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David Malsher-Lopez

Speculation grows over 33rd entry for Indianapolis 500

There are 32 confirmed entries for this year’s race (below) with 15 powered by Chevrolet, 17 by Honda, and it’s understood that HPD is not eager to supply an 18th. Chevrolet’s IndyCar program manager Rob Buckner confirmed that the Chevy-Ilmor program is ready to step up and partly redress the current entry imbalance, “but we haven’t heard of any deal being finalized yet.”

One Honda team who often runs extra entries for the 500 is Dale Coyne, and there have been rumors that Stefan Wilson, a three-time starter in the Memorial Day Weekend classic, might end up at DCR.

However, Coyne, who this year will enter two-time Indy winner Takuma Sato and rookie David Malukas, told Motorsport.com: “No, we won’t be running an extra car in Indy. Stefan has called a few times and is trying to get something going, but it’s hard to get good crew guys.”

Juncos Hollinger Racing-Chevrolet, the only team running just one car full-time in the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series, for Callum Ilott, is therefore at the center of speculation regarding who will ready an extra car for the 500. But team founder and co-owner Ricardo Juncos echoed Coyne’s concerns.

“We’re not ready and it’s too late in the game,” he said. “We’re going to focus on one car, and it’s hard to find the people even for that car!

“I always say that if you’re going to do it, you need to do it 100 percent right. I don’t like doing things last-minute, unprepared. Remember in 2017, our IndyCar debut, we ran two cars [for Spencer Pigot and Sebastian Saavedra], but now we want to put in place a proper foundation for the IndyCar team.

“After this weekend I’ll see what might be thrown at me, but no, I don’t see a way to run an extra car. I don’t even have enough people to run our Indy Lights team.”

Ed Carpenter confirmed that, along with himself driving the #33 oval entry, and Rinus VeeKay and Conor Daly driving the the fulltime #20 and #21 cars, Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet will not run a fourth car.

Paretta Autosport ran a “women forward” crew last year for Simona De Silvestro’s entry in a Penske-built Chevy-powered car, and team owner Beth Paretta is aiming to have a car on the grid this year. However, she wasn’t prepared to confirm with whom she would partner to make it happen in 2022, although it’s believed that De Silvestro would again be the driver.

Weather allowing, there will be an open test held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on April 20-21.

Confirmed entries for 106th running of the Indianapolis 500:

Team Penske-Chevrolet

2 - Josef Newgarden
3 - Scott McLaughlin
12 - Will Power

Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda

8 - Marcus Ericsson
9 - Scott Dixon
10 - Alex Palou
48 - Jimmie Johnson
XX - Tony Kanaan

Andretti Autosport-Honda

26 - Colton Herta
27 - Alexander Rossi
28 - Romain Grosjean
29 - Devlin DeFrancesco
98 - Marco Andretti

Meyer Shank Racing-Honda

06 - Helio Castroneves
60 - Simon Pagenaud

Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet

5 - Patricio O’Ward
6 - Juan Pablo Montoya
7 - Felix Rosenqvist

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda

15 - Graham Rahal
30 - Christian Lundgaard
45 - Jack Harvey

Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet

20 - Conor Daly
21 - Rinus VeeKay
33 - Ed Carpenter

Dale Coyne Racing-Honda

18 – David Malukas
51 – Takuma Sato

AJ Foyt Racing-Chevrolet

4 - Dalton Kellett
11 - JR Hildebrand
14 - Kyle Kirkwood

Juncos Hollinger-Chevrolet

77 - Callum Ilott

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing-Chevrolet

23 - Santino Ferrucci
24 - Sage Karam

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