The field for the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 is set.
RACER has confirmed the NTT IndyCar Series engine manufacturers are locked in with 17 entries apiece, with Chevrolet supporting its 12 full-time drivers plus five additional 2.2-liter twin-turbo V6 motors for the Indy 500 in support of Arrow McLaren’s Tony Kanaan, the pair of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing cars for Ryan Hunter-Reay and Stefan Wilson, and owner/driver Ed Carpenter.
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The 34th entry for RC Enerson – to be run by Abel Motorsports, which RACER revealed last week – continues to await formal confirmation from the Indy NXT team owned by Bill Abel using cars supplied by Neil Enerson.
The only other Chevy-powered entry that was being developed in the background was an A.J. Foyt Racing effort for Paretta Autosport, but RACER understands team owner Beth Paretta chose to pull the plug on an Indy 500 program in a third Foyt car and focus on going racing later in the year. With her Chevy Indy 500 engine going unused, the opportunity to support Abel and Enerson came into play.
Honda, the defending Indy 500 winners, will support its 15 full-time programs along with extra month-of-May efforts for Marco Andretti at Andretti Autosport and Katherine Legge at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
The field heads to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway next week for a Thursday-Friday test on the 2.5-mile oval, and if paddock chatter at the Long Beach Grand Prix is to be believed, the Indy Open Test will be live streamed on NBC’s Peacock.
