The “Month of May” has belonged to Alex Palou so far.
The 2021 series champion qualified third for the GMR Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course and won it in dominant fashion. Then he put his No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda on the pole for the Indy 500.
In four starts at “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” Palou has not started lower than seventh — and that was in his first Indy 500 in 2020. A crash late in the race relegated him to 28th but in the events since he has finished second and ninth, leading 82 laps in the process.
The 500 is all about surviving the first 450 miles and being within striking distance at the end. Palou has done it twice and his car has shown dominant pace in the buildup to the 107th edition. The young Spaniard is +550 to win the Indy 500 — ahead of some heavy hitters in former winners like Scott Dixon and Takuma Sato — at BetMGM and those are some enticing odds.
Here’s a look at what else you need to know to bet Sunday’s race:
The favorites
• Alex Palou +550
• Pato O’Ward +650
• Scott Dixon +850
• Takuma Sato +1000
O’Ward has an even better record than Palou in the same timeframe at the speedway, with an average finish of fourth in three races there and was the runner-up last year. Palou’s Ganassi teammate and six-time series winner Scott Dixon won the 500 from pole in 2008 and has led 665 laps at the speedway in 20 races, by far and away the active leader in that category. Sato has two 500 wins to his name and has driven his Ganassi Honda to the top of the speed charts in two practices last week.
Good mid-tier value
• Felix Rosenqvist +1300
• Will Power +1700
Rosenqvist had the fastest four-lap average top-12 qualifying Sunday before getting bumped by Palou and Rinus Veekay in the top-six shootout and will start on the outside of the front row. The Swede finished fourth in last year’s race. Power won the race in 2018 and has seven top 10s in 15 starts.
Don’t bet this driver
• Graham Rahal +5000
Rahal has made 15 starts in the Indy 500 and has two third-place finishes, but failed to qualify his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda for this year’s race. Rahal is filling in for the injured Stefan Wilson and will only have two hours of available practice to acclimate to the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet.
Looking for a longshot?
• Benjamin Pedersen +6000
Pederson has shown great pace in preparation of his first career Indy 500 start and hustled his A.J. Foyt Racing Chevy to an 11th place on the grid. He’ll have a teammate near the front at the start with him as Santino Ferrucci qualified the other Foyt entry in fourth.