Track Walk: 108th Indianapolis 500

The fifth round of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season will be the 108th Indianapolis 500. The average speed of this year's 33 qualifiers was 231.943 mph, the second fastest in the history of the race and only behind last year's 232.184 mph. The fastest four Indianapolis 500 starting grids have been set in each of the last four years. The record for the fastest pole position was broken again. We are also looking at Chevrolet taking the top eight starting positions on the grid, half of all the Chevrolets entered in this year's race. This is a milestone year for the Indianapolis 500 as with six rookies in this year's race, we will surpass 800 starters in the history of the race, and we will go into 2025 with 801 drivers having started at least one Indianapolis 500… well, if Mother Nature compromises. 

Coverage

Time: NBC's pre-race coverage begins at 11:00 a.m. ET on Sunday May 26.
TV Channel: NBC/Peacock

Announcers: Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Kevin Lee, Dillon Welch, Dave Burns and Marty Snider will work pit lane. Kim Coon and Jeff Burton will provide additional pit lane coverage. Mike Tirico, Jimmie Johnson and Danica Patrick will participate in pre-race and post-race coverage.

Indianapolis 500 Weekend Schedule
Carb Day:
Practice - 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. ET (2 hours). 

Pit Stop Competition - 2:30 p.m. ET
Sunday:
Race - 12:45 p.m. ET (200 laps).

Penske Locks Out the Front Row

With a mighty qualifying weekend, Team Penske did something that had only happened once before in the history of the Indianapolis 500, and this organization was responsible for the first time as well. Last weekend, Team Penske went 1-2-3 in qualifying, sweeping the front row. It is only the second time a team has swept the front row for the Indianapolis 500. Team Penske did it in 1988.

Scott McLaughlin won pole position with a four-lap average of 234.220 mph, the fastest pole position winning qualifying run in the history of the "500." Will Power took second on the grid with four laps at 233.917 mph. Starting on the outside of the front row will be Josef Newgarden, who qualified at 233.808 mph. 

In terms of time, the different between McLaughlin and Power was 0.199 seconds over ten miles. Newgarden was 0.2709 seconds back. 

Team Penske had not had a car start on one of the first three rows in the last four years at the Indianapolis 500. 

For Penske, the similarities to 1988 are rather strong. 

Thirty-six years ago, it was Rick Mears taking pole position in the #5 Pennzoil Penske PC-17 Chevrolet at 219.198 mph. Danny Sullivan qualified second, though nearly three miles per hour slower than Mears at 216.214 mph in the #9 Miller High Life Penske PC-17 Chevrolet. Al Unser, a year removed from his fourth Indianapolis 500 victory, took third in the #1 Hertz Penske PC-17 Chevrolet. Unser was a little under a mile per hour slower than Sullivan.

Mears and Sullivan dominated the first half of the race. Sullivan took the lead on lap one and led 91 of the first 94 laps. Sullivan lost the lead during a pit cycle and pole-sitter Mears would not lead until lap 102, the same lap Sullivan suffered a front wing broke, causing an accident in turn one.

Mears led 89 of the final 99 laps. He won by 7.072 seconds over Emerson Fittipaldi. Al Unser was in third, one-lap down. It was Mears' third "500" victory. It was Penske's seventh. The team led a combined 192 laps. Jim Crawford led the other eight. 

In 2024, McLaughlin is looking for his first career Indianapolis 500 victory, which would also be his first career oval victory. He has never finished better than 14th in this race. McLaughlin would be the first pole-sitter to win the race since Simon Pagenaud did it for Team Penske five years ago. 

Power and Newgarden are each looking for their second Indianapolis triumph. For each, it would be a milestone victory. For Power, it would be the 42nd of his career, tying him with Michael Andretti for fourth all-time. For Newgarden, it would be his 30th career victory, a little over two months after he first thought he reached that milestone. It would also break a tie with Mears for 13th all-time.

Regardless of which Penske driver wins this race, it would be the 20th Indianapolis 500 victory for the team and the sixth time the team has won this race in consecutive years.

