These 8 veteran drivers are making their 2024 IndyCar Series debuts in the Indy 500

INDIANAPOLIS – “It never gets old, the butterflies every morning.”

Conor Daly is not shy about sharing his Hoosier roots. The Noblesville native lives in Indianapolis, he speaks highly about the 317 and he still pinches himself during the Month of May every year.

“They say, ‘Go big or go home,’ but I’m literally going big and still going home afterward,” Daly said. “I have no other choice than to leave it all on the table.”

Fellow Indianapolis native Ed Carpenter heads into the 108th Indianapolis 500 in the same situation as Daly, but he said it’s not the only IndyCar race he plans to compete in this season. Despite missing the first five races of the season, Carpenter said he prepared for the Greatest Spectacle in Racing the same as always.

“I don’t really feel like it would be any different if I was full time,” he said. “Indy is unique, and the preparation for it is unique.”

Katherine Legge of Dale Coyne Racing said the Indianapolis 500 requires more mental endurance than physical. To help sharpen her focus, she said she’s always watching the IndyCar Series races to study her opponents and speaking to her engineers to get the best possible understanding of her No. 51 Honda.

Legge said when she runs through the woods to train for races, she’ll think of the three people she most wants to succeed for: Roger Penske, her father and a hypothetical daughter.

“I try and do those hard things that would make those people proud, and then I’ll feel like I have achieved something,” she said.

Takuma Sato said he still has the innate desire to compete in a full IndyCar Series season, but he knows that time has passed. Instead, the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner focuses on a handful of races per season, with the Greatest Spectacle in Racing being his first.

“Not racing every two weeks, it’s not easy to jump in the car, but obviously we can drive,” Sato said. “I think if you asked me to jump in the car (for the first time) in Detroit next week, I would be panicking.”

2014 Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay kicked off his 2023 season with the biggest race in the world, and he’s doing the same in 2024. “Captain America” is the only driver representing Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, a role he said benefits his preparation for the Indianapolis 500.

When he is able to visit his team’s garage months before May and knows their sole focus is on the Indianapolis 500, he feels confident in his ability to jump right back into the fray and achieve success.

“I know the things I need to push in the offseason, the things I need to push two months out or the things I need to push a month out,” Hunter-Reay said. “Being here during the month of May is an absolute privilege.”

Sato’s preparation for the Indianapolis 500 comes in the form of mentoring fellow Rahal Letterman Lanigan teammates and traveling with the team to some other races throughout the season. While he still loves being in the cockpit of a race car, Sato said he is passionate about inspiring and offering advice to the next generation of drivers.

“To come back to IMS just gives me a greater feeling,” Sato said. “To have 15 times come here, that gives them a ‘If he can do it, I can do it,’ type of mentality.”

Daly, who represents Meyer Shank Racing, said although he tries to be friendly to all of his peers and offer small pieces of advice to the 2024 rookie class, he knows the key is to not give away too much. He said his conversations with Marcus Armstrong have stuck out the most, as he catches the Chip Ganassi Racing 23-year-old looking around IMS in wonder.

Daly’s response has been, ‘Welcome to the show.’

“This is the coolest thing in the world,” Daly said. “... To see their reaction is really cool because I remember having the same reaction many years ago when I was a rookie.”

Daly’s moment of realization came when he was talking to Marco Andretti as a newcomer.

The past three IndyCar Series seasons, Andretti has only competed in the Indianapolis 500. Instead, he has shifted his focus more toward other racing ventures such as part-time competition in NASCAR.

And yet, the race Andretti grew up watching his family compete in year after year has called his name for the 19th time in a row.

“I don’t feel behind the 8-ball,” Andretti said. “You have to drive these things so on the edge to be fast … but I feel so at home at this place that it doesn’t take me much time to get going.”

Starting 19th, but in the same row as two former Indianapolis 500 winners in Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves, Andretti feels drivers competing ahead of them would be wise not to overlook the veteran trio.

For the first time since 2021 and just the third time of his near quarter-century IndyCar career, this year’s Indianapolis 500 will be Castroneves’ first race of the season.

“This place brings the best out of everyone, including us,” Castroneves said. “I believe experience in this place counts.”

Looking to become the first driver to win the Indianapolis 500 five times, the Meyer Shank Racing driver said the unique situation he’s in is not lost on him.

“This is a place that changes people’s lives,” Castroneves said. “ … Records are made to be broken, just like any other sport. Why not?”

As Castroneves looks to make history this year, so too does Kyle Larson. Racing in not only his first Indianapolis 500, but first IndyCar race in general, the NASCAR Cup Series mainstay hopes to become the fifth driver in history to complete ‘The Double.’

While simultaneously preparing for the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600, both taking place Sunday, Larson has spent more time in a race car of any variety than any of the other drivers competing in their first IndyCar race of the season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS).

“What helps, too, is that these cars aren't way different than a stock car,” Larson said. “It's easy to look at them and say they're way different, but for me and what I feel, they're not way different.”

Aside from the learning curve in studying when it comes to available data, the Arrow McLaren driver said the preparation between IndyCar and NASCAR isn’t much different either.

“I feel like the way you execute a race in the 500 is very similar to how you would execute a race at Daytona or Talladega or any race, really,” Larson said. “Qualify good: we’ve done that. Don’t make mistakes: hopefully we don’t make any. Execute good.”

Larson has been leaning on racing legends like Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart in preparation for the Indianapolis 500, the latter of whom is one of the four previous drivers to pull double duty. While Stewart competed in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing five times, Larson’s future IndyCar ventures beyond Sunday are uncertain.

“I don't know how often I'm gonna run this race. I don't know if this is the only year I'm running it, so I’m just trying to really enjoy it and I have,” Larson said. “It's been the coolest experience to this point and we haven't run the race yet.”

Contact Kyle Smedley with comments via email at KSmedley@Gannett.com or on X @KyleSmedley_.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Former winners, NASCAR elites and IndyCar veterans await the Indy 500