IndyCar Series

One of the most exciting events in motorsports runs for the 102nd time Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The 2018 Indianapolis 500 carries plenty of storylines, from Helio Castroneves going for his fourth victory to Danica Patrick's final race.

Ed Carpenter will lead the 33-driver field to the green flag after he took pole position with a four-lap average speed of 229.618 miles per hour in qualifying.

Much of the pre-race attention will be on the group two rows back of Carpenter, Simon Pagenaud and Will Power, as Patrick and Castroneves start alongside each other in seventh and eighth.

Starting Grid

Row 1: Ed Carpenter, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power

Row 2: Josef Newgarden, Sebastien Bourdais, Spencer Pigot

Row 3: Danica Patrick, Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon

Row 4: Tony Kanaan, Matheus Leist, Marco Andretti

Row 5: Zachary Claman DeMelo, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Charlie Kimball

Row 6: Takuma Sato, Kyle Kaiser, Robert Wickens

Row 7: James Davison, Max Chilton, Carlos Munoz

Row 8: Gabby Chaves, Stefan Wilson, Sage Karam

Row 9: Zach Veach, Oriol Servia, JR Hildebrand

Row 10: Jay Howard, Ed Jones, Graham Rahal

Row 11: Jack Harvey, Alexander Rossi, Conor Daly

Breakdown

It's easy to point at the drivers starting in the first three rows and call them the favorites, and that becomes a fairer assumption once you see the names. However, the most dangerous racer in the field could be one who starts in 32nd position, in the middle of Row 11.

Alexander Rossi, who won the 2016 Indy 500, had a punctured right front tire on his final qualification attempt. He sits second in the IndyCar Series standings behind Josef Newgarden.

Newgarden is the only driver with multiple wins on the IndyCar circuit this season, while Rossi, Sebastien Bourdais and Will Power have one each. Of the 33 drivers in the field, six enter with previous victories in the Indy 500, with Castroneves the most prolific.

Rossi, defending champion Takuma Sato, Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan and Ryan Hunter-Reay are the other past winners, and there are plenty of top talents looking for their first win at the Indy 500. That includes pole-sitter and Indiana native Ed Carpenter.

Carpenter has one of five Chevrolets in the top six starting positions, and if you go further down the starting grid, there are 10 Chevrolets in the top 15 compared to five Hondas.

Since the turn of the century, Honda has been the dominant manufacturer at the Indy 500, as it won all but two races since 2004.

Kanaan in 2013 and Juan Pablo Montoya in 2015 were the only drivers in that span to put a Chevrolet in Victory Lane, but that trend appears to be changing for what should be an action-packed day.

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90

Starting position may or may not be a key factor in Sunday's Indianapolis 500, but sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark do not seem to mind where the best drivers will begin the race.

Favorite Alexander Rossi is listed on the 2018 Indianapolis 500 odds at +800 (bet $100 to win $800), and he will start from the last (and 11th) row this time around after he won it from the fourth row as a rookie in 2016 and finished seventh in 2017 from the first row.

Rossi qualified 32nd on Sunday, and it is worth noting that a driver has found a way to win the Indianapolis 500 after starting from the seventh row or further back only once since 1987. Ryan Hunter-Reay won it from the 19th position in 2014, and he also had the most laps led that year with 56. 

That would seem to put three-time winner Helio Castroneves into a good spot from the third row. He is one of three drivers tied for the second choice at +1000.

Castroneves, who is not driving in the IndyCar series full-time this year, won the race in 2001, 2002 and 2009, and he has also finished in the top 10 a remarkable 14 times in 17 attempts. If he takes the checkered flag again this year, he will join A.J. Foyt, Al Unser Sr. and Rick Mears as the only four-time winners. He did not start from beyond the fifth row in any of his previous Indy 500 wins.

The other two drivers who are also +1000 on the Indy 500 betting lines include 2018 points leader Josef Newgarden and Will Power. Five others are right behind them at +1200: Hunter-Reay, pole sitter Ed Carpenter, Scott Dixon, Sebastian Bourdais and Simon Pagenaud. Unlike Rossi, who is second in points this season, and Castroneves, Newgarden and Power have never won the Indianapolis 500.