Newgarden's Defense

Only five drivers have successfully defended an Indianapolis 500 victory and it has only happened once in the last 50 years. Josef Newgarden will look to become the first driver to win consecutive Indianapolis 500s since Hélio Castroneves in 2001 and 2002. 

Prior to last year, Newgarden had three top five finishes in the Indianapolis 500 and he had led only 38 laps in his first 12 Indianapolis starts. Newgarden didn't win in any dominating fashion last year. He led only five laps, but it was his second of four oval victories last year. Newgarden has won eight of the last 11 IndyCar oval races. While his oval form has been strong, Newgarden enters Indianapolis in the midst of one of the greatest lulls since joining Team Penske.

Through four races, Newgarden has only one top ten result, a fourth at Long Beach. He has finished outside the top fifteen in the other three races this season and in six of the last eight races dating back to last season. Four of those have been results outside the top twenty.  

Newgarden has not finished on the podium since he won the second Iowa race last July. His nine-race podium drought is his longest since a nine-race drought over the final six races of the 2014 season and the first three races of the 2015 season. That drought ended with his first career victory at Barber Motorsports Park.

This rough patch comes at a time when Newgarden is without race strategist Tim Cindric and race engineer Luke Mason. Cindric and Mason were suspended for two races starting at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis after the team's penalty for manipulating the push-to-pass system at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. 

Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director Jonathan Diuguid will be Newgarden's strategist for the Indianapolis 500. Jon Bouslog was Newgarden's strategist for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Bouslog moves to Will Power's timing stand as strategist, filling in for the suspended Ron Ruzewski. At the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Power's engineer David Faustino also took on strategist responsibilities. Raul Prados will continue as Newgarden's engineer for a second consecutive race. 

Diuguid has worked with Team Penske since 2005, and worked in IndyCar from 2010 through 2021. He was Ryan Briscoe's data engineer and race engineer from 2010 to 2012 before moving to Hélio Castroneves' stand from 2013 through 2017. He worked for the Penske's Acura program from 2018 through 2020, but worked on Castroneves' car for the Indianapolis 500 each of those seasons. Diuguid was Scott McLaughlin's engineer in 2021 before moving to his current position.

Since Hélio Castroneves won a $160,000 bonus for his second consecutive "500" victory in 2002, there have been 17 attempts at someone claiming the Borg-Warner bonus. In those 17 attempts, the defending Indianapolis 500 winner has an average finish of 13.117 with five top five finishes, nine top ten finishes and five finishes outside the top twenty. 

With Marcus Ericsson finishing second in last year's race, it was the first time defending Indianapolis 500 winners finished in the top ten in consecutive races since 2009 and 2010. The defending Indianapolis 500 winner has not finished in the top five in consecutive years since 2006 and 2007. 

Six times has Newgarden won at the same circuit in consecutive years. He did it at Barber in 2017-18, St. Petersburg in 2019-20, Iowa in 2019-20 and 2022-23, Gateway 2020-22 and Texas in 2022-23. 

Newgarden has won the first oval race of the previous two seasons. Indianapolis is the first oval race of the 2024 season.

Larson's Double

For the first time in ten years, a driver will be attempting "The Double," running the Indianapolis 500 and the NASCAR Cup Series' Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the same day. It is 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson making the attempt. 

Larson enters Indianapolis as the current NASCAR Cup Series championship leader. The Californian has won twice this Cup season, first at Las Vegas in March and then at Kansas at the start of May. He has started on pole position three times. 

Since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2021, Larson leads the NASCAR Cup Series in victories with 19, seven more than Hendrick teammate William Byron in second.

This will be the tenth "Double" attempt and Larson is the fifth driver to try and complete 1,100 miles in one day. 

John Andretti was the first driver to do it 30 years ago. Andretti started tenth in the #33 Lola-Ford for A.J. Foyt Enterprises in the 1994 Indianapolis 500. Andretti was able to finish ninth, but he was four laps down. At Charlotte, Andretti started ninth in the #14 Hagan Racing Chevrolet. It was his 14th Cup start, and it ended after 220 of 400 laps after a crankshaft broke. 

