2025 Indianapolis 500 Expert Picks: Best Indy 500 Odds, Predictions & Prop Bets

The Greatest Spectacle in Racing is right around the corner, and we offer our Indianapolis 500 predictions and dish out our expert picks to win, including a bet for the always-underrated Santino Ferrucci. Tune into the action at 12:45 p.m. ET (FOX) on Sunday, live from Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

📊 2025 Indy 500 odds & favorites 

Here are the latest Indianapolis 500 odds and favorites to win Sunday's race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Odds updated as of Saturday via BetMGM.

🥇 Indy 500 betting favorites 🥇

• Pato O'Ward, +500 ($10 to win $50)
• Alex Palou, +500 ($10 to win $50)
• Josef Newgarden, +600 ($10 to win $60)
• Scott Dixon, +700 ($10 to win $70)
• Scott McLaughlin, +900 ($10 to win $90)
• Takuma Sato, +1300 ($10 to win $130)
• Felix Rosenqvist, +1600 ($10 to win $160)
• Will Power, +1800 ($10 to win $180)
• Robert Shwartzman, +1800 ($10 to win $180)
• Alexander Rossi, +2200 ($10 to win $220)
• David Malukas, +2200 ($10 to win $220)
• Christian Lundgaard, +2200 ($10 to win $220)
• Kyle Larson, +2500 ($10 to win $250)
• Colton Herta, +3000 ($10 to win $300)
• Santino Ferrucci, +3000 ($10 to win $300)
• Marcus Ericsson, +3000 ($10 to win $300)

Claim our BetMGM bonus code, SBRBONUS, to receive up to $1,500 in bonus bets by placing a wager of any amount on the Indianapolis 500 or any other market!

🏁 Indy 500 predictions, expert picks & best bets

The Indianapolis 500 is the biggest race on the IndyCar calendar. The 2025 race marks the 109th running of the event, lovingly nicknamed the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, and storylines abound heading into the weekend. 

Two Team Penske cars failed inspection, leading to some big-name personnel firings. Meanwhile, rookie Robert Shwartzman qualified his Prema Racing No. 83 on the pole in the team’s first-ever Indy 500.

Josef Newgarden won the last two Indy 500s, but after failing inspection, he’ll have to start in the back. It may be true that no driver has won this race from so far back, but I nevertheless predict Josef Newgarden will win the 2025 Indianapolis 500.

🏆 Pick to win Indy 500: Josef Newgarden (+1000 via FanDuel) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Team Penske has sold out to dominate on ovals in the IndyCar series. Last year, the team won the Indianapolis 500 with Newgarden and won four of the six other oval races. In 2023, Newgarden also won at Indy, and Team Penske won three of the five other oval races.

While the inspection failure (and subsequent modifications to be compliant) and poor starting position are red flags, they might just be a blessing in disguise: We can get Newgarden at +1000 via FanDuel, which is a much better price than the +700 available back in February.

Further, we saw Newgarden and his No. 2 Chevrolet back in action on Carb Day, and, well, we didn’t see a fall-off in speed for this team. Newgarden led final practice with Penske teammate Will Power not far behind in fifth. The Indy 500 is still Penske’s race to lose - it’ll just be trickier this year.

💎 Best value bet to win Indy 500: Santino Ferrucci (+3000 via BetMGM) ⭐⭐⭐

With IndyCar being such a top-heavy sport, it’s tricky to find standout values down the board. Santino Ferrucci, pilot of the No. 14 Chevrolet for A.J. Foyt Racing, is one of a few exceptions. Back in February, I touted both Ferrucci (then +1800) and his teammate, David Malukas (then +2000). Now, Malukas is +2200 at BetMGM while Ferrucci’s odds have plummeted to +3000.

Sure, qualifying and practice weren’t as kind to Ferrucci this year as they were in past seasons. The silver lining is that Foyt still has a technical alliance with Team Penske, so at least some of that team’s success should trickle down into the Foyt notebook. Likewise, Malukas was ninth in final practice while Ferrucci was 14th. These Foyt cars may not have race-breaking speed, but they have speed.

Ferrucci also has an impressive resume in this event. In six starts, none of which came in top-tier equipment, he has one podium, two top fives, and six top 10s. He managed to improve from his qualification spot in five of those events, failing to do so for the first time last year after starting sixth. Look for the Connecticut native to be in the mix, so a $300 return on a $10 bet is a great deal.

🎯 Best long shot to win Indy 500: Devlin DeFrancesco (+17500 via Caesars) ⭐⭐⭐

Back in February, Shwartzman was +15000 to win this race. He’s now +1800 after taking the pole, rending him far from a long shot. Unlike Shwartzman, Devlin DeFrancesco has seen his odds lengthen from +10000 to +17500 despite some encouraging news: these Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing cars are fast. Bad fast.

Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato piloted his RLL No. 75 Honda to a front-row starting position and was second-fastest on Carb Day. Sato has been fast down the stretch, ranking third in the penultimate practice session as well. DeFrancesco may be starting 16th, but he flashed serious speed on Carb Day, clocking in with the fourth-best time.

It’ll take a lot of help for DeFrancesco to win this race - he is +17500 at Caesars, after all - but the equipment should be there for him. With a $10 bet offering a massive $1,750 payday, even a nominal wager could offer you a serious sweat come Sunday.

