Handicapping the Indianapolis 500
by Mike Rose
IRL Betting – Handicapping the Indianapolis 500
Rev up your engines, because on Sunday, BetUS Sportsbook presents sports betting action coming from Indianapolis, where drivers from all around the world will battle to win one of racing’s top prizes, the Indianapolis 500 crown!
BetUS currently has lined Helio Castroneves as the 7/2 favorite to win the race. He knows how to reach victory lane at Indy, as he won this race in both 2001 and 2002. In two races this IRL season, Castroneves has two Top-10 finishes, as he finished seventh at Long Beach, and followed that up with a third place finish at Kansas Speedway on April 26th. Last season, he had a strong showing at Indy Motor Speedway, finishing 4th. Castroneves has placed in the Top-10 in all of his career starts at Indy, save for 2006 when he was involved in an accident and finished 25th. He’ll start in the pole position on Sunday and should be considered the top threat to win the race.
Joining the favorite on Row 1 will be Ryan Briscoe and Dario Franchetti. Both are also considered prime choices to win at the Brickyard this weekend, as Briscoe is 5/1, while Franchetti is 6/1. Briscoe has a pair of Top-5 finishes to his record this season, as he finished fourth at Kansas Speedway two races after winning at St. Petersburg. The fifth-year veteran has had a rough go of it at the 500 in his career, as he only has one Top-10 finish in his three career starts, that coming in ’07 when he finished fifth. However, this will be Briscoe’s best starting position of his Indy career. A solid finish at the Brickyard could help run down Tony Kanaan at the top of the IRL points standings.
Franchetti sits just one spot behind Briscoe in the points standings, as he also has a pair of Top-5 finishes to his credit. He won at Long Beach back on April 19th, two weeks after finishing fourth at St. Petersburg. Franchetti won the Indy 500 in 2007, which erased the memories of several poor starts without a Top-5 finish there. Much like Briscoe, this will be Franchetti’s best starting position of his career at Indianapolis, a position he’ll hope to parlay into victory come Sunday.
All eyes on Sunday will be glued to the black and orange car of Danica Patrick, who will be in search of her second career victory. Before getting into an accident in 2008, Patrick had finished in the Top-10 at Indy in all three of her career starts there, and she’d love nothing more than to pick up a win on Sunday. The motor racing world needs Patrick to be a star, but the oddsmakers don’t see it happening. They’ve lined her as an 11/1 underdog, the sixth choice on the board. Patrick will start on the inside of Row 4.
However, in spite of all of the other stars in the field, a logical selection has to be Scott Dixon, the man who won the Indy 500 crown last season. Dixon will start in the middle of Row 2 in prime stalking position of the big boys on Row 1. At 4/1, he’s the second favorite on the board, and rightfully so. He’s coming off of a ‘W’ at Kansas Speedway and has had three straight Top-10 finishes for Chip-Ganassi Racing at the Brickyard. He finished second to Franchetti in 2007, and will be looking to become the race’s first back-to-back winner since Castroneves pulled off the feat in ’01 and ’02.
So there you have it, a rundown of whom I believe will potentially finish in the money at the 2009 Indianapolis 500. BetUS is here to take all auto racing betting action, so pop on by and make this year’s Indy 500 a little more interesting!!!
