Entry list for the 104th Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway - NBC Sports - Motorsports

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Indianapolis Motor Speedway released a 33-car entry list Monday for the 104th Indy 500.

The Aug. 23 race (1 p.m. ET, NBC; green flag, 2:30 p.m.) will include eight past winners: Helio Castroneves (2001, 2002, 2009) and single winners Scott Dixon (2008), Tony Kanaan (2013), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2014), Alexander Rossi (2016), Takuma Sato (2017), Will Power (2018) and Simon Pagenaud (2019).

Fernando Alonso will be attempting to make his second Indy 500. The two-time Formula One champion is aiming to join Graham Hill as the only drivers to complete the “Motorsports Triple Crown” by winning the Monaco Grand Prix, 24 Hours of Le Mans and Indy 500. Alonso has won twice apiece and Monaco and Le Mans.

ENTRY LIST: The 33 drivers in the 2020 Indy 500

HOW TO WATCH THE INDY 500 ON NBC: Details for the Aug. 23 race

There are five drivers making their Indy 500 debuts this year: Oliver Askew, Dalton Kellett, Pato O’Ward, Alex Palou and Rinus VeeKay.

This will be the first time in four years there are as many entrants as spots in the 33-car field, which means no one will be bumped from the field this Sunday on the last day of qualifying. Last year, Alonso, O’Ward and Max Chilton failed to qualify for the race.

DAILY INDY 500 SCHEDULE: Click here for all on-track activity in August at Indy

QUALIFYING SCHEDULE: How to watch on NBCSN, NBC

Indy 500 practice will run Wednesday through Friday, followed by qualifying Saturday. The pole position and top nine slots will be determined Sunday.

Practice and qualifying will be covered fully via NBC Sports Gold, NBCSN and NBC.

The 104th edition of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing is the first in the event’s history to be postponed. Because of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Indy 500 also will be run without fans for the first time during its history.

Click here for the entry list for the 104th Indy 500.

Even with reportedly half the purse and no fans in attendance, NTT IndyCar Series driver-owner Ed Carpenter believes it remains “absolutely critical” to hold the 104th Indy 500.

“Far and away it’s what makes and breaks our season as teams,” the Ed Carpenter Racing namesake told reporters during a Zoom media availability last week. “It’s the most important event to our partners. It 100 percent sucks not having fans there and not even being able to have the experience with our partners in full being there. But it’s necessary.

“We’ve got to look at all the hard decisions now of what we have to do to be in a position to have fans in 2021. It’s critical for the health of the teams that we have this race to make sure we have teams back here next year. That sounds a little dramatic, but that’s the reality.

HOW TO WATCH THE INDY 500 ON NBC: Details for the Aug. 23 race

DAILY INDY 500 SCHEDULE: Click here for all on-track activity in August at Indy

“We live in not only a very volatile world right now, but our industry and motorsport in general, it’s not an easy business to operate. When you lose your marquee event, it’s a lot different than looking at losing Portland on the schedule or Barber. They’re in totally different atmospheres as far as the importance to us and our partners.”

Robin Miller reported on RACER.com that IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske told team owners last week the purse for the postponed Indianapolis 500 was slashed from $15 to $7.5 million. Miller reported holding the Aug. 23 race (1 p.m. ET, NBC) would be a $20 million hit to the bottom line.

Carpenter still is supportive of Penske’s “outstanding job” of leading the series through the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Even with a 50 percent purse reduction, the Indy 500 remains the linchpin of teams’ economic viability.

NASCAR CROSSOVER: Cole Pearn already fitting in with ECR

The schedule has taken many hits with the cancellation of races at Barber Motorsports Park, Circuit of the Americas, Detroit, Portland International Raceway, Laguna Seca and Toronto, and another race weekend doubleheader at Mid-Ohio has been indefinitely postponed.

That leaves the 2020 slate at 12 confirmed races of an original 17, which has raised questions about how many races teams need to fulfill sponsor obligations.

“It’s a moving target,” said Carpenter, who announced the U.S. Space Force as a new sponsor for the Indy 500. “I think we’ve been pretty blessed as a team with the level of commitment of our partners and their understanding of COVID-19 and the impact on our schedule, our contracts.

It is a true honor for all of us at ECR represent two branches of the United States military in this year’s #Indy500! 🇺🇸

2️⃣0️⃣ @EdCarpenter20 – @SpaceForceDoD
4️⃣7️⃣ @ConorDaly22 – @USAirForce#SemperSupra / #AimHigh⁰@USAFRecruiting pic.twitter.com/hzBAXoouyS

— Ed Carpenter Racing (@ECRIndy) August 7, 2020

“All of it is out of our control, out of the series’ control, the promoter’s control. At the end of the day is there a firm number (of races) I can give? No. But definitely every one that we lose, it does make it harder to continue having those conversations.

I think everyone’s as confident as you can be right now with what we have in front of us with what’s remaining on the schedule. Things are so fluid, it changes day-to-day, let alone week-to-week. We just have to take it as it comes. Right now the focus is on the 500 and maximizing this month to the best we possibly can given the situation.”

That’ll be hard this month for Carpenter, who grew up in Indianapolis and is the stepson of Tony George, whose family owned Indianapolis Motor Speedway for decades.

Having spent a lifetime around the Brickyard, Carpenter will feel the ache of missing fans as he races in his 17th Indy 500.

Ed Carpenter, shown racing his No. 20 Dallara-Chevrolet at Iowa Speedway last month, led a race-high 65 laps and finished second in the 2018 Indy 500 (Chris Jones/IndyCar).

“Over that time you develop relationships that are centered around standing outside of your garage in Gasoline Alley,” he said. “It stinks, it sucks that we don’t get to share that passion we all have that is the Indianapolis 500. Unfortunately it’s the reality we’re in right now.

I think this is the best that we can do unfortunately. Without a doubt it’s going to be a different environment. You’re going to be missing the sounds and a lot of the sights and colors. For sure I’ve thought about it. It’s going to be a different morning, different lead-in to the race. After 16 of them, you have a cadence and anticipation for the buildup. That’s all going to be different this year.

“I’m confident it’s not going to affect the type of show we put on or the excitement and how aggressive we are fighting for an Indy 500 win. It’s still going to mean the same thing. We’re just not going to have our fans to celebrate with after the fact. But it’s going to be historic.”

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Entry list for the 104th Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway - NBC Sports - Motorsports
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