INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Winning one Indianapolis 500 was a career-changing moment for Alex Palou.
Winning a second would put Palou in elite company.
The first Spaniard to win IndyCar's biggest race returns to Indianapolis Motor Speedway's 2.5-mile oval Sunday as he tries to add another milestone to his resume by becoming the seventh driver in race history to win back-to-back 500s.
For the second straight year, the grandstands were sold out, prompting a local
television blackout to be lifted. Throngs of colorfully clad fans started funneling through the track tunnels when the cannon sounded at 6 a.m., and the streets around the Brickyard were as packed as they've ever been to witness the pomp, circumstance and celebrities of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”
NCAA football championship-winning coach Curt Cignetti of Indiana was scheduled to lead the 33-car field to the starting line as the pace car driver — presuming the threat of rain held off. WNBA star Caitlin Clark was set to give the traditional command sending drivers to their cars. And, of course, track owner Roger Penske was to direct drivers to start their engines for the largest single-day spectator sporting event.
Though race officials do not provide actual attendance figures, there are an estimated 275,000 reserved seats and when the infield crowd is included, approximately 350,000 people attend the race.
Naturally, there will be tributes for two-time Brickyard 400 winner Kyle Busch, who died at age 41 earlier this week.
Dale Coyne Racing driver Romain Grosjean, who drives the No. 18 car in the IndyCar Series, will be driving with a new font, set to resemble the font Busch used for the 14 years he competed in NASCAR'S No. 18 car with Joe Gibbs Racing. Race officials also planned to light up the scoring pylon on Lap 18.
As for the racing, it's been all Palou, who seemingly has won anything and everything in recent years — three straight series titles, 11 of 23 races and now the second Indy pole of his career.
And the chase to catch Palou resumes with a long list of storylines.
Two-time runner-up Pato O'Ward is trying to become the first Mexican to win the race. Again.
Alexander Rossi, the 2016 race winner, qualified a career-best second and will be racing less than a week after one of the hardest crashes of his career forced him to undergo surgery on his right ankle and the middle finger on his left hand. He'll be racing with a special brace and a protective boot on his right leg.
Scott McLaughlin is starting ninth as he tries to redeem himself following a parade-lap crash that knocked him out of last year's race. McLaughlin, front-row starter David Malukas and two-time Indy champ Josef Newgarden, who qualified 23rd, are all hoping to help powerful Team Penske erase the bitter memories of last year's cheating scandal and surprisingly poor race-day finishes.
At age 51, Helio Castroneves is trying to become the oldest race winner — and the first five-time winner — while 45-year-old Scott Dixon hopes to add a second Indy title to the one he captured in 2008. If Dixon does win, it would be the longest gap ever between Indy 500 wins.
Katherine Legge, who starts 24th, also is making history. She'll be the first woman to attempt racing's “double" by completing 1,100 miles in one day by racing in Indianapolis and at the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Tony Stewart is the only driver to complete every lap of both races, taking place in 2001.
But everyone, especially Legge, will be watching the weather, hoping they start on time and they get a full 500-mile race.
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