The next attempt was in 1997 with Robby Gordon, the first of five times Gordon attempted it. The first time was not great. For starters, the Indianapolis 500 was postponed to Monday due to rain. The rain followed Gordon to Charlotte. He only completed 186 of 333 laps as rain ended the "600" prematurely. On Monday, only 16 laps were completed before rain delayed the race to Tuesday. On the restart, Gordon suffered a fuel leak and retired due to a fire.

Gordon would have better luck. In 2000, he finished sixth at Indianapolis, but he did not make it to Charlotte in time for the start and P.J. Jones started the race. Third time was the charm for Gordon as he was eighth in the Indianapolis 500 and he made it to Charlotte in time for the start. He completed 399 of 400 laps and finished 16th. He made two more attempts in 2003 and 2004. A gearbox failure took him out of the 2003 "500" and the "600" was rain-shortened. In his final attempt, rain forced Gordon to leave Indianapolis after completing only 27 laps and Jaques Lazier took over his seat. 

Tony Stewart had the greatest success among "Double" drivers. In 1999, his rookie season in the NASCAR Cup Series, Stewart drove for TriStar Motorsports at Indianapolis. He started 24th but finished ninth, albeit four laps down. In Charlotte, Stewart was fourth in his first "600" start and he completed all 400 laps. 

Two years later, Stewart returned to Indianapolis with Chip Ganassi Racing, qualified seventh and spent much of the race in the top ten. He finished sixth and was the final car on the lead lap. Stewart was set to start 12th at Charlotte, but missed the drivers' meeting and had to start at the back of the field. Stewart spun on the second lap but the car suffered no damage. Despite the adversity, Stewart ended up finishing third, completing all 600 miles and remains the only driver to successful complete all 1,100 miles over the two races.

The most recent driver to attempt the "Double" was Kurt Busch in 2014. Driving for Andretti Autosport, Busch qualified 12th for the Indianapolis 500, and he spent much of the race outside the top ten. After a handful of cautions in the final quarter of the race, Busch climbed up the order and wound up finishing sixth. Like Stewart, Busch had to go to the back of the field for the "600," but Busch suffered an engine failure after completed 271 of 400 laps.

Starting in fifth position, Larson is not the best a "Double" driver has started in the Indianapolis 500. Gordon started fourth in 2000 and third in 2003.

While Larson will be making his Indianapolis 500 debut, he has made nine Coca-Cola 600 starts. He won the race in 2021, but he has only three top ten finishes in the event and he has gone the distance only four times, including in 2022 when the race went 619.5 miles due to overtime.

Palou's Exclusive, But Unwanted Company

Since joining Chip Ganassi Racing in IndyCar in 2021, Álex Palou has been the best driver in IndyCar.

Palou has won two championships, including last year. His ten victories are second only to Josef Newgarden's 11, but Palou leads in podium finishes with 26, six more than the next closest driver. He leads in top five finishes with 33 and he is tied with Scott Dixon for most top ten finishes over that span with 46. Palou enters this weekend on a streak of 22 consecutive top ten finishes. 

At Indianapolis, Palou has finished in the top ten all three years with Ganassi. He was runner-up to Hélio Castroneves in 2021, ninth in 2022 and overcame contact with Rinus VeeKay in the pit lane last year to finish fourth after starting on pole position. 

In four trips to 16th & Georgetown, Palou has been at the top and knocking on the door. At 27 years old, he has plenty of opportunities ahead of him, but at 27 years old he is already in exclusive but unwanted company. Every driver would love two championships, especially two in three seasons and becoming the first driver to clinch a title with a race in hand in over 15 years, but Palou's titles put him in a club he hopes not to remain a member. 

Palou is one of seven drivers to win multiple IndyCar championships but not have an Indianapolis 500 victory. 

Again, Palou is young, but it is a group one likely does not want to be associated with for long. 

Sébastien Bourdais won four Champ Car championships and 37 races, good enough for tied for third and seventh all-time in each category, but Bourdais never won the Indianapolis 500. Due to the split, he only made one Indianapolis 500 start over his first five seasons competing in the United States. Bourdais did make eight Indianapolis 500 starts after returning in 2012. Of course, the year he looked his best was 2017, where Bourdais had the fastest car leading into qualifying only for the Frenchman to have an accident in turn two, fracturing his hip and pelvis and causing him to miss the race. 

