Oreovicz: Grading the Indy 500 grid

4:00 PM ET

INDIANAPOLIS — Carb Day practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is just one hour out of an available 40 hours of track time in the lead-up to the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 (Sunday 11 a.m. ET, ABC, WatchESPN and the ESPN app).

But as the last time the 33 cars and drivers are on the track prior to the biggest race of the year, teams take that last hour very seriously. That was especially applicable this year, because Carb Day featured the hottest temperatures so far during the Month of May: more importantly, the kind of hot, humid conditions that are expected on race day.

James Hinchcliffe has the pole and a lot of fans pulling for him in Sunday’s race. AP Photo/Darron Cummings

It’s notable that when the track has heated up over the last week, the Chip Ganassi Racing cars have usually emerged at the top of the timesheets. Andretti Autosport has also looked good in the heat, drivers from those two teams posting six of the fastest nine laps on Carb Day.

Outright speed is one thing, but pit stop strategy and car preparation play a big part in the equation, too. In that regard, Team Penske is peerless in the Verizon IndyCar Series, and especially at Indianapolis, where Roger Penske’s cars have won a record 16 times.

With all that in mind, here is ESPN.com’s ranking of the eleven teams participating in Sunday’s race.

1. Team Penske: Even though Team Penske’s top qualifier for this year’s race is Will Power in sixth place, Indy car racing’s most successful team still rates as the favorite to take home the Borg-Warner Trophy. Among all the multi-car teams in the series, Penske is the only one that features four top-flight, championship caliber drivers. Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya are both multiple Indy winners, championship leader Simon Pagenaud is the hottest driver in the sport, and Power’s speed and desire are unquestioned. With four potential winners, Penske can take radical strategy chances if necessary and the team’s execution on critical pit stops is second to none. You can be certain that with this being the 100th running of the 500 on the occasion of Team Penske’s 50th anniversary, that winning this year would be even more special than usual for Mr. Penske.

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They still gather at the gravesite of Ray Harroun, the first winner of the Indy 500 in 1911. They will gather Sunday at “The Speedway” for the 100th running in numbers rarely, if ever, seen.

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