scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 29.

Believe it or not, this year should mark the first time since between the 2018 and 2019 seasons than two Indy 500 races have actually been separated by a calendar year.

Those two races were, as usual, contested on Memorial Day Sunday in May, but the 2020 race was pushed back to August as a result of COVID-19-related restrictions, creating the longest gap between two Indy 500 races since World War II. Last year’s race was contested on Memorial Day Sunday again, creating the shortest gap ever between two Indy 500 races.

In total, there are already 32 confirmed entries confirmed for this race.

These 32 confirmed entries include 31 with confirmed drivers, and that number is slated to grow to beyond 33 like it has in three of the last four years.

Here’s a way-too-early look at the entry list, with teams sorted alphabetically and drivers sorted by car number.

A.J. Foyt Enterprises

#4 Chevrolet – Dalton Kellett
#11 Chevrolet – TBD
#14 Chevrolet – Kyle Kirkwood

Andretti Autosport

#26 Honda – Colton Herta (with Curb-Agajanian)
#27 Honda – Alexander Rossi
#28 Honda – Romain Grosjean
#29 Honda – Devlin DeFrancesco (Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport)
#98 Honda – Marco Andretti (with Marco Andretti and Curb-Agajanian)

Arrow McLaren SP

#5 Chevrolet – Pato O’Ward
#6 Chevrolet – Juan Pablo Montoya
#7 Chevrolet – Felix Rosenqvist

Chip Ganassi Racing

#8 Honda – Marcus Ericsson
#9 Honda – Scott Dixon
#10 Honda – Alex Palou
#48 Honda – Jimmie Johnson
#TBD Honda – Tony Kanaan

Dale Coyne Racing

#18 Honda – David Malukas (with HMD Motorsports)
#51 Honda – Takuma Sato (with Rick Ware Racing)

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing

#23 Chevrolet – Santino Ferrucci
#24 Chevrolet – Sage Karam

Ed Carpenter Racing

#20 Chevrolet – Conor Daly
#21 Chevrolet – Rinus VeeKay
#TBD Chevrolet – Ed Carpenter

Juncos Hollinger Racing

#77 Chevrolet – Callum Ilott

Meyer Shank Racing

#06 Honda – Helio Castroneves
#60 Honda – Simon Pagenaud

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

#15 Honda – Graham Rahal
#30 Honda – Christian Lundgaard
#45 Honda – Jack Harvey

Team Penske

#2 Chevrolet – Josef Newgarden
#3 Chevrolet – Scott McLaughlin
#12 Chevrolet – Will Power

Of these 32 entries, 26 are full-time entries, with 25 driven by full-time drivers. The full-time entry without a full-time driver is the #11 A.J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet, and that is also the only entry listed above without a confirmed driver.

The only confirmed driver for this car is Tatiana Calderon for the road and street course races; no drivers have been confirmed for this car for any of the season’s five oval races.

The six part-time entries listed above include the #6 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet for Juan Pablo Montoya, the #TBD Chip Ganassi Racing Honda for Tony Kanaan, the #23 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet for Santino Ferrucci, the #24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet for Sage Karam, the #TBD Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter, and the #98 Andretti Autosport with Marco Andretti and Curb-Agajanian Honda for Marco Andretti.

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That gives us less than three months to land one more entry to fill the field — and at least two more to ensure bumping for the fourth time in five years. How many entries will the 106th running of the Indy 500 end up with by the time qualifying rolls around on Saturday, May 21 and Sunday, May 22?