💰 Best Indy 500 prop bets

With Team Penske and A.J. Foyt Racing running so well at Indianapolis lately, I’m not going to reinvent the wheel with these IndyCar prop picks. 

🔥 Best prop bet for Indy 500: Santino Ferrucci top-10 finish (+110 via BetMGM) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

If you want a bet that has hit in each of the last six Indianapolis 500s, look no further than this plus-money prop at BetMGM. In six starts, Ferrucci has an average finish of 6.3, bringing whatever underfunded car he drove in the top 10 each time. Although he looked faster in practice and qualifying in both 2023 and 2024, I’m optimistic that this bet will keep cashing.

As laid out above, Ferrucci and teammate Malukas showed solid enough speed in the final practice sessions that they should easily be in contention for top 10s. With Ferrucci priced in the plus money to bring his car home inside the first 10 positions for a seventh straight time, I’m locking this bet in on my Indy 500 betting card.

🚀 Best long-shot prop bet for Indy 500: Jack Harvey top-10 finish (+475 via BetMGM) ⭐⭐⭐

I usually target bets with longer odds for long-shot prop bets, but the top-heavy nature of the current IndyCar field renders other markets less attractive. We’ll settle for a top 10 bet with odds of +475 (17.4%), which is long enough for me to get excited. In a 33-car field, any driver has a raw shot of 30.3% to finish inside the top 10, almost twice what BetMGM is charging for Harvey.

I like Harvey for the simple reason that Dreyer & Reinbold Racing was fast in the final practice sessions. Harvey ranked fourth in the penultimate practice and 12th on Carb Day. His teammate, Ryan Hunter-Reay, ranked fifth and 11th in those sessions, respectively. Harvey even piloted a Meyer Shank Racing car to a top 10 result here in 2020, so he isn’t as bad as the books’ lines suggest.

📈 Indy 500 trends & Indianapolis Motor Speedway history

Here are a few Indianapolis 500 trends to consider before betting on Sunday's race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

🏎️ Two in a row for Newgarden. The Team Penske driver won here in both 2023 and 2024, but no driver has ever won the Indy 500 three times in a row. Newgarden will look to break that trend on Sunday afternoon. 

🏎️ Start in the back? You won’t win. Just as Newgarden looks to make history by becoming the first driver to three-peat at this race, he’ll also look to buck another trend: no driver has won after starting in the final row.

🏎️ Team Penske or Honda. While Chevrolet has won 13 Indy 500s as a manufacturer, its last five wins (dating back to 2015) have come from Team Penske. No non-Penske Chevrolet has won this race since the now-defunct KV Racing Technology did so in 2013. 

💡 How to bet on the Indy 500

Betting on the Indianapolis 500 is a fantastic way to enjoy our Memorial Day weekend racing guide. If you’re unfamiliar with what makes the sport unique, I’ll dive into a few key IndyCar betting strategies to keep in mind.

• Understand the odds. The Indianapolis 500 features a 33-car field, so the raw odds of any “Top X” outcome can be found by dividing X by 33. In this case, the raw odds of a win are 3% while the raw odds of a top 5 are 15.2% - key thresholds to keep in mind when handicapping those markets, as books will rarely give you odds that exceed those numbers for top drivers.
• Know the difference between oval racing and road course racing. IndyCar uses different spec cars for ovals and road courses, so teams that are crushing it when turning right and left may not be as dominant when tasked with turning only left. The Indianapolis 500 is the first oval race of the year, so last year’s oval results may be more predictive than this year’s road course results.

🏆 Past Indy 500 winners

Here is a look at the last 10 Indianapolis 500 winners entering Sunday's race.

📺 How to watch the 2025 Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

📅 Race date: Sunday, May 25
🕒 Start time: 12:45 p.m. ET
📍 Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Speedway, Ind.)
📺 TV: FOX | Streaming: FOX Sports App

❓ Indy 500 FAQs

Who is favored to win the 2025 Indy 500?

Pato O’Ward is the favorite to win the 2025 Indianapolis 500 at +500 (16.7%), which would return $50 in profit on a $10 wager. 

What are the odds for the Indy 500?

Behind O’Ward, Alex Palou (+500), Josef Newgarden (+600), and Scott Dixon (+700) are among the favorites to win this year’s revent.

What time is the 2025 Indy 500?

The 2025 Indianapolis 500 starts at 12:45 p.m. ET (FOX) on Sunday, May 25, from Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

How to watch the 2025 Indy 500

You can watch the Indianapolis 500 on FOX or stream it via the FOX Sports App.

Who won the Indy 500 last year?

Josef Newgarden won the 2024 Indianapolis 500 after trading at +500 on the day of the race.

💵 Best Indy 500 betting sites

Want to bet on the Indianapolis 500? Check out the best sports betting sites and best sportsbook promos for Sunday's race:

• FanDuel Promo Code
• DraftKings Promo Code
• Hard Rock Bet Promo Code

(21+. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER)
* Bonuses not applicable in Ontario.

Not intended for use in MA.
Each betting site featured on SBR has been meticulously researched and selected by our team of experts. If you sign up through our links, we may get a commission.