IndyCar: 5 longshot picks to win the Indy 500
By Asher Fair
Indy 500 longshots: No. 3 – Ryan Hunter-Reay (+4000)
The ultimate dark horse in this year’s Indy 500 is Ryan Hunter-Reay, who is returning to Indianapolis Motor Speedway this year after failing to secure a deal to compete in the 106th running of the Indy 500 last year.
Hunter-Reay won the race in 2014 and should probably have at least one more Indy 500 win to his name. He was the driver to beat in 2016 before an incident in the pits knocked him out of contention, and he was the driver to beat again in 2017 before an engine failure knocked him out of the race.
Now he is set to compete for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, not the Andretti Autosport team with which he won the race nine years ago.
Even before they were the only true “Indy 500-only” team, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing were seen as the strongest Indy 500 team in the field. While their qualifying pace hasn’t always been there, they are always a factor on race day.
Look no further than Sage Karam’s seventh place finish from 31st in 2021, or Santino Ferrucci battling for second last year before delivering the team another top 10 finish.
We’ve also seen how past Indy 500 champions moving to new teams has worked out on the past, most notably with three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves winning a fourth after moving from Team Penske to Meyer Shank Racing.
Hunter-Reay is fully capable of replicating that.