If you are hoping for some IndyCar action in the middle of your week, you are in luck. Over the next two days, the 34 entries for the 109th Indianapolis 500 will take to Indianapolis Motor Speedway in preparation for the series' greatest race.
While we will see the usual shakedowns and programs for rookies and one-offs to get up to speed, this year's test will look a little different. There is a new wrinkle as part of the two-day session will be dedicated to qualifying setups.
As with any test, there is much to wonder, but when it comes to Indianapolis, everything is raised to a higher level. We will have some answers, and possibly even more questions, when the 13-plus hours of testing are behind us.
Schedule
Testing begins on Wednesday April 23 with a fragmented day.
The veterans will be the first to take to the track for a two-hour session starting at 10:00 a.m. ET. Rookie Orientation and refresher programs will begin at noon, and that will be a two-hour session. At 2:00 p.m., the track will be open to all cars and the session will run until 6:00 p.m.
Thursday April 24 will see all cars allowed on track for five-and-a-half hours over two sessions, the first starting at 9:30 a.m. For the first time in the DW12-era, the teams will run the qualifying turbo boost levels for the first two-and-a-half hours of testing. Qualifying boost is set at 150 Kilopascals (kPa) while regular levels are 130 kPa during the race and for every practice day except Friday practice before qualifying. Teams will be able to make qualifying simulations until noon.
After the qualifying simulations session, there will be a two-hour break before the teams return at race levels of turbo boost for the final three-hour session, which will conclude at 5:00 p.m.
Who must run Rookie Orientation and the refresher program?
There are four rookies entered for this year's Indianapolis 500, but only three have to complete the Rookie Orientation program. Nolan Siegel completed the program in October during a series test at IMS. This leaves Louis Foster, Jacob Abel and Robert Shwartzman as the remaining drivers to complete the ROP.
Rookie Orientation remains three phases. The first phase requires ten laps between 205-210 mph. Phase two is 15 laps between 210-215 mph. The final phase is 15 laps at 215 mph or faster.
Refreshers will be necessary for Marco Andretti, Takuma Sato, Callum Ilott, Kyle Larson and Devlin DeFrancesco. Andretti and Sato have not competed since last year's Indianapolis 500. Ilott started the first three races this season, but his last oval appearance was at Indianapolis last year. Larson is another Indianapolis 500 one-off and he has not been in a car since last May. DeFrancesco last competed at Indianapolis two years ago.
Hélio Castroneves, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Ed Carpenter completed their refresher programs in the October test.
For the refresher program, a driver must complete the final two phases or Rookie Orientation, 15 laps between 210-215 mph and 15 laps at 215 mph or faster.
What Will This Test Tell Us?
Josef Newgarden has been the fastest in the pre-Indianapolis 500 test for four consecutive years and he has won the Indianapolis 500 the last two years. Based on that, the fastest driver in this test will win the 109th Indianapolis 500.
That is a stretch, but it will likely give us a good idea of where everyone stands.
Three of the top five finishers in the race were in the top five at the test. Larson was second-fastest and Arrow McLaren had the other two top five finishers.
If there is anything we will learn it will come on Thursday morning with the qualifying simulations. Chevrolet and Honda split the top ten with five entries apiece in last year's test. When it came time for qualifying in May, Chevrolet took nine of the top 12 and then the top eight spots on the grid.
Last year's qualifying speeds were at a record pace. On the Saturday qualifying session, the top thirty drivers all ran a four-lap average above 231 mph. Three of the four drivers that were relegated to the last chance qualifying session still ran above 230.6 mph over four laps in Saturday qualifying. Scott McLaughlin's pole speed was the fastest in event history at 234.220 mph. McLaughlin's four lap qualifying run was 0.0020 seconds fastest than the previous record, which Álex Palou set in 2023. In the last three years, pole position's average speed has been over 234 mph.
In terms of the fight to make the race, only one of the bottom four in last year's test participated in the last chance qualifying session in May, and that was the eventual bumped driver Nolan Siegel. Ryan Hunter-Reay was the slowest in the test, but only completed seven laps due to mechanical issues. Hunter-Reay ended up making the Fast 12. Kyffin Simpson and Agustín Canapino were the other two in the bottom four, and they qualified on rows six and eight respectively.
Will Anything Change at the Top?
Team Penske, Arrow McLaren and Chip Ganassi Racing each had two of the top six finishers in the race. At the pre-"500" test last year, Penske, McLaren and Ganassi combined for five of the top six. Andretti Global had Colton Herta in fifth and Kyle Kirkwood in eighth during the test, and Kirkwood ended up finishing seventh in the race.
