Indianapolis 500 2021: How To Watch Indy 500, Betting Preview, Betting Picks

The Indianapolis 500 is returning to its typical Memorial Day Weekend slot after being pushed to August in 2020 during the pandemic. Here's Benzinga's look at how to watch the race, a betting preview and some potential bets to consider.

How To Watch The Indianapolis 500: The 105th Indianapolis 500 will air on NBC, a unit of Comcast Corporation CMCSA, on Sunday, May 30.

The race will begin at 12:45 p.m. ET Sunday.

Around 135,000 fans will be able to watch the Indy 500 live with reduced capacity at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Indy 500 Bets Being Offered: Bettors have many options for the Indianapolis 500. DraftKings Inc DKNG is offering the following bet types:

Winner

Top 3 Finish

Top 5 Finish

Top 10 Finish

To Finish on Lead Lap

Nationality of Winner

First Time Winner

Drive to Lead Lap (Yes or No)

Race Matchups

Group Betting

Favorites: DraftKings has the following six racers as the favorites

Scott Dixon +350 to win, -420 top ten finish

Colton Herta +700 to win, -215 top ten finish

Patricio O’Ward +1,100 to win, -152 top ten finish

Alex Palou +1,400 to win, -129 top ten finish

Alexander Rossi +1,400 to win, -129 top ten finish

Rinus Veekay +1,400 to win, -129 top ten finish

Betting Preview: Dixon sits in the pole position and comes in as the favorite. Dixon is a past Indianapolis 500 winner and finished second last year. Dixon has two top three finishes in his last three Indianapolis 500s.

Veekay could be a popular betting favorite and will be a part of a big story for the Indianapolis 500. Veekay’s No. 21 car will feature Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) as the primary paint scheme.

Veekay won the GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway earlier this month and has several top 10 finishes this season.

Graham Rahal comes into the Indianapolis 500 with odds of +1,800 to win. Rahal has several top five finishes on the season and is the son of a past Indy 500 winner.

Tony Kanaan is a past winner of the Indy 500 and has odds of +1,600 to win the race. Kanaan has three top 10 finishes in his last five Indy 500 starts and could be a good value bet to finish in the top 10.

Marcus Ericsson (+2,200) has three top 10 finishes in five 2021 races.

Past winner Takuma Sato (+2,000) has only two top tens in the five 2021 races. That comes after finishing in the top 10 in around 50% of races over the last three years. Sato won the Indy 500 last year at +1,600 and in 2017 at +2,500.

O’Ward has one win, three top five and three top 10 finishes in five races this season and could be the best pick among the top six favored drivers.

Three time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves (+2,800) starts eighth in the race. Castroneves has strong history at the course but has no top 10 finishes since 2018.

Picks: Dixon could very well win the Indy 500 but could be worth fading with the low payout past a win. With 33 racers in the field, it could be the time to play value with bets on top 10 finishers.

O’Ward Top 10 (-152)

Veekay Top 10 (-129)

Rahal Top 10 (-106)

Kanaan Top 10 (-112)

Ericsson Top 10 (+110)

Sato Top 10 (+105)

Castroneves Top 10 (+135)

Veekay To Win (+1,400)

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