Arrow McLaren made it official: Kyle Larson will not be back with the team for a third consecutive attempt at the Memorial Day Double in May 2026, as they have signed 2012 IndyCar champion and 2014 Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay to drive the No. 17-turned-No. 31 Chevrolet as he attempts to make his 18th start in the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing".
More than a week away from Thanksgiving, the announcement means that there are already 30 cars on the entry list for the 110th running of the 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Speedway, Indiana oval.
The Indy 500 is limited to 33 cars, and each race since 2023 has required a form of "Bump Day" to eliminate somebody in qualifying.
Of the 30 confirmed entries, not all have confirmed drivers, and there are sure to be several more cars added in the coming months, potentially even in the coming weeks.
Here's a way-too-early look at the Indy 500 entry list for 2026, starting with what we know has been confirmed.
2026 Indy 500 entry list
*=part-time car
Confirmed driver and team pairings
Team | Car | Driver |
|---|---|---|
A.J. Foyt Enterprises | No. 4 Chevrolet | Caio Collet (R) |
A.J. Foyt Enterprises | No. 14 Chevrolet | Santino Ferrucci |
Andretti Global | No. 26 Honda | Will Power |
Andretti Global | No. 27 Honda | Kyle Kirkwood |
Andretti Global | No. 28 Honda | Marcus Ericsson |
Arrow McLaren | No. 5 Chevrolet | Pato O'Ward |
Arrow McLaren | No. 6 Chevrolet | Nolan Siegel |
Arrow McLaren | No. 7 Chevrolet | Christian Lundgaard |
Arrow McLaren | No. 31 Chevrolet* | Ryan Hunter-Reay |
Chip Ganassi Racing | No. 8 Honda | Kyffin Simpson |
Chip Ganassi Racing | No. 9 Honda | Scott Dixon |
Chip Ganassi Racing | No. 10 Honda | Alex Palou |
Dale Coyne Racing | No. 18/No. 51 Honda | Dennis Hauger (R) |
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | No. 24 Chevrolet* | Jack Harvey |
Ed Carpenter Racing | No. 20 Chevrolet | Alexander Rossi |
Ed Carpenter Racing | No. 21 Chevrolet | Christian Rasmussen |
Juncos Hollinger Racing | No. 76 Chevrolet | Rinus VeeKay |
Juncos Hollinger Racing | No. 77 Chevrolet | Sting Ray Robb |
Meyer Shank Racing | No. 06 Honda* | Helio Castroneves |
Meyer Shank Racing | No. 60 Honda | Felix Rosenqvist |
Meyer Shank Racing | No. 66 Honda | Marcus Armstrong |
Prema Racing | No. 83 Chevrolet | Robert Shwartzman |
Prema Racing | No. 90 Chevrolet | Callum Ilott |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | No. 15 Honda | Graham Rahal |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | No. 45 Honda | Louis Foster |
Team Penske | No. 2 Chevrolet | Josef Newgarden |
Team Penske | No. 3 Chevrolet | Scott McLaughlin |
Team Penske | No. 12 Chevrolet | David Malukas |
There are two other confirmed full-time entries that do not yet have confirmed full-time drivers.
Full-time cars without confirmed drivers
Team | Car | Predicted Driver |
|---|---|---|
Dale Coyne Racing | No. 18/No. 51 Honda | Devlin DeFrancesco |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | No. 30 Honda | Mick Schumacher (R) |
Dale Coyne Racing have a habit of waiting until the last minute to confirm their second driver, and when they do, he usually comes from a long list of candidates.
Devlin DeFrancesco signed a multi-year deal with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing ahead of the 2025 season, but there is likely a performance clause in his contract which would allow the team to move on from him before 2026 after he finished the year without a single top 10 finish. Mick Schumacher recently tested for the team and appears to be the leading candidate for the seat.
Knowing this, it wouldn't be surprising if the DeFrancescos are actively trying to put together a deal to keep him in the series in what is the sport's only other remaining open seat. Jacob Abel was a pay driver for Dale Coyne's team in 2025, so they could take the easy route and bring him back, but DeFrancesco, even for as much as he has struggled, would have to be considered an upgrade.
If the team opt not to go the pay driver route, however, expect the list of possibilities to once again be extremely deep for Coyne.
Aside from those already confirmed and listed above, there were four other one-off entries that appeared in the race a year ago. Expect all four to be back in 2026.
Expected one-off entries without confirmed drivers
Team | Predicted Car | Predicted Driver |
|---|---|---|
Andretti Global | No. 98 Honda* | Colton Herta |
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | No. 23 Chevrolet* | Conor Daly |
Ed Carpenter Racing | No. 33 Chevrolet* | Ed Carpenter |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | No. 75 Honda* | Takuma Sato |
With Marco Andretti retiring in October, Colton Herta could have a path to return to IndyCar just for the Indy 500, should he so choose, given the fact that his new Formula 2 commitment should not conflict with race day on Memorial Day Weekend.
With Hunter-Reay now at McLaren, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's second seat is open, and Conor Daly was in that car in 2024, when he put together a solid top 10 finish in which he led laps.
There is also no reason to believe Ed Carpenter won't be back for another Indy 500 attempt, especially since he has cut all of the other oval races from his schedule, and after Takuma Sato started second and led the most laps in 2025, despite the now apparent misconception that Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing are extremely slow at the Speedway, don't be shocked to see the two-time winner back.
This would bring the entry list to 34 cars for the fourth year in a row. However, there hasn't been an Indy 500 qualifying weekend with more than 34 cars (and thus more than one DNF) since 2021.
Any further additions would certainly change that, but there has been optimism about having a 35+ car entry list in each of the past three years, and yet it hasn't yet materialized.
No Indy 500 entry list has featured 36 cars since 2019, and no Indy 500 entry list has featured more than 36 since 2011, the final year before the DW12 era began, when there were 41.
Indy 500 qualifying is scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 16 and Sunday, May 17. Fox is set to provide live coverage of the 110th running of the race itself beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, May 24.