Santino Ferrucci was able to qualify sixth last year, but faded to eighth in the race. It was the second consecutive year A.J. Foyt Racing had Ferrucci make the Fast Six. Felix Rosenqvist was a bit of a surprise last year, coming in tenth during the test, and Rosenqvist backed up his testing pace being the fastest Honda in qualifying in ninth.
Ryan Hunter-Reay was the stunner last year cracking the Fast 12 with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.
Hybrids
This will be the first Indianapolis 500 with the hybrid system after it made its debut at the Mid-Ohio weekend last summer. The hybrid system has not changed much in the IndyCar landscape.
In 12 races since the hybrid was introduced, Team Penske has won five races, Andretti Global has won three times, Arrow McLaren and Chip Ganassi Racing has each won twice.
Team Penske swept the Iowa doubleheader last year, but the partial track re-pave somewhat tainted what we could take away from that weekend. At Gateway, Team Penske went 1-2 with Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin. The three Penske drivers led a combined 201 of 260 laps. Gateway had its most passes since 2018.
Milwaukee and Nashville both returned to the scheduled after an extended time away. Arrow McLaren and Penske split the Milwaukee weekend with Patricio O'Ward and McLaughlin taking the respective victories. Colton Herta closed out the season getting Honda on the board with its only oval victory in 2024 as Herta made a daring pass on O'Ward with five laps to go at Nashville. Andretti Global teammate Kyle Kirkwood started on the front row and led a race-high 67 laps before finishing fourth, just behind Newgarden.
For all the concerns leading into the three short oval races, all three races held between the two circuits had more than 650 total passes with an average of 694.333 passes per race.
Kyle Larson?
Yes, Kyle Larson will be there, and there has been a rather calm mood over Larson's return to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After being second fastest in the pre-"500" test and qualifying fifth on debut, Larson drove well but made a few notable errors in the race that cost him a better result. A bogged down restart and a pit lane speeding penalty dropped him to 18th at the checkered flag, but he did complete all 200 laps.
Year two is not as simple as picking up here he left off. Larson will have the hybrid system to learn, a slight change, but a crucial one as most of his competition will have had extended time using the system.
Larson, Sato and Andretti are the only three drivers entered in this year's race that have yet to use the hybrid system. Castroneves and Hunter-Reay each experienced the hybrid in last October's test. The other 29 drivers have all used the hybrid system in an IndyCar race.
Who Can Make the Most of Their New Environment?
There has been plenty of changes from last May, and that could see a big shakeup in who is running where.
After three years never starting better than 28th with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Christian Lundgaard moves to McLaren. In each of Lundgaard's first three Indianapolis 500 starts, he has gone the distance, completing all 500 miles and he has made up at least 11 positions. With McLaren's general competitiveness, Lundgaard should be poised for his best month of May yet.
Nolan Siegel is also new to McLaren when it comes to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While he fell short of making the race with Dale Coyne Racing, McLaren should provide him with a spot safely in the field. The issue with Siegel is he has yet to have a brilliant result at McLaren. Joining the team last June, his only top ten finish was a seventh at Gateway, but his average finish in 13 starts with the organization is 17.769, and Siegel has finished outside the top fifteen in seven consecutive starts.
Alexander Rossi will be entering the Indianapolis 500 with his third different team. After two years with McLaren, Rossi is making his first trip to the Speedway with the "home team," Ed Carpenter Racing. Coming off three consecutive top five finishes and six in his first nine Indianapolis 500 starts, Rossi looks to cap off his first decade at the Speedway where it all started, first place. The good news for Rossi is ECR has produced at least one starter on one of the first two rows in eight of the last nine years.
One of the men responsible for ECR's Indianapolis qualifying success is Rinus VeeKay, and for the first time in the Dutchman's career, he heads to the Speedway with a different team. It is quite a jump from ECR to Dale Coyne Racing, and VeeKay is taking over the #18 Honda, the lone car that failed to make last year's race. VeeKay has started no worse than seventh in his first five Indianapolis 500 starts. His time at DCR started on an exciting note with a ninth at St. Petersburg, but VeeKay has finished 17th and 19th in the last two races.
Some changes are from nothing to something. Last year, David Malukas was not competing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Malukas was nursing a wrist injury and a release from his McLaren contract before he ever got to start a race for the team. One year later, Malukas returns to IMS with A.J. Foyt Racing. Two years ago, Foyt had both its entries make the Fast 12. As noted above, Ferrucci has put Foyt in the Fast Six the last two years. Malukas started 13th and 23rd in his first two "500" starts, but those races ended in 16th and 29th-place finishes.
Are Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Dale Coyne Racing Still at the Bottom?
