From preseason through the first four races of the 18-race 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season, reigning Indy 500 winner Alex Palou, two-time Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden, and two-time runner-up Pato O'Ward have all spent time as the betting favorite to win the 110th running of the Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway next month.
The calendar has flipped from March to April, and while the answer to the famous "Is It May Yet?" question is still no, some may argue that that's only half-true, as the Indy 500 Open Test is scheduled to take place later this month, on Tuesday, April 28 and Wednesday, April 29.
After the season began with races on three consecutive weekends and four races in 29 days, the series is now in the midst of a three-week break, and one of those three drivers has separated himself as the favorite to win May's 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Speedway, Indiana oval on Memorial Day Sunday.
Alex Palou favored to repeat Indy 500 triumph
DraftKings Sportsbook lists Chip Ganassi Racing's Palou as the +450 favorite to win the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing" for the second year in a row, ahead of Team Penske's Newgarden at +550 and Arrow McLaren's O'Ward at +650.
Palou, who went on to win his first oval championship in 2025, is set to attempt to become just the seventh driver to win the Indy 500 in back-to-back years, although a win this year would make him the second driver in a row to do it, as Newgarden won the race in both 2023 and 2024. Aside from Bill Vukovich, Newgarden is the only back-to-back Indy 500 champion who doesn't have a third Indy 500 victory to his name.
As for O'Ward, he is still aiming for racing immortality and that elusive Indy 500 win. He finished second in 2022, crashed while battling for second in 2023, and was passed by Newgarden for the win on the final lap in 2024, after having just retaken the lead at the white flag. In 2025, he finished a relatively quiet third.
All things considered, Palou, Newgarden, and O'Ward have been among the favorites to win the race in pretty much each of the past six years. So let's take a look at some of the other names whom the sportsbooks are giving a decent shot to drink the milk.
Team Penske's David Malukas, then driving for A.J. Foyt Enterprises, finished second behind Palou in 2025 after missing the race entirely in 2024, when he was dropped by Arrow McLaren due to a preseason injury. He took pole for his first oval start with Team Penske at Phoenix Raceway before finishing third, and he is listed fourth at +800.
Team Penske's other driver, 2024 polesitter Scott McLaughlin, is listed at +1000 as he seeks redemption for his pace lap crash in 2025. He is tied with Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood, who leads the championship standings by two points over Palou with a win, a runner-up finish, and two other top five results through four races in 2026.
Rounding out the top 10 are Ed Carpenter Racing's Christian Rasmussen (+1200), Andretti Global's Marcus Ericsson (+1400), Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon (+1500), and Andretti Global's Will Power (+1600).
Ericsson (2022), Dixon (2008), and Power (2018) are all former Indy 500 winners.
Other former winners set to attempt to add their likeness to the Borg-Warner Trophy again in 2026 include four-time winner Helio Castroneves of Meyer Shank Racing (+2500), two-time winner Takuma Sato of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (+1800), 2014 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay of Arrow McLaren (+2500), and 2016 winner Alexander Rossi of Ed Carpenter Racing (+1800).
Full Indy 500 odds can be found here and are always subject to change.
The 110th running of the Indy 500 is set to be shown live on Fox from Indianapolis Motor Speedway beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, May 24, although there are still two more IndyCar races on the schedule from now until practice on Tuesday, May 12. The streets of Long Beach, California are scheduled to host the season's fifth race on Sunday, April 19, and the Indy road course is scheduled to host the season's sixth race on Saturday, May 9. Begin a free trial of FuboTV and catch all of the action!