However, Hunter-Reay and Dixon have (the latter in 2008), giving them some value along with last year's winner. Takuma Sato (+3000) will be attempting to win the race in back-to-back years for the first time since Castroneves accomplished the feat 16 years ago.

The odds, though, seem to be against that happening, since he is starting 16th on Sunday (12:05 p.m. ET). The Japanese is driving for his third team in as many years with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. RLL owner Bobby Rahal, who won Indy in 1986, will be guiding him, son Graham (+3000) and Oriol Servia (+10000).

For more odds information, betting picks and a breakdown of this week's top sports betting news check out the OddsShark podcast with Jon Campbell and Andrew Avery. Subscribe on iTunes or listen to it at OddsShark.libsyn.com.

The field of 33 drivers for the 2018 Indianapolis 500 was set Saturday, but the starting order won't be determined until Sunday's qualifying session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 

During Saturday's heats, in which the top 33 racers out of 35 entrants advanced to Sunday's session, Pippa Mann and James Hinchcliffe failed to make the starting grid. 

The nine fastest drivers from Saturday will contend for the pole Sunday, while the competitors with times in 10th through 33rd will fill the final 24 positions in the starting order on time. 

Helio Castroneves had the fastest car Saturday, but he must put in a similar performance Sunday in order to lead the field to the green flag in a week's time.

Indy 500 Qualifying Information

Start Time: 2:45 p.m. ET 

TV: ABC (4-6 p.m. ET) 

Pole Predictions

Helio Castroneves

The favorite to start first in the 2018 Indy 500 is Castroneves, who had a four-lap average speed of 228.919 miles per hour.

As the leader of the Fast Nine, the nine top Saturday qualifiers fighting for the pole Sunday, Castroneves set the tone for what should be a fast second day of qualifying.

The three-time Indy 500 champion is in search of his fifth pole, which would put him one behind the legendary Rick Mears on the all-time chart.

Since he had the fastest car Saturday, it's hard to argue against Castroneves taking the pole, especially since the second-fastest driver was more than 0.2 miles per hour slower with his average speed. 

There's a chance Castroneves could go even faster Sunday, as he told reporters he's ready to squeeze everything out of his car.

"Certainly, we're going to push it," Castroneves said. "We'll squeeze the heck out of the Pennzoil machine."

Unless a driver and his team were holding a ton back Saturday and are preparing to unleash something on the field Sunday, Castroneves should once again have the fastest setup.

Ed Carpenter

Two-time Indy 500 pole sitter Ed Carpenter appears to be the biggest threat to Castroneves during Sunday's qualifying round.

Carpenter, who also owns the racing team he runs for, was joined by teammates Spencer Pigot and Danica Patrick in the Fast Nine.

The driver of the No. 20 car and Castroneves are the two competitors to record a lap over 229 miles per hour Saturday.

Carpenter's opening lap of four produced the fastest speed of the opening session at 229.266 miles per hour.

However, his speed faded on the final three laps, which moved his average speed down to 228.692 miles per hour.

If Carpenter produces a pair of fast laps Sunday, he could lead the Indy 500 field to the green flag for the third time since 2013.

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90. Statistics obtained from IndianapolisMotorSpeedway.com.

Helio Castroneves posted the best four-lap average speed in Saturday's 2018 Indianapolis 500 qualifying session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana.

Castroneves is one of nine drivers to emerge from Bump Day with an opportunity to earn the pole position for next week's Indy 500 during Sunday's Fast Nine Shootout. Ed Carpenter and Simon Pagenaud recorded the second and third best times, respectively.

James Hinchcliffe and Pippa Mann were eliminated from race contention as the bottom-two finishers Saturday.

