ryan hunter
Ryan Hunter-Reay defends his Indy 500 title on Sunday. Reuters

The 99th annual Indianapolis 500 is set to take place on Sunday afternoon and there has already been another strange twist before the start of the annual race. The latest news is Tristan Vautier, who qualified a Honda for James Davison, will race in Carlos Huertas' car as replacement for team owner Dale Coyne. Vautier, 25, has been moved to the last row of the 33-car field.

“I would rather be famous for other records that have not been achieved before, but this is something unusual so that is good,” Vautier told FOXSports.com on Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Huertas was ruled out on Friday morning with an inner ear condition. The 23-year-old Colombian will have to undergo further evaluation before being cleared to return to Verizon IndyCar Series competition, according to reports.

Meanwhile, Ryan Briscoe of Australia has replaced Canadian James Hinchcliffe, who was injured on Monday when he hit a wall in the third turn. The 28-year-old was taken out of intensive care two days after surgery on his left thigh and pelvic area, according to the Associated Press.

As for the positioning for the race, Australians Scott Dixon was the pole winner with a qualifying speed of 226.760 mph, followed by Will Power (226.350 mph). Simon Pagenaud of France finished third (226.145 mph) to complete the front row.

The starting grid looks like this:

Front Row

1. #9 Scott Dixon (C)

2. #1 Will Power (C)

3. #22 Simon Pagenaud (C)

Second Row

4. #10 Tony Kanaan (C)

5. #3 Helio Castroneves (C)

6. #25 Justin Wilson (H)

Third Row

7. #11 Sebastien Bourdais (C)

8. #27 Marco Andretti (H)

9. #21 Josef Newgarden (C)

Fourth Row

10. #6 JR Hildebrand (C)

11. #26 Carlos Munoz (H)

12. #20T Ed Carpenter (C)

Fifth Row

13. #32 Oriol Servia (H)

14. #83 Charlie Kimball (C)

15. #2 Juan Pablo Montoya (C)

Sixth Row

16. #28 Ryan Hunter-Reay (H)

17. #15 Graham Rahal (H)

18. #29 Simona de Silvestro (H)

Seventh Row

19. #7 James Jakes (H)

20. #48 Alex Tagliani (H)

21. #8 Sage Karam (C)

Eight Row

22. #43 Conor Daly (H)

23. #24 Townsend Bell (C)

24. #14 Takuma Sato (H)

Ninth Row

25. #63 Pippa Mann (H)

26. #98 Gabby Chaves (H)

27. #17 Sebastian Saavedra (C)

Tenth Row

28. #41 Jack Hawksworth (H)

29. #4 Stefano Coletti (C)

30. #88 Bryan Clauson (C)

Back Row

31. #5 Ryan Briscoe (H)

33. #18 Tristan Vautier (H)

32. #19 James Davison (H)

Ryan Hunter-Reay, 34, will look to defend his title after becoming the first American since Sam Hornish Jr. won in 2006.

The race is expected to attract almost 300,000 race fans from around the world.

Tickets are still available. Reserved seats start at $46 while general admission tickets are $40. Tickets can be purchased at the official site or StubHub.com. Saturday’s events include an Al Unser autograph sessions and Q&A, as well as concerts from Frankie Ballard, Thomas Rhett and Florida Georgia Line. Jane’s Addiction and O.A.R. performed on Carb Day on Friday.