INDIANAPOLIS – We’re getting closer and closer to the most important month of the entire year. In fact, we’re a matter of days from the 28 NTT IndyCar Series machines taking to the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway in an open test session around the famed track.

So, with the Month of May ramping up soon, where do we stand on the entry list? Right now, we’re at 35 cars with 34 drivers counting JR Hildebrand’s announcement that he’s rejoining Dreyer & Reinbold Racing for next month.

Last year, we had 35 cars and we’re there now. But, how many more could join? Realistically, we’re one car and two driver announcements away from this list being official, but never say never on the potential of potentially one more.

Here’s an update on what we’re hearing.

Chevrolet (18)

Team Penske (4) – Will Power, Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud, Helio Castroneves. They’re set with no expansion.

ECR/Scuderia Corsa (3) – Ed Carpenter, Spencer Pigot, Ed Jones. This team is set.

Carlin (3) – Max Chilton, Charlie Kimball, Pato O’Ward R. They’re set at three cars.

AJ Foyt Racing (2) – Matheus Leist, Tony Kanaan. The team had plans to merge for a third car but that talk has quieted some. They’re part of the Clauson-Marshall deal but not as much as they were with Byrd last year. The third car doesn’t seem likely anymore.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing (2) – Sage Karam and JR Hildebrand are back again for a 2 car entry. They don’t have any more cars available. 

McLaren (1) – Fernando Alonso. They’ve teamed with Carlin and Zak Brown has since said that they’re set with one car.

DragonSpeed (1) – Ben Hanley R. They’re only showing up with one car for Hanley.

Clauson-Marshall Racing (1) – Pippa Mann. Just one car here.

Juncos (1) – We know one car will be at Indy but the driver is still TBA, most likely Kyle Kaiser. They have a second car but they need funding. With the IMSA program, they have said that they likely will remain with just one car again in May.

Honda (17)

Andretti Autosport (5) – Marco Andretti, Alexander Rossi, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Zach Veach, Conor Daly. They’re set on five cars. There isn’t any plans to add a sixth this year.

RLL (3) – Graham Rahal, Takuma Sato, Jordan King R. There was a chance they could add a fourth car, but it would have taken some serious cash to do so. They seem set with three again.

Dale Coyne Racing (3) – Sebastien Bourdais, Santino Ferrucci R, James Davison. They could run a fourth car if the money is right here soon. Jay Howard is the name mentioned if they do.

SPM/Meyer-Shank Racing (3) – James Hinchcliffe, Marcus Ericsson R, Jack Harvey. These three are set, but rumors are they may run a fourth car (3rd from SPM) in May again. Jay Howard has drove this car the past two years but Oriol Servia is expected to be named as the fourth driver here soon.

Chip Ganassi Racing (2) – Scott Dixon, Felix Rosenqvist R. They’re set on two cars with no plans of expansion.

Harding/Steinbrenner Racing (1) – Colton Herta R. Talks were speculating that they would run a second car which sources have since said isn’t going to happen.

Possibilities (2)

SPM (1) – This car seems likely with Oriol Servia’s name mentioned as the top option. Jay Howard was an option but he took his name out of the hat recently. So, if it’s not Servia, look for this car to go to the next highest bidder.

Juncos (1) – They have a second car but do they use it or lease it out to someone else? Plenty of drivers are in play here from Carlos Munoz, Rene Binder, Jay Howard, Stefan Wilson, Gabby Chaves and others. Sources have said they will remain a one car venture though with Kaiser behind the wheel.

What Dropped Off

If you remember, at one point we thought there could be anywhere between 38-40 entries this year. Now, we’re heading towards 36. What happened?

Well, Juncos ran into funding problems and started an IMSA team. They have two cars but will elect to run one instead. That’s one drop off.

Another is with Harding. They initially had two cars but scaled back to only one entry when Pato O’Ward left for greener pastures. See, while the team didn’t have the funding to run a full season, O’Ward had scholarship money that included the Indy 500. With him joining Carlin, the funding for the second car went awry. The organization still sought a second driver but ran out of time.

That would be the 37th and 38th entries.

The 39th was a fourth seat at Dale Coyne Racing. They ran out of resources to run a fourth car again, so they stood pat at three. That’s 39 cars.

The 40th was with AJ Foyt Racing. They had run three cars the last few years but elected to just give technical info to the start up Clauson Marshall Racing team. That was the 40th.