Entering the offseason between the 2025 and 2026 NTT IndyCar Series seasons, Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou and Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward were listed as co-favorites to win the 2026 Indy 500 this coming May.
Palou won the race for the first time in 2025, and O'Ward, a two-time runner-up, is now the active winningest full-time driver without an Indy 500 victory to his name, with nine career IndyCar victories under his belt.
Just before the 2026 season began, however, O'Ward emerged as the outright favorite, with Palou dropping to a tie for second place with 2023 and 2024 race winner Josef Newgarden.
But after Palou opened up the 2026 season with a dominant effort on the streets of St. Petersburg, he emerged as the outright favorite, with O'Ward dropping into a second place tie with Newgarden.
After the season's first oval race at Phoenix Raceway, however, there's a new favorite.
Josef Newgarden favored to win 2026 Indy 500
Newgarden, whose three-peat bid was derailed by a fuel pressure issue after he had charged from 32nd into the top five in 2025, is now listed by DraftKings Sportsbook as the favorite to win the 110th running of the Indy 500. He is listed at +500, ahead of Palou at +550 and O'Ward at +600.
Team Penske teammate David Malukas is now listed fourth at +800, after his own impressive showing at Phoenix. The 2025 Indy 500 runner-up placed third after starting on pole for the first time in his IndyCar career and leading the most laps in his Team Penske oval debut.
Team Penske's other driver, Scott McLaughlin, is listed fifth at +1000. Ed Carpenter Racing's Christian Rasmussen, who has emerged as an oval specialist with his win at the Milwaukee Mile a year ago and strong run at Phoenix before a late incident, has snuck up to sixth at +1200. He finished sixth in the Indy 500 in 2025 after being robbed of Rookie of the Year honors in 2024.
Full Indy 500 odds can be found here and are always subject to change.
Fox is set to provide live coverage of the 110th running of the Indy 500 from Indianapolis Motor Speedway starting at 10:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, May 24. Start a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss it!