Bourdais only had two top ten finishes in nine Indianapolis 500 starts. His best result was seventh in 2014.

Ted Horn won three consecutive AAA championships form 1946 through 1948, but like Bourdais, Horn never won the Indianapolis 500. What Horn did accomplish was one of the greatest careers in Indianapolis 500 history. After finishing 16th as a rookie in 1935 and completing only 145 laps, Horn had nine consecutive top five finishes in the "500" and he completed 1,799 of 1,800 laps during that span. 

Horn's nine consecutive top five finishes is still the record for most consecutive top five results in the Indianapolis 500. Only two drivers have surpassed Horn's career mark. Al Unser had 13 top five finishes and A.J. Foyt had ten. Rick Mears, Hélio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan have all matched Horn. Horn remains the only driver with at least six top five finishes in the Indianapolis 500 to not win the race. 

Rex Mays preceded Horn in American open-wheel dominance. Mays won the 1940 and 1941 championships. In each of those seasons, he finished runner-up in the Indianapolis 500. Mays led at least one lap in six of his first eight Indianapolis 500 starts. He won pole position for the event three times in that time frame. After World War II, Mays made four more starts at Indianapolis, won one more pole position and led at least one lap in three more races. 

Though his 266 laps led remains 22nd all-time and his nine Indianapolis 500s led are still tied for eighth, Mays never won the race. The only driver who led more laps in the "500" than Mays and never won the race is Michael Andretti, who also led nine different "500s."

Tony Bettenhausen won the second-most races in the 1950s with 17. Bettenhausen won two championships during that decade. The first was in 1951 when he won eight of 15 races. The other was in 1958 when he didn't win any of the 13 races but he had four runner-up finishes, two third-place finishes and ten top five finishes. 

For his aura around IndyCar in the 1950s, Indianapolis was never Bettenhausen's place. Only once did he start on the front row (1958). That was also the only year he finished second. In 14 "500" starts, Bettenhausen only had three top five finishes. The only time he led the race as in 1958 when he led 24 laps and finished fourth. Bettenhausen lost his life in an accident at the Speedway on May 12, 1961 while testing a car for Paul Russo.

Joe Leonard won consecutive championships in 1970 and 1971. Already a three-time American Motorcycle Association Grand National Champion and two-time Daytona 200 winner, Leonard turned to open-wheel racing in 1961. His first Indianapolis 500 came four years later. Leonard was ninth in the 1966 race. He qualified fifth and finished third the following year.

For 1968, he caught the eye of Lotus and Leonard put the wedged-shaped Lotus 56 on pole position. He took the lead with 26 laps remaining after Bobby Unser made his final pit stop. On the final restart on lap 192, Leonard suffered a fuel shaft failure. Unser went on to claim the victory. Leonard was classified in 12th. He would score two more top ten finishes, including another third in 1972.

Of the seven multi-time champions not to win the Indianapolis 500, one never even attempted the race. The Split kept many drivers from IndyCar's greatest race. Alex Zanardi is arguably the greatest omission of them all. Zanardi came to CART in 1996, the first year of The Split. Instead of heading to Indianapolis with Chip Ganassi Racing, he went to the U.S. 500 at Michigan. He won three races and was third in the championship as a rookie.

In his sophomore season, Zanardi took the championship with five victories, including a U.S. 500 triumph but this time in July and not on Memorial Day weekend. Zanardi successfully defended his championship in 1998 with seven victories, including a victory on Memorial Day weekend, but at Gateway not Indianapolis. After two titles, Zanardi went to Formula One with Williams F1. It was a fruitless season and he lost his ride, leading to a sabbatical in 2000.

Zanardi returned to CART in 2001 with Mo Nunn Racing. Results were difficult for Zanardi, but he was in the middle of his best race at the Lausitzring before he spun on cold tires on the access road exiting the pit lane, colliding with Alex Tagliani and causing Zanardi to lose both legs in the accident. 