Here's the complete list of top-nine Day 1 qualifiers, via the track's official website:

1. Helio Castroneves (228.919 mph)

2. Ed Carpenter (228.692 mph)

3. Simon Pagenaud (228.304 mph)

4. Will Power (228.194 mph)

5. Sebastien Bourdais (228.090 mph)

6. Spencer Pigot (228.052 mph)

7. Josef Newgarden (228.049 mph)

8. Scott Dixon (227.782 mph)

9. Danica Patrick (227.610 mph)

Castroneves, 43, is no stranger to success at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The Brazilian superstar has three Indianapolis 500 victories, which is the most among active drivers and tied for the second-highest total in history. Only A.J. Foyt, Al Unser Sr. and Rick Mears have more (four each).

He's also captured the pole four times. In 2009, he won the race from the top starting spot.

Castroneves has switched to IMSA prototype racing as a full-time driver this year, but he's still got his sights set on another Indy title, per Robin Warner of Autoweek.

"I'm going to get that No. 4, and I want it," he said. "I feel Roger [Penske] wants it, the team wants it and a lot of people want it."

Meanwhile, Danica Patrick is among the drivers with a chance to earn the pole Sunday.

The 36-year-old Wisconsin native is set to race in the Indy 500 for the first time since 2011 after leaving the IndyCar Series for NASCAR. Now she's back at the Brickyard for the final start of her career.

Patrick told Bob Pockrass of ESPN.com earlier this month that ending her racing days in this event allows things to come "full circle," and she's hoping to steal the spotlight one last time.

"Other than that first Daytona 500 when I was on the pole, most of the races weren't like that. I missed being relevant," she said. "So I'm going to try to achieve that this month. It is going to be hard because everybody is really good and they've been at it and I wasn't for a while."

Sunday's qualifying runs begin at 2:45 p.m. ET with the drivers currently ranked Nos. 10-33. The Fast Nine Shootout then takes place starting at 5 p.m. ET on ABC.

Josef Newgarden leads the IndyCar Series standings by just two points heading into the qualifying section of the 2018 Indy 500, a pressure-filled weekend that could dictate whether he keeps his place on the perch.

The marquee event of Indy racing returns to Indianapolis Motor Speedway this week, and Andretti Autosport driver Alexander Rossi is the man hot on Newgarden's heels in second.

The 2018 Indy 500 will also be Danica Patrick's last race in the sport after she announced her one-time comeback race in Indiana via Twitter, seven years after her last race in the IndyCar Series.

The official IndyCar Series Twitter account provided a full breakdown of the drivers' list for this year's race ahead of qualifying:

We take a look at some of the top contenders and names to keep an eye on during the qualifying section at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, complete with television schedule and live-stream information.

Qualifying Weekend Schedule

Saturday, May 19

9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. ET: Practice (All)

12 p.m. to 5:50 p.m. ET: Qualifying (Positions 1-9, ESPN 3)

Sunday, May 20

12 p.m. to 12:45 p.m. ET: Practice (Positions 10-33)

1:15 p.m. to 2 p.m. ET: Practice (Fast 9)

2:45 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. ET: Qualifying (Positions 10-33, ABC)

5 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. ET: Qualifying (Fast 9, ABC)

Viewers in the United States can live-stream portions of qualifying weekend via WatchESPN.

Preview

After more than 80 months away from IndyCar racing, 36-year-old Patrick will stage her farewell on the sport's biggest stage of all. But despite her age, the veteran will be competing for all the marbles, sentiment or no sentiment.

She said after announcing her contention that victory would be the best note on which to sign off, regardless of the stars of today competing in the field, via Autoweek's Matt Weaver:

She'll drive on behalf of Ed Carpenter Racing but won't be the only woman gaining attention during qualifying, with Londoner Pippa Mann also set to take part for the sixth year in succession.

As was the case in her less-involved 2017 season, this will be Mann's first race of the season, and the pair received well-wishes from fellow professional driver Leilani Munter ahead of qualifying:

But neither Patrick nor Mann will be fancied to take a prominent place among the Fast 9 come Sunday. Newgarden has won two of the last four races this year, and his finish of 11th at the IndyCar Grand Prix last Sunday was his first time ending outside the top seven.

