Now three years removed from stepping away from his full-time IndyCar career, Marco Andretti will tackle his 19th Indianapolis 500 this May, Andretti Global confirmed Tuesday, along with new primary sponsor MAPEI, a chemical products manufacturer, to be featured on Andretti's No. 98 Honda.

The 36-year-old's confirmation to the field gives the 108th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing now 29 drivers formally locked into a field that is expected to see bumping for the second year in-a-row on qualifying weekend.

Andretti, who also is scheduled to tackle a 20-race stock car schedule in 2024 that includes 13 ARCA races and seven in the NASCAR Trucks series, will have an aim to factor into the Month of May for the first time since his pole-winning effort in 2020, his last 500 run while competing in the full-time IndyCar calendar. That race day, though, he failed to lead a lap and dropped to a 13th-place finish. Since then, he's qualified 25th, 23rd and 24th and finished 19th, 22nd and 17th.

Dating back to 2018, Andretti has a string of six consecutive 500s without a top-10 finish and has logged a best-finish in that stretch of 12th (2018). As a team, Andretti Global (recently rebranded from Andretti Autosport), has struggled to factor into the jockeying for the checkered flag in recent years, with just five top-10s among its 21 entries since the 2020 edition.

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A year ago, Colton Herta logged the team's best finish of the day in 9th, though Kyle Kirkwood was running solidly in the top-10 with one of the fastest cars on-track inside the final 20 laps a year ago before Felix Rosenqvist's spinning No. 6 Chevy crashed into the No. 27 Honda and took the Andretti driver out of the race.

Where does 2024 Indy 500 field stand?

Andretti's long-awaited confirmation gives this year's field 29 announced drivers, including 25 among IndyCar's full-time entries and extras for Kyle Larson (Arrow McLaren), Helio Castroneves (Meyer Shank Racing), Ed Carpenter/Christian Rasmussen (Ed Carpenter Racing) and Andretti. Dale Coyne Racing is yet to announce the drivers for either of the team's two full-time entries, which will eventually bring the field to 31.

Dreyer and Reinbold Racing has said it intends to run two cars again in May's 500. Though the team hasn't announced its drivers yet, Conor Daly said late last year on his podcast that he's signed a deal for a 500 ride, and he's expected to land with DRR — likely to partner with 2014 500-winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, who drove for DRR last year.

Earlier this month, Abel Motorsports made a point to bring its Indy 500 rookie from 2023, RC Enerson, to IndyCar content days in a public show of the likelihood that the pair makes another run together in 2024. Enerson told assembled media "the goal is to be back again," but that nothing is yet completely set in stone. Coyne's pair of full-time drivers, along with a pair from DRR and (potentially) Enerson for Abel would make for 34 drivers and at least one driver and team set to be bumped from this year's field.

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Now with a chassis of its own, along with the one the Enerson's own and ran with the team a year ago, Abel is believed to have floated the idea of running two cars in the 500 this year as they build up toward a full-time IndyCar program that could launch as early as 2025. Additionally, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing co-owner Bobby Rahal said last fall the team is aiming to run a fourth part-time car this season to get reserve driver Juri Vips some meaningful seat time. Should that entry come to fruition for May, though, it could be the eventual landing spot for two-time 500-winner Takuma Sato, who after running an oval-only program for Chip Ganassi Racing a year ago and who won a 500 for RLL in 2020, has neither announced his racing plans for 2024 nor signaled that 46-year-old doesn't intend to return to IndyCar.

Often a player in forming deadline deals for extra Indy 500 entries, AJ Foyt Racing said earlier this month in its press release earlier this month confirming Santino Ferrucci's full-time ride that the team "is not planning" to field a third car in 2024.

Confirmed Indy 500 field

HONDA (17)

Chip Ganassi Racing (5): Scott Dixon, Alex Palou, Marcus Armstrong, Linus Lundqvist, Kyffin Simpson

Andretti Global (4): Colton Herta, Kyle Kirkwood, Marcus Ericsson, Marco Andretti

Meyer Shank Racing (3): Felix Rosenqvist, Tom Blomqvist, Helio Castroneves

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (3): Graham Rahal, Christian Lundgaard, Pietro Fittipaldi

Dale Coyne Racing (2): TBD, TBD

CHEVY (17)

Arrow McLaren (4): Alexander Rossi, Pato O'Ward, David Malukas, Kyle Larson

Team Penske (3): Josef Newgarden, Will Power, Scott McLaughlin

Ed Carpenter Racing (3): Rinus VeeKay, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter

AJ Foyt Racing (2): Santino Ferrucci, Sting Ray Robb

Juncos Hollinger Racing (2): Romain Grosjean, Agustin Canapino

Dreyer and Reinbold Racing (2): TBD, TBD

Abel Motorsports (1): TBD

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indy 500: Marco Andretti back with Andretti Global in No. 98 in 2024