Indy 500 development sets up another Bump Day in 2024

According to RACER.com, Abel Motorsports are expected to return for their second Indy 500 attempt this May. The return of the No. 50 Chevrolet would already put the entry list for the 108th running of the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing" at 34 cars, ensuring that somebody won't get into the field of 33.

This assumes that Marco Andretti returns in a fourth Andretti Global entry, A.J. Foyt Enterprises name a driver for their second full-time car, Dale Coyne Racing continue running a two-car program full-time, and Dreyer & Reinbold stick to their plans to run two cars at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

All seem like relatively safe assumptions, so we can count on these seven entries being present ahead of the 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Speedway, Indiana oval.

There are 24 additional full-time entries that already have confirmed drivers.

A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet
No. 41 - Sting Ray Robb

Andretti Global, Honda
No. 26 - Colton Herta
No. 27 - Kyle Kirkwood
No. 28 - Marcus Ericsson

Arrow McLaren, Chevrolet
No. 5 - Pato O'Ward
No. 6 - David Malukas
No. 7 - Alexander Rossi

Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda
No. 8 - Linus Lundqvist (R)
No. 9 - Scott Dixon
No. 10 - Alex Palou
No. 11 - Marcus Armstrong (R)
No. TBD - Kyffin Simpson (R)

Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet
No. 20 - Ed Carpenter
No. 21 - Rinus VeeKay

Juncos Hollinger Racing, Chevrolet
No. 77 - Romain Grosjean
No. 78 - Agustin Canapino

Meyer Shank Racing, Honda
No. 60 - Felix Rosenqvist
No. 66 - Tom Blomqvist (R)

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda
No. 15 - Graham Rahal
No. 30 - Pietro Fittipaldi
No. 45 - Christian Lundgaard

Team Penske, Chevrolet
No. 2 - Josef Newgarden
No. 3 - Scott McLaughlin
No. 12 - Will Power

Additionally, there are three other confirmed Indy 500-only entries: rookie Christian Rasmussen's Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, four-time winner Helio Castroneves' No. 06 Meyer Shank Racing Honda, and rookie Kyle Larson's No. 17 McLaren-Hendrick Chevrolet.

That brings us to 34 cars, and it's still only early January. The 2024 IndyCar season isn't even scheduled to begin until March.

What appeared to be a clear path to "Bump Day" has already seemingly been fulfilled.

There will surely be more cars added to the entry list over the next four and a half months, which would mean that multiple drivers miss the race.

There have been rumors for several weeks that two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato is looking to make another attempt at a third victory.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, the team with which he earned his second in 2020, have emerged as his top suitor. They expanded to four cars for last year's race but have only confirmed their three full-time entries for Graham Rahal, Pietro Fittipaldi, and Christian Lundgaard thus far.

The 108th running of the Indy 500 is scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 26. Qualifying is scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19. Josef Newgarden is the reigning race winner and Alex Palou is the reigning polesitter.