The 27-year-old Team Penske sensation will again be viewed as the man to keep at bay, and he's given the impression he's out to set records in this year's Indy:

Already familiar with the conditions at Indianapolis following the Grand Prix, it would be a surprise if Newgarden didn't improve his results this time around, and the early signs are he'll do just that:

The Grand Prix of Alabama in April was the only race this season in which Newgarden has managed to claim pole position, with Rossi in second and third-placed Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais also taking one apiece.

With only two points separating the top contenders, the Indy 500 could be the race in which 2017 IndyCar Series champion Newgarden either stages his release from the chasing pack or sees his lead cut down from under him.

Danica Patrick reiterated Wednesday the 2018 Indianapolis 500 on May 27 will be the final start of her racing career.

Patrick posted a message on Twitter after Indianapolis Motor Speedway welcomed her back to the IndyCar Series for her farewell event.

"In the words of my first win...it's been a long time coming," she wrote. "It will be here before we know it. And it will be gone. And I can't think of a better way to go."

Patrick announced her decision to retire in November.

The 36-year-old Wisconsin native explained in a press conference she felt bringing her career to an end at Indy would be the most fitting exit from the racing spotlight.

"Nothing that was being presented excited me, then about three weeks ago, I just blurted out, 'What about Indy? Let's end it with the Indy 500,'" she said. "This ignites something in me. But I am done after May. Everyone needs to put their mind there. My plan is to be at Indy, and then I'm done."

Patrick concluded the NASCAR portion of her career with a 35th-place finish in the 2018 Daytona 500 in February. She was involved in a wreck on the 101st lap, which ended her bid to complete her time in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series with her first victory.

She'll look for a storybook ending in the Indianapolis 500. Patrick recorded six top-10 results in seven starts in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing from 2005 through 2011.

The Denver Post confirmed Monday columnist Terry Frei is no longer with the newspaper after making a racially charged post on social media about Japanese driver Takuma Sato winning the 2017 Indy 500 on Sunday.

Brandon Rittiman of KUSA reported the paper wouldn't say whether Frei was fired or quit after posting a message that read, "I am very uncomfortable with a Japanese driver winning the Indianapolis 500 during Memorial Day weekend" on Twitter.

Frei had previously posted an apology:

OK, I took out the name of a book. pic.twitter.com/b953FbqMEh

— Terry Frei (@TFrei) May 29, 2017

"We apologize for the disrespectful and unacceptable tweet that was sent by one of our reporters. Terry Frei is no longer an employee of the Denver Post. It's our policy not to comment further on personnel issues," the paper wrote in a statement to KUSA. "The tweet doesn't represent what we believe nor what we stand for. We hope you will accept our profound apologies."

Sato became the first Japanese driver to win the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. He'd never finished inside the top 10 in the storied race during his seven previous starts but edged Helio Castroneves over the final laps for his second career IndyCar Series victory.

Jerry Garrett of the New York Times passed along comments from the 40-year-old Tokyo native about winning on the sport's biggest stage.

"Hopefully, the crowd enjoyed it," Sato said. "It's beautiful. I dreamed of something like this since I was 12."

Chris Perez of the New York Post noted Frei's tweet caused a firestorm of backlash before he deleted it and posted the subsequent apology.

A biography on the columnist's official website noted he spent 30 years as a sportswriter with the Denver Post before Monday's departure.

Takuma Sato had been close to winning the Indianapolis 500 before, but he never had a chance to see the finish line.

Instead of heartbreak at the Brickyard, Sato found the finish line and Victory Lane as he won the 101st edition of the Indianapolis 500 Sunday with a sharp drive in a race that saw a spectacular crash and numerous yellow flags.

Sato made a bold move on the 196th lap, and that allowed him to pass three-time winner Helio Castroneves to take the lead.

Castroneves made several efforts to get back to the top spot, but Sato's car was too fast, and he would not give up his position.

Ed Jones finished in third place, while Max Chilton was fourth and Tony Kanaan finished fifth. Here's a look at the full race results, per ESPN.com:

1. Takuma Sato
2. Helio Castroneves
3. Ed Jones
4. Max Chilton
5. Tony Kanaan
6. Juan Pablo Montoya
7. Alexander Rossi
8. Marco Andretti
9. Gabby Chaves
10. Carlos Munoz

Castroneves had passed Chilton with seven laps to go to move into first place, and it looked like victory was in his grasp, but Sato was relentless in his effort to get to the lead, and he did not fail when he had the opportunity.

