Santino Ferrucci Eyes 100th Start and Indy 500 First

Santino Ferrucci will make his 100th IndyCar career start in the 2026 Indianapolis 500, and he enters with a shot to become the first driver to win the race from start No. 100. The A.J. Foyt Enterprises driver arrives with 99 previous NTT INDYCAR SERIES starts and no victory, but also with a run of seven straight top-10 finishes in the race.

Ferrucci and the 100-start mark

Ferrucci said winning in his 100th start would be "quite the day". He added, "It would be a [day filled with a] lot of firsts."

The milestone lands in the Sunday main event, where he will take the green flag for his eighth consecutive Indianapolis 500 start. Six competitors have won in the centennial start in IndyCar history, but none of those wins came in the Indianapolis 500.

Indianapolis 500 run of seven

Ferrucci’s Indianapolis record gives him a real case for contending again. From 2019 through 2025, he finished in the top 10 in all seven of his starts, and his best result was third place in 2023.

He has not finished first, second or ninth in the Indianapolis 500, a narrow slice of outcomes that leaves room for a cleaner break through. The 2026 race is also his chance to turn a milestone start into the first Indianapolis 500 win from that career number.

No. 14 and the career line

Ferrucci is driving the No. 14 Dallara-Chevrolet for A.J. Foyt Enterprises after stops with Dale Coyne Racing, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Juncos Hollinger Racing. He became a full-time IndyCar competitor in 2019, won Indianapolis 500 Rookie-of-the-Year honors that season with a seventh-place finish, and closed 2019 13th in the standings.

Across 99 starts, he has one pole, three podiums, 172 laps led and an average finishing result of 13.6. He won the pole at Portland International Raceway in 2024, finished ninth in the final standings that year, and posted his best race result in early June 2025 with second place at the Streets of Detroit.

Ferrucci said, "We have a great career." He also said, "There’s no reason as to why we won’t be there [to contend for the win]." For a driver still chasing his first IndyCar victory, the 100th start now carries the clearest kind of pressure: a rare milestone and a chance to cash it in at Indianapolis.