Time is ticking to place your Indy 500 bets. If you’re stuck and need advice, we got you here. Keep reading for our in-depth preview of the historic race, plus expert picks on who wins the 2025 Indy 500 when it’s all said and done. Stick around for this money-making advice!
- What: Indianapolis 500
- When: Sunday, May 26
- Where: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indy 500 Preview
The Indianapolis 500 needs no introduction. It’s one of the “triple crown” races in all of motorsports, along with 24 Hours of Le Mans and Monaco Grand Prix. It’s a must-watch event and a must-bet one too. That’s why we want to begin our preview of the Indy 500 with a hard look at the current betting odds. Per the best betting sites for sports, these drivers are most favored to win the Indy 500:
| Drivers |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Josef Newgarden | +500 | +500 | +500 |
| Scott McLaughlin | +500 | +500 | +500 |
| Will Power | +700 | +700 | +700 |
| Kyle Larson | +700 | +700 | +700 |
| Pato O'Ward | +800 | +800 | +800 |
| Alex Palou | +1200 | +1200 | +1200 |
| Colton Herta | +1200 | +1200 | +1200 |
| Scott Dixon | +1400 | +1400 | +1400 |
This marks the 108th running of the famous race, and this one is stacked. There are 33 drivers in the field, including eight previous Indy 500 winners. However, one entrant is getting all the attention this weekend and that’s Larson.
Larson is attempting to “The Double” on Sunday. It’s a rare feat in motorsports where a driver competes in both the Indianapolis 500 — the pinnacle event for IndyCar — and Charlotte’s Coca-Cola 600, NASCAR's longest race. But here’s the kicker: compete in both events on the same day — the Indy 500 in the morning, followed by the Coca-Cola 600 in the evening.
Only four drivers have pulled “double duty” — John Andretti, Robby Gordon (five different times), Tony Stewart (twice), and Kurt Busch. Larson will become the fifth on Sunday, but here’s the thing, none of the precious four have ever won either event. Perhaps the best “double duty” performance belongs to Stewart in 2001. He completed both races — which is hard enough, little less win an event. Stewart wound up finishing sixth at Indianapolis and fifth in Charlotte that year.
Obviously, we respect Larson’s guts to do this, but we can’t imagine he wins or even finishes near the top-5. This is completely new territory for Larson, who’s never competed in IndyCar before. Suddenly, he’ll be tasked with driving a different type of machine on a different track and we just can’t imagine it bodes well for him — especially against the “best of the best” completion that awaits in Indianapolis.
So if not Larson, then who? Welp, that leads us right into our next section where we offer our free betting picks.
Best Bet To Win Indy 500
We’ll be betting on two different drivers to win the Indy 500. You just have to when it’s a race this competitive and a race this prone to unpredictability. With that said, these two are atop our betting list:
Scott McLaughlin
McLaughlin will start in the pole position, a massive advantage obviously. He earned the spot last weekend with a near-record pace during qualifying. McLaughlin averaged a speed of 234.2 mph during his four-lap qualifying run — just shy of the record set by Palou a year ago, who topped out at an average speed of 234.217 mph.
Admittedly, McLaughlin doesn’t have the best track record at this event. He’s competed in it three times and owns the following finishes: 20th, 29th, and 14th. However, that was then and this is now where McLaughlin is off to a much better 2024. He’s ranked sixth overall in the standings — in spite of a third-place finish earlier this year at St. Petersburg being disqualified. With that momentum and the pole position, we sense McLaughlin can pull out a victory Sunday.
Scott Dixon
The betting value for Dixon at +1400 is simply too good to pass up for us. We get it, he’s “old” by IndyCar terms at 43 years old, but his track record can’t be overlooked. In Dixon, bettors are getting a six-time IndyCar series champion with 56 wins to his name, including the 2008 Indianapolis 500.
It’s not like Dixon doesn’t have recent success in Indianapolis either. During the 2022 event, Dixon was leading for 95 laps before he made a late mistake which cost him a potential victory.
Dixon does have to start 21st on Sunday, which obviously isn’t ideal in a 33-driver field. So if that worries you, then you want to consider him to finish top-3 at least. There’s a prop bet for that, and it offers more betting cushion. Over his career, Dixon has five different top-3 finishes at this event so if that’s not enough to convince you to throw money on this prop, then we don’t know what will.
Where To Bet On Indy 500?
You know who to bet to win, but do you actually know where to bet on the Indy 500? If not, we got you covered here too. Scope out one of the bookies below — all five rated the highest in our latest sportsbook reviews so you’re in good hands all around.
Using these sites also gets you on track to bet the Indy 500 for free too. That’s because all offer lucrative sign-up bonuses to new players. Bonuses are worth hundreds to thousands of dollars in free play so it’s no bump change either. See the table for a list of our favorite offers going right now.
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