Two years ago, RLLR and DCR combined for all four participants in the last chance qualifying session. Last year, the teams took three of the bottom four. In 2023, it was RLLR having a car miss the race. Last year, it was DCR's turn. If it wasn't for Marcus Ericsson's practice accident that forced the Swede to a backup car, we likely would have seen two consecutive years of RLLR and DCR sweeping the slowest four spots.
The previous two years tell us to expect these organizations to be at the bottom. Like the past two years, RLLR is showing up with four cars while DCR is showing up with its two full-time challengers.
There should be hope for both teams.
While Graham Rahal was in the bottom four last year and forced to sweat out another year on the bubble as the final qualifier took to the track, RLLR did have Takuma Sato make the Fast 12 and start tenth. DCR has brought in Rinus VeeKay, who again has never started worse than seventh in the Indianapolis 500.
Both teams have an ace up their sleeves. For RLLR, it is proven. Sato was able to extract something out of that machinery to be competitive and far from being bumped, and Sato has shown flashes of speed at Indianapolis with multiple organizations. We must wait and see on VeeKay. The Dutchman doesn't have to be wonderful to make everyone happy. He just has to be adequate.
With each reason for these two teams to be positive, both teams share uncertainty in inexperience. Two of the four rookies entered this year drive for RLLR and DCR. RLLR also has a driver who was not entered in last year's race and spent all of 2024 on the sidelines.
DCR missed last year's race with a rookie. Jacob Abel has started 2025 with humbling results. Abel has yet to start or finish better than 23rd, and he has yet to finish on the lead lap. Louis Foster's IndyCar career has started only slightly better than Abel's. Foster is coming off his best career finish, a 16th at Long Beach, but the RLLR driver was 27th and 24th in the first two races.
Throw in Devlin DeFrancesco and you have a driver whose average finish through the first three races is 22nd and he has yet to finish in the top ten in 37 IndyCar starts. In his first two Indianapolis outings, DeFrancesco had little trouble making the race. Driving for the Andretti organization, he qualified 24th and 25th. In each race, the Canadian moved forward, finishing 20th and 13th.
Foster, DeFrancesco and Abel are three of the bottom four in the championship through the first three races.
We haven't done little more than mention Graham Rahal, who is the only driver to have been in the last chance qualifying session in each of the last two years. Rahal only improved slightly from 2023. He went from 34th and out to 33rd and in by a hair. Rahal has been in rough form. He did open the season with finishes of 12th and 11th in the first two races, but he has not finished in the top ten in his last six starts.
There were signs in last year's test that these teams would be in trouble. Besides Siegel down in 31st, RLLR had Katherine Legge in 29th and Pietro Fittipaldi in 30th. Legge ended up in the last chance qualifying session and was 31st on the grid. Fittipaldi took 30th in Saturday qualifying and was the last car to avoid the extra season. Graham Rahal looked clear of the drama in last year's test, but 19th was not far enough ahead, and Rahal still wound up on pins and needles over whether he would make the race until the final qualifier.
If there is one team expected to join the fight at the bottom, it is Prema. Making its Indianapolis debut, Prema's first three races in IndyCar have been fair, but far from exciting for the right reasons. Robert Shwartzman and Callum Ilott have combined for three finishes in the top twenty over the first three events, but the average finish for the team is 21st, and its best finish is 18th.
This will be Prema's first oval weekend, and the team famously had engineer Michael Cannon and lost Michael Cannon within a week this January. Cannon was previously at A.J. Foyt Racing and was credited for Foyt's Indianapolis qualifying success the previous two years along. Cannon has been labeled as a "guru of go" as he has produced fastest qualifiers for the likes of Ed Carpenter Racing, Andretti Global, Dale Coyne Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing.
Ilott's engineer Steve Barker is a familiar face, as the Barker and Ilotto worked together at Juncos Hollinger Racing. For Shwartzman, outside of his oval evaluation test at Nashville Superspeedway in March, this will be his first extended oval experience, and he is doing it with João Ginete as his engineer, who is also in his first year in IndyCar after previously working for the Haas F1 team. Prema has Robert Gue, who spent the previous 15 years as an engineer at the Sam Schmidt/Schmidt Hamilton Petersen/Arrow McLaren organization, as the R&D engineer and 2012 Indianapolis 500 pole-sitter Ryan Briscoe works as the sporting advisor for the team.
Though there are gaps of inexperience, Prema has a collection of capable individuals who hope their collective experience will be enough to avoid a stressful first experience at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Nothing will be set in stone after this two-day test, but everyone will be hoping to be making the right strides toward the month of May.