The good news for Palou is this club lost a member last year. Josef Newgarden had been the seventh member for four years but Newgarden returned his card. Palou will look to make it consecutive years with a driver relinquishing membership. The other good news for Palou, who will start 14th, is Newgarden won from 17th last year.

Can Andretti Global Return to the Top?

Since the introduction of the DW12 chassis, only two teams have won at least three Indianapolis 500s. One is Team Penske. The other is Andretti Global, but the Andretti organization has not won in the last six visits to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

From 2012 through 2017, Andretti won three of six Indianapolis 500s. The team led 445 of 1,200 laps run over those six races. The team had nine top five finishers over those six races. 

In the six years since, Andretti Global has had only four top five finishers in the Indianapolis 500, and the team has failed to have a top five finisher in three of the last four years. During that time, the team has led only 81 laps.

Andretti Global is arriving with one fewer car than in recent seasons. With only three full-time entries, Andretti has four cars in this year's race. This was the first time the team has entered only four cars for the Indianapolis 500 since 2009. Though running fewer cars, it has been a good start to the season.

Kyle Kirkwood had his top ten finish streak snapped in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, but that was with an 11th-place finish. Kirkwood had never had a three-race top ten streak prior to the start of this season. This start has Kirkwood eighth in the championship. His only two top five finishes have been his two victories. In ten career oval starts, Kirkwood has only one top ten finish, a seventh in the first Iowa race last year. His average oval finish is 18.7. Last year, Kirkwood was in the top five when the spinning Felix Rosenqvist clipped Kirkwood's car, shearing off the left rear tire and flipping Kirkwood upside down.

Kirkwood was the lone Andretti car to make the Fast 12 session. He ended up qualifying 11th, but it is his best starting position in three years at the Speedway. 

Colton Herta has opened this season with four consecutive top ten finishes. Herta was classified as a podium finish in the first two races. This is the first time Herta has had four consecutive top ten finishes since the final three races of 2021 and the 2022 season opener. He has not had five consecutive top ten finishes since a seven-race stretch during the 2020 season. He is tied for third in the championship with Scott Dixon on 127 points. 

Herta missed out on the Fast 12 by 0.0463 seconds over the four-lap, ten-mile run last Saturday. He had started outside the top twenty the previous two years at Indianapolis. Three of Andretti Global's five Indianapolis 500 victories have come from outside a top ten starting position.

Marcus Ericsson had a nerve-wracking qualifying experience. After a practice accident last Thursday, Ericsson struggled to find speed and had to participate in the last chance qualifying session on Sunday. He nearly made a costly error when he slowed after his third qualifying lap on his first attempt thinking he had completed four. The Swede was able to get back in line but he will start 32nd in this year's race.

Ericsson has finished first and second in the last two Indianapolis 500s, but it has not been as cozy for the Swede in his first four races with Andretti Global. Though he was fifth at Long Beach, Ericsson is 15th in the championship, tied with Santino Ferrucci on 63 points. Ericsson suffered a mechanical failure at St. Petersburg and he finished outside the top fifteen in the last two races.

Marco Andretti makes it four Andretti Global cars. This will be Andretti's 19th Indianapolis 500 start, and he will start 19th in this race, but he has finished outside the top ten in the last six Indianapolis 500s. He has not finished in the top five in this race since he was third in 2014. 

Andretti Global is tied for the second-most Indianapolis 500 victories among teams with Lou Moore and Chip Ganassi Racing. All three teams have won this race five times. 

Are We in for a Surprise?

We are entering this year's Indianapolis 500 with four different teams having won this race in the last four years. The last time five different teams won this race in as many years was from 2011 to 2015. Six different drivers have won this race in the last six years. Team Penske drivers do account for half of those winners, but Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Meyer Shank Racing have also won in that timespan.

