2025 Indianapolis 500 odds, picks, prop bets: Expert who hit 17 winners targeting nearly 80-1 longshot

The 2025 Indianapolis 500 field of 33 is set, with eight former winners in Sunday's race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which begins at 12:45 p.m. ET. Josef Newgarden is seeking his third consecutive win in this storied race, while Takuma Sato can win the third of his career. Pato O'Ward, a two-time runner-up, is the +500 favorite (risk $100 to win $500) in the 2025 Indianapolis 500 odds. He is followed by Alex Palou (+550), Scott Dixon (+650) and Robert Schwartzman (+800) on the 2025 Indy 500 odds board. Scwartzman, a rookie, won the pole and will start alongside Sato and O'Ward on Row 1 of the 2025 Indianapolis 500 starting grid. Should you include any of those drivers in your 2025 Indy 500 bets? Before making any 2025 Indianapolis 500 picks or IndyCar Series predictions, you need to see what auto racing insider Steven Taranto has to say.

Taranto, who moonlights as a sim racer and has 20 career wins in iRacing, is the lead NASCAR writer for CBSSports.com. He has an annual NASCAR medial credential and also publishes a popular weekly NASCAR predictions column, famously calling Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez's breakthrough wins in 2022.

Taranto was red-hot for SportsLine in 2024 as he nailed 17 winners, including 16-1 longshot William Byron at the Daytona 500 and 14-1 longshot Chase Elliott at Texas. He correctly picked the Straight Talk Wireless 400 winner in Larson on March 23. Anyone following his NASCAR picks at their favorite sportsbooks could have seen huge returns.

Now, Taranto has analyzed the starting lineup and odds for Sunday's 2025 Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He's sharing his best bets at SportsLine. New users can use them to take advantage of the latest DraftKings promo code, FanDuel promo code or BetMGM promo code.

2025 Indianapolis 500 expert picks

One of Taranto's top 2025 Indy 500 picks: He is high on Josef Newgarden, even though he's a 10-1 longshot. Newgarden and Will Power were moved to the back of the Indy 500 field after their cars failed inspection during qualifying, putting them in the 32nd and 33rd positions for this year's race. They are both former winners of this race though, and Newgarden has won each of the last two editions.

A third consecutive victory would put Newgarden in rare air, and starting from the rear just gives him more motivation. He has a pair of top-10 finishes this season, including a third-place finish in the season opener at St. Petersburg. While starting from the back is certainly a disadvantage, Taranto likes the value of Newgarden as a double-digit longshot. See which other drivers he's backing at SportsLine.

Top prop pick for Indianapolis 500

One surprising Indianapolis 500 prop Taranto is backing: He likes Christian Lundgaard (+105) to finish ahead of David Malukas (-135). Lundgaard, 23, is currently third in the series rankings with 155 points. He has four top-10 finishes, including second at the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix on May 4. He was also third at the Grand Prix of Long Beach and at The Thermal Club Grand Prix.

In his four-year IndyCar career, he has one win, five podiums and two poles in 52 races. Malukas, meanwhile, has not finished better than 13th this season, and is coming off a 23rd-place finish at the Grand Prix Road Course earlier this month. The 23-year-old, who is looking for his first career win, has run 44 races in his three-year career. See all of Taranto's picks at SportsLine. 

How to make 2025 Indianapolis 500 predictions

Taranto has also identified three other drivers in his 2025 Indianapolis 500 best bets. He's also high on a huge IndyCar longshot who's going off at around 80-1, potentially netting any backer a huge payday. You can only see who they are here.

So who wins the 2025 Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and which massive longshot could stun IndyCar? Visit SportsLine now to see the 2025 Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway picks and best bets from a NASCAR insider who nailed a colossal 17 NASCAR winners last year, and find out.

2025 Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway odds, lineup

See full Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway picks at SportsLine

Pato O'Ward +500
Alex Palou +550
Scott Dixon +650
Robert Schwartzman +800
Takuma Sato +900
Scott McLaughlin +900
Josef Newgarden +1000
Felix Rosenqvist +1200
Kyle Larson +1800
David Malukas +1800
Alexander Rossi +1800
Christian Lundgaard +2000
Marcus Ericsson +2000
Kyle Kirkwood +2500
Conor Daly +2500
Colton Herta +2500
Will Power +2500
Santino Ferrucci +2500
Helio Castroneves +3000
Ed Carpenter +6000
Graham Rahal +8000
Sting Ray Robb +8000
Ryan Hunter-Reay +8000
Louis Foster +8000
Kyffin Simpson +10000
Jack Harvey +10000
Devlin DeFrancesco +10000
Christian Rasmussen +10000
Callum Ilott +10000
Rinus Veekay +10000
Nolan Siegel +10000
Marcus Armstrong +10000
Marco Andretti +10000