Indianapolis, Ind. (26 May 2023) – Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) drivers Helio Castroneves (No. 06 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda) and Simon Pagenaud (No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda) made their final laps in preparation for Sunday’s 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500, with both cars running more than 80 laps in today’s Carb Day practice.

MSR returns to the site of its first NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory, which came in 2021 when Castroneves came from eighth on the starting grid to lead 20 laps and win his record-tying fourth Indianapolis 500.

The race will mark MSR’s ninth and 10th entries into the famed Indianapolis 500 classic. Since it’s first entry into the event in 2017, MSR has earned top-10 results in four of its previous eight starts including at least one top 10 in each of the last three visits to the IMS oval.

Boasting one of the most experienced lineups in the IndyCar field, Castroneves and Pagenaud have 33 Indy 500 starts and have earned five victories, five poles and 10 podiums while leading 494 laps.

Castroneves will be making his second attempt to break a tie with Rick Mears, A.J. Foyt and Al Unser by becoming the first-ever driver to win five Indy 500s. He will do so after earning the 20th starting spot for Sunday’s race, putting him in the middle of the seventh row. Castroneves has only started 20th or worse in two of his previous 22 starts, but finished 11th (2020) and 7th (2022) in those starts.

The 2019 Indy 500 winner, Pagenaud will start 22nd, placing him on the inside of row eight. The Frenchman has finished higher than he started in five of his previous 11 starts including a run from 26th to finish third in 2021.

Sunday’s 200-lap race will air on NBC on Sunday starting at 11 a.m. ET, with the green flag set to wave at approximately 12:45 p.m. SiriusXM will also host live IndyCar radio coverage on XM Ch. 160.

Meyer Shank Racing Driver Quotes:

Helio Castroneves:

“I feel really good after today. We have a really well balanced car and we were running much more consistently then we have been, so I feel good heading into the race on Sunday. Obviously I am still going for that number five and I know that this team is capable of helping me get there. I’m just ready to get things started, let’s go racing!”

Simon Pagenaud:

“Mixed conditions today – windy, but cool, which is quite a bit different from what we’ve had this week. It was interesting to see people running different levels of downforce out there, but overall, I feel pretty confident with our car. We were able to do some good long runs and we’re really good in traffic so we’ll see what we can do on Sunday. I’m really pumped up, I can’t wait to be there.”