ESPN.com picks the Indy 500 podium

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print

INDIANAPOLIS -- You'd think that with a combined 80-something years of covering this event, the ESPN.com motor racing staff would be more reluctant to flout the historic Andretti jinx.

But our consensus pick to win Sunday's 96th Indianapolis 500 is Marco Andretti, third generation driver in a family that has but one 500 win, Mario's in 1969, since the patriarch arrived here in 1965.

Not only is Marco on every ballot, he is no worse than second.

Writers Terry Blount, John Oreovicz and I all have him to win. Editors K. Lee Davis and Joe Breeze pick him second.

The only other real plunge on a winner is Joe's pick of Will Power.

After that, we all turn conservative with two-time winner Dario Franchitti (K. Lee has him to win), three-time winner Helio Castroneves and 2008 champion Scott Dixon in the mix.

I'm unabashedly picking with my heart here, for the good of this grand old race. But I'm not irrational. Marco Andretti feels more confident going into this race than ever before. And he's better here than anywhere else.

"Andretti Wins Indy 500" would be news flashed around the world, a headline in newspapers from Tokyo to Paris to Madrid to Buenos Aires. It would be as much of a jump-start for this race's prestige as any result you could ask for.

Franchitti is as good as they come at surviving 500 miles, but the Ganassi team's Honda power might not quite match the Chevrolets in the pinch.

It's a little precarious to pick Castroneves third, because the likelihood is, if he's near the win he'll get it. But once in a while Team Penske has a discombobulated day in its pits, and I'm sensing this might be one of those days. Then, Castroneves would salvage the best result for the team.

-- Ed Hinton

Marco Andretti hasn't done much this year, but he was beaming with confidence this week.

Blount

He truly believes he's the guy to beat. So does Scott Dixon, who listed Marco's car the favorite on Thursday. And it's time for the Andretti jinx to end.

Maybe Dixon was trying to lull Marco into over-confidence. Scott isn't the most ecxiting guy in the series, but he definitely is one of the best drivers. He rarely makes a mistake, which is critical to winning at Indy over 800 turns in three hours.

Helio Castroneves wants that fourth win here to join the legends. He has the car to do it with one of the Team Penske Chevys, which haven't lost yet this season.

-- Terry Blount

We know Will Power can dominate a road course.

Breeze

Why should we think he can duplicate that success on the massive Indy rectangle? Because Power is feeling more confident and more comfortable than he ever has in his Penske machine. He finally can quiet his critics with a victory in the biggest race of all.

The famous Andretti clan has failed to win at Indy since grandfather Mario's only one in 1969. Marco Andretti's confidence is soaring. He came oh so close in 2006, and he would love nothing more than to end the family's 43-year jinx in the grand ol' race.

We knew Dario Franchitti, a two-time Indy winner, would eventually find the speed. That happened on Carb Day. But will his new Honda engine keep pace with the Chevys in Sunday's searing heat? It'll be close.

-- Joe Breeze

I'm trying not to let Carb Day practice influence me too much.

Davis

But honestly, I felt like the Target Chip Ganassi Racing gang would get things figured out by raceday anyway. Carb Day just told me to move Dario Franchitti up a spot.

Marco Andretti has looked solid all along and it wouldn't be surprising to see him win, and it wouldn't surprise me to see Scott Dixon win, either.

Noticeably absent from my podium is the power trio from Penske Racing. Pole-sitter Ryan Briscoe, Will Power -- who has won the three races leading into Indy -- and three-time 500 winner Helio Castroneves would be easy picks, but I'm shying away from them this time.

-- K. Lee Davis

Marco Andretti has three top-three finishes in the Indianapolis 500, and I reckon this is the year the kid will finally bury the so-called Andretti curse and win the big one.

Oreovicz

He's qualified a career-best fourth, and in the seventh year of his Indy car career (!) he knows that people are watching and judging. Marco talks a lot about silencing the doubters, and in the space of about three hours on Sunday, he has the opportunity to do just that.

I'm pretty sure the Chevys will outrun the Hondas, but I'm going to pick Scott Dixon for second place. And I expect Will Power to have his most competitive run to date in the Indy 500, rounding out the podium.

New track record? Maybe the temperature, which is expected to approach 100 degrees. The record of 92 degrees was set in 1937.

-- John Oreovicz

Here's a voter-by-voter breakdown of the results:

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print
• Subscribe