Last year, Santino Ferrucci was an unexpected front-runner, having an average running position of 5.72. Ferrucci spent 158 laps in the top five and 178 laps in the top ten. He led 11 laps and ended up finishing third, but was in the picture frame with Josef Newgarden and Marcus Ericsson in the closing laps. Ferrucci will be in the picture again at the start of this year's race. The A.J. Foyt Racing driver will start sixth. He is one of three drivers to have finished in the top ten in the first five starts of an Indianapolis 500 career along with Harry Hartz and Hélio Castroneves. Hartz and Castroneves each finished 25th in their respective sixth Indianapolis 500 starts.

Rinus VeeKay might have his worst starting position in the Indianapolis 500, but he is still starting seventh. VeeKay led 24 of the first 67 laps, but a minor spin and contact with Álex Palou exiting pit lane led to a penalty and it shuffled VeeKay down the order. The Dutchman did drive forward to a tenth place finish. VeeKay's only career victory was just over three years ago in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. It is Ed Carpenter Racing's only victory in the last seven seasons.

Felix Rosenqvist has been one of the revelations of the 2024 season. Rosenqvist has started in the top ten of every race this season and he has finished in the top ten in every race as well. It is only the second time Rosenqvist has had four consecutive top ten finishes in his career. He enters the Indianapolis 500 ranked fifth in the championship. Prior to this season, Rosenqvist had not been ranked in the top five of the championship since after his debut race in IndyCar, the 2019 St. Petersburg season opener, after he finished fourth. Add to it where Meyer Shank Racing was in 2023. MSR had one top ten finish over the entire 2023 season. Prior to this season, the team had not had a top five finish in 29 consecutive races. It has two in the first four races this year. MSR had its car finish 15th and 25th last year at Indianapolis.

Takuma Sato is back for his 15th Indianapolis 500, but unlike previous seasons, this is Sato's only start on tap for 2024. Last year, Sato contested all the oval races for Chip Ganassi Racing. He had two top ten finishes, including a seventh in the Indianapolis 500. Sato is back with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, the team where he won his second Indianapolis 500 in 2020. Sato scored his best championship finish with the RLLR organization. Four of his six career victories came with the team. Though he has won twice, Sato has only finished in the top ten four times in his Indianapolis 500 career. He was third in 2019.

No one expected Dreyer & Reinbold Racing to take a spot in the Fast 12 during qualifying, but Ryan Hunter-Reay stunned everyone in the closing hour of Saturday's session and the 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner marks the tenth anniversary of that victory with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's best starting position since Oriol Servià started 12th in the 2013 season opener at St. Petersburg. This is D&R's best starting spot in the Indianapolis 500 since Justin Wilson started 11th in 2010. The team has only one victory in its history. It won on debut at in the 2000 season opener at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando. It was the first IndyCar race of the 21st century. 

The Weather Report

The forecast is looking iffy ahead of this weekend's festivities. 

Carb Day will be mostly cloudy but there is a chance of showers in the evening, about 20%. The high will be 83º F with an 11 mph wind from the South Southeast.

While Saturday looks to be dry, Sunday sees an 88% chance of precipitation with thunderstorms, but the storms could hold off until the afternoon. Temperatures will drop back down to about 75º F with winds still around 14 mph from the Southeast. Rain showers could persist into Monday with the chance of precipitation still around 49%.

Weather has not affected the Indianapolis 500 since the 2007 race was rain-shortened. The Indianapolis 500 has not been postponed due to weather since 1997 when two days of rain meant most of the race took place on Tuesday.

Carb Night Classic

On Friday evening from Indianapolis Raceway Park, two of the three Road to Indy Series will be competing in their annual Memorial Day weekend event. 

In USF Pro 2000, Nikita Johnson has won four of eight races with two runner-up results and a fourth. Johnson was disqualified from the second race from the IMS road course due a technical infraction, costing him a victory. Despite the penalty, Johnson remains the USF Pro 2000 Championship leader on 172 points. 

Hunter Yeany is second on 148 with Lochie Hughes on 144 points in third. Liam Sceats inherited the IMS road course second race victory after Johnson's penalty, and Sceats is on 136 points while Christian Brooks rounds out the top five on 124 points. 

Jack Denmark is a point outside the top five with Simon Sikes up to seventh in point after Sikes won the final race on the IