IndyCar championship odds for 2024: Can anyone stop Alex Palou?

The start of the 2024 IndyCar season is less than one week away, with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg scheduled to kick things off on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida on Sunday, March 10.

There are 24 drivers who are set to compete full-time throughout the 17-race 2024 season. Four of those drivers are set to compete for different teams than they did last year, and five of them have never previously competed full-time.

Dale Coyne Racing have yet to confirm drivers for either one of their two cars for the 2024 season. David Malukas, who now competes for Arrow McLaren, had driven the No. 18 Honda through a partnership with his father's HMD Motorsports for two seasons, and Sting Ray Robb, who now competes for A.J. Foyt Enterprises, had driven the No. 51 Honda through a partnership with Rick Ware Racing for one.

Dale Coyne's team are no strangers to making their driver decisions with the start of the season right around the corner. Whether they hire one or two (or any) full-time drivers remains to be seen as well.

FanDuel Sportsbook, which is offering fans a $150 bonus for making a winning $5 bet, recently published championship odds for each of the 24 confirmed full-time IndyCar drivers.

Here are the opening IndyCar championship odds at FanDuel.

NOTE: (R) means rookie

Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing: +300
Josef Newgarden, Team Penske: +450
Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske: +650
Pato O'Ward, Arrow McLaren: +700
Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing: +800
Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global: +1000
Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global: +1100
Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren: +1400
Will Power, Team Penske: +1600
Colton Herta, Andretti Global: +1600
Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing: +2000
David Malukas, Arrow McLaren: +2400
Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing: +4000
Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Enterprises: +4000
Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing: +5000
Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing: +5000
Romain Grosjean, Juncos Hollinger Racing: +7500
Linus Lundqvist (R), Chip Ganassi Racing: +7500
Marcus Armstrong, Chip Ganassi Racing: +10000
Tom Blomqvist (R), Meyer Shank Racing: +20000
Kyffin Simpson (R), Chip Ganassi Racing: +20000
Agustin Canapino, Juncos Hollinger Racing: +25000
Sting Ray Robb, A.J. Foyt Enterprises: +30000
Pietro Fittipaldi, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing: +40000

Unsurprisingly, continuity figures to be key, as nine of the top 10 drivers listed are set to return to their respective teams from last year. The only exception is Marcus Ericsson, who made the move from Chip Ganassi's team to Michael Andretti's following three straight winning seasons which all resulted in sixth place points finishes.

The next highest listed driver who switched teams is David Malukas, and his +2400 listing may be a bit shorter than it should be considering the fact that he has already been ruled out from the season opener due to a wrist injury. Overcoming a missed start in a field this deep to win a championship is next to impossible.

The other two drivers who switched teams are both listed in the bottom eight (Romain Grosjean and Sting Ray Robb). All five drivers who have never previously competed full-time are listed in the bottom seven, including the three rookies, Marcus Armstrong, and Pietro Fittipaldi. The only outlier in the bottom eight is Agustin Canapino, who is back for year number two with Ricardo Juncos' team.

Can anybody stop Alex Palou from becoming the series' first repeat champion since 2011 with what would be his third title in four years? His 2023 season was historic in more ways than one.

He became the first five-win champion since 2016, the first driver to clinch a championship before the season finale since 2007 (2005 if you exclude Champ Car), and the first driver to finish no worse than eighth place in any race during a season consisting of at least 17 races since 1922.

Interestingly, Palou is one of just three former champions listed inside the top eight, and all have won multiple championships (Josef Newgarden, two, and Scott Dixon, six). Scott McLaughlin and Pato O'Ward are viewed as the favorites to become the first new champions since Palou won his first title in 2021.

The only other former champion in the full-time field is also a two-time champion, and that is Will Power, who is listed in a ninth place tie after his 16-year winning streak was brought to an end during the 2023 season. He had entered the 2023 season as the reigning series champion.

NBC is set to broadcast the season opener beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 10. Start a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss it!