After two street course races, two road course races and an oval, IndyCar heads into the Indianapolis 500 portion of the calendar, a full week of practice before a weekend of qualifying and two additional practice days ahead of Memorial Day weekend.
Only 33 cars are entered for this year's race, the second time in three years there will not be bumping. Honda leads the way with 17 entries to Chevrolet's 16 entries. Eight past winners are entered, but there are also seven rookies entered, which will be the most rookies since 2014.
With an abundance of practice and another stellar entry list, there is plenty of pay attention to over the next four days as we await to find out what history will be written on race day.
What is the schedule?
Practice opens on Tuesday May 17 with a two-hour veteran's practice session from 9:00 a.m. ET to 11:00 a.m. ET. At 1:00 p.m., the Rookie Orientation and Refresher program will take place for two hours. At 3:00 p.m., a three-hour session will be held for all cars.
From Wednesday through Friday, all three days will have six hours of practice, starting at noon and ending at 6:00 p.m.
There will be a 90-minute practice session held at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday May 21. The entrants will be split into two groups for this session. Group one will get the track for the first 45 minutes before group two gets the track for the final 45 minutes. Qualifying will begin at noon on Saturday and will run until 5:50 p.m.
The fastest 12 cars from Saturday will advance to the second round of qualifying on Sunday. Those 12 cars will get a 90-minute session starting at 12:30 p.m. The Fast 12 session will be held at 4:00 p.m. The top six from that session will advance to the Fast Six and determine pole position for the 106th Indianapolis 500.
On Monday May 23, there will be a two-hour practice for all cars beginning at noon.
What is the forecast?
The week opens with a mostly sunny day Tuesday, a high around 80º F with Northwestern winds moving at 8 mph. Rain is forecast to roll in on Wednesday with a 83% chance of precipitation and the high dropping to 71º F with winds moving from the South at 13 mph.
Thursday clears up but should remain partly cloudy. The high should rise back to 84º F with a Southwestern wind at 10 mph. Thunderstorms could hinder the next two days. Friday has a 42% chance of precipitation with storms more likely in the afternoon. The high will be around 88º F but the wind will increase to 20 mph from the South Southwest.
There is a 51% chance of precipitation on Saturday with the high dropping to 72º F. The winds should be from the West Southwest at 12 mph. Sunday is forecast to be the coolest day of the week. A high of 66º F with the winds still moving at 11 mph, but from the Northwest. Chance of precipitation drops to 24% for Sunday.
Monday has a high of 68º F with mostly sunny skies and an 8 mph wind from the East Northeast. The chance of precipitation is 9%.
Who will participate in Rookie Orientation and the Refresher?
Thanks to the late April two-day test, the only driver needing to complete Rookie Oreintation or the Refresher is Stefan Wilson.
Wilson is entered in the #25 DragonSpeed/Cusick Motorsports Chevrolet. The team is using a chassis on loan from A.J. Foyt Racing. Wilson is back for his fourth Indianapolis 500 attempt, and this is the first time he has made attempts in consecutive years.
Who is not there?
Nine drivers from the 105th Indianapolis 500 entry list are not on the 106th Indianapolis 500 entry list.
The most notable missing entry is the 98th Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay. After 14 consecutive starts, Hunter-Reay will not be at the Indianapolis 500 for the first time since 2007. He had made 11 of his 14 starts with Andretti Autosport. He had top ten finishes in three of the last four years.
Also missing from this year's entry list is another Andretti Autosport driver from 2021, James Hinchcliffe. Hinchcliffe will be at the race, but in the broadcast booth as a driver analyst.
Another driver that is not entered but will be at the track on race day is Charlie Kimball. Kimball has moved from the driver's seat to the pit stand as a co-strategist for Ed Carpenter.
Sébastien Bourdais will not be at Indianapolis, the second time in three years he is not entered. Bourdais has turned his focus to the Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi program in IMSA. Simona de Silvestro will not run the Indianapolis 500 with Paretta Autosport, but de Silvestro and the Paretta organization has announced a three-race program for later this season at Road America, Mid-Ohio and Nashville.
Ed Jones and Pietro Fittipaldi both drove for Dale Coyne Racing last year, but neither will be back in 2022. Fittipaldi is competing in the European Le Mans for Inter Europol Competition in the LMP2 class while also being a Haas F1 reserve driver. Jones has moved to the FIA World Endurance Championship in an LMP2 entry with Jota Sport.
With Carlin exiting IndyCar, Max Chilton will not be back for a possible sixth Indianapolis 500 start. RC Enerson missed the race last year driving for Top Gun Racing. Enerson is turning his attention to a possible full-time IndyCar program in 2023.
The Rookie Class
The class of 2022 is one of the most experienced classes in recent memory.
The notables are seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and Formula One veteran Romain Grosjean. Johnson has already won five times on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval, four in the Brickyard 400 and one IROC race. Grosjean has two oval starts to his name, Gateway last year and Texas this year.
Johnson could become the third oldest rookie in Indianapolis 500 history behind only Jean Alesi and Jack Hewitt.
While there is age, there is also youth. From the Road to Indy path, reigning Indy Lights champion Kyle Kirkwood, reigning Indy Lights vice-champion David Malukas, and Devlin DeFrancesco are entered.