Early in the race, pole-sitter Scott Dixon and Jay Howard had a spectacular crash between Turns 1 and 2, leaving both cars in pieces. Howard hit the wall in Turn 1, and that forced him to lose control of his car. As he slid back to the low side of the track, Dixon hit the back of Howard's car, sending the pole-sitter's car into the air. The vehicle hit the safety barrier in the infield and then came to rest.

Amazingly, Dixon and Howard were able to walk away from the accident. Dixon was running in the top 10 after starting on the pole for Sunday, and while he was clearly upset by his early finish to the race, medical officials cleared him without any further issues.

Sato earned the victory for the Andretti Autosport team, and it was team owner Michael Andretti's fifth victory in the race.

"Helio drives fair, really fair. So I can trust him," said Sato after the race, per Speed Sport. "It was a fantastic, fantastic race. Hopefully the crowd enjoyed it.

"It's beautiful. I grabbed something I left over in 2012."

Sato went for the lead on the final lap of the 2012 race, but he crashed. That allowed Dario Franchitti to win that race.

This time there would be no such heartbreak for the 40-year-old Sato.

Sato held off Castroneves by 0.2011 of a second to win the race that featured 35 lead changes. Sato is in his eighth Verizon IndyCar Series season after driving seven years in Formula One, and he collected his second IndyCar victory. The average speed in the race was 155.395 miles per hour.

He is the first Japanese-born driver to win the Indianapolis 500.

A significant crash occurred toward the end of the Indianapolis 500.

As Jeff Gluck noted, Oriol Servia, James Hinchcliffe, Josef Newgarden, James Davison and Will Power were all involved.

The Indy Car Series Twitter account provided a view of the incident from Newgarden's perspective:

The account also noted Hinchcliffe, Servia, Power and Davison were all checked by medical personal and cleared.

There were less than 20 laps to go before the collision happened.

Phillip B. Wilson of IndyCar.com described what started the incident:

As Jim Ayello noted, this was just a continuation of a wild race:

Scott Dixon was involved in the biggest crash of the day but fortunately came away uninjured. Meanwhile, the latest collision featured multiple drivers in the top 10 at the time hoping to finish strong.

Max Chilton was the leader and avoided any mess, but there was a major shakeup in positioning for the rest of the field.

Pole-sitter Scott Dixon is out of the Indianapolis 500 after a scary crash involving Jay Howard in which Dixon's car went airborne.

The IndyCar Series showed footage of the incident:

According to Bob Kravitz of WTHR.com, however, both Dixon and Howard were examined by medical personnel and came away from the crash uninjured. Dixon later said he's waiting on X-rays on his ankle following the wreck, per Brody Miller of the Indianapolis Star.

Dixon spoke about the crash with ABC's Dr. Jerry Punch (h/t Jerry Bonkowski of NBC Sports):

"Yeah just a little beaten up there. A bit of a rough ride. I'm bummed for the team and for Camping World. We got a little loose on the first stint. We were a bit light on downforce. I'm just bummed for them and glad everyone is OK. Definitely a wild ride. Thank you for Dallara and the safety status.

"It's tough. I was hoping Jay would stay against the wall. I'd already picked that way to go and there was nowhere else to go. I'm glad he's OK too. You believe in the safety progress of these cars."

Dixon would later send out a tweet regarding the crash:

Howard also spoke about the incident and the issues he had with his car on the day:

But for Dixon, the inability to finish the race after his car was virtually destroyed came with the additional disappointment of leaving him as the first pole-sitter since 2002 (Bruno Junqueira) to finish 30th or worse in the Indianapolis 500, per ESPN Stats & Info.

It also concluded a strange week for the driver, after he and Dario Franchitti were held up at gunpoint in a Taco Bell drive-thru last Sunday night. Neither was harmed in the incident, another close call in a week of them for Dixon.