From the European path, Christian Lundgaard and Callum Ilott look to make their Indianapolis 500 debut after competing in Formula Two on the path to Formula One.
DeFrancesco, Malukas and Lundgaard were born in the 21st century. Malukas or Lundgaard could become the youngest Indianapolis 500 winner.
What trends should we know for the Fast 12 and the race?
Typically, topping a no tow report meant a driver would make the Fast Nine. Last year, Alexander Rossi topped the no tow report on two days and wound up tenth in qualifying. Jack Harvey topped the no tow report in Thursday practice and qualified 20th. Ed Carpenter topped the no tow report in Tuesday practice and ended up fourth on the final grid.
Prior to last year, on three occasions had a driver topped a no tow report and failed to make the Fast Nine, Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2017, Tony Kanaan in 2018 and Harvey in 2020. Hunter-Reay and Kanaan each started tenth while Harvey started 20th as well in 2020.
With the Fast Nine expanding to the Fast 12, topping the no tow report appears to almost assure a driver will make second round of qualifying.
Scott Dixon had the second best average no tow report result last year and wound up winning pole position. Dixon did have the best average overall practice result last year, and he topped two practice sessions including Fast Friday.
Last year, eight of the Fast Nine were ranked in the top 11 among average overall practice result. The exception was Hélio Castroneves, who was ranked 14th in average overall practice result.
For the second consecutive year, Team Penske failed to get a Fast Nine participant with Scott McLaughlin as the top qualifier in 17th ahead of Josef Newgarden in 21st, Simon Pagenaud in 26th and Will Power had to compete in the Last Row Shootout before landing 32nd on the grid.
In the 11 years the Fast Nine session took place, Andretti Autosport took 25 of 99 spots, two better than Team Penske. Ed Carpenter Racing was third with 15 and Chip Ganassi Racing is fourth on 12. The next closest team is the Arrow McLaren SP organization with five. Meyer Shank Racing had its first Fast Nine spot last year, becoming the 15th different team to make the Fast Nine.
Honda took seven of the Fast Nine spots last year. In the last two years, Honda has taken 15 of 18 spots. Honda was 10th and 11th last year, while Patricio O'Ward made it a third Chevrolet in the top 12.
Castroneves became the third Indianapolis 500 winner in the DW12-era to not be in the top five in any of the practice days. The first driver not to do it was Tony Kanaan in 2013. Kanaan's best practice result that year was seventh and that was on opening day. In 2015, Juan Pablo Montoya's best practice day was sixth on Thursday ahead of his second victory. Only once in last ten years has the Indianapolis 500 winner topped a practice session in the practice week. That was Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2014, who topped the Monday practice before qualifying.
Castroneves also became the second Indianapolis 500 winner in the last ten years not to be in the top ten for multiple practice days. His practice results were 22nd, 13th, seventh and 12th last year. In 2018, Will Power was 19th, 21st, 13th and fifth over the four practice days.
How slow will they go?
With only 33 entries, there will not be the pressure for speed at the rear of the field. Any time will do.
Last year, the slowest speed in the qualifying field was 228.323 mph with Dalton Kellett while Scott Dixon topped the Saturday session at 231.828 mph. In 2020, when the race was held in August due to the pandemic and only 33 cars entered, Ben Hanley had the slowest speed at 222.917 mph while the top seven runners ran over 231 mph in the Saturday qualifying session. It wasn't only Hanley taking his time. Four other cars ran below 228 mph.
In 2019, it took 227.244 mph to lock a car into the top 30 while Spencer Pigot had the top qualifying run on Saturday at 230.083 mph. In 2018, Castroneves ran the fastest time during Saturday qualifying at 228.919 mph. James Davison was the 33rd fastest car at 224.798 mph.
What will this race mean for the championship?
The championship lead has changed after each of the last three races and there have been four different drivers to lead the championship through five races this season.
With qualifying points increasing to 12 points for pole position, there are now 115 points on the table for the Indianapolis 500. It is possible for a driver to have a 105-point swing in the Indianapolis 500 alone, and 105 points cover the top 18 drivers in the championship entering this race.
The championship lead has changed after the Indianapolis 500 in five of the eight seasons since double points were introduced to the event. Twice has the driver entering the Indianapolis 500 second in the championship left the Indianapolis 500 as the points leader (Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2014 and Álex Palou last year). In 2017, Castroneves went from fourth to the championship lead off his runner-up finish to Takuma Sato. In 2018, Will Power's victory lifted him from seventh to the championship lead. In 2019, Simon Pagenaud went from fourth to championship leader with his victory.
Of those five drivers, Hunter-Reay overcame a one-point deficit, Castroneves overcame a 42-point gulf, Power was 43 points down, Pagenaud trailed by 44 points and Palou was 13 points in the hole.
Forty-four points cover Will Power in first and Patricio O'Ward in seventh of the championship.
Last year, for the second consecutive year, there were seven different teams represented in the top ten of the Indianapolis 500, but there were seven different teams represented in the top seven. Ed Carpenter Racing, Arrow McLaren SP and Chip Ganassi Racing each had two representatives and each of those three teams had a car finish in the top five.
Six of the ten Indianapolis 500 winners in the DW12-era have been first-time winners. Takuma Sato is the only driver to have won multiple Indianapolis 500s in the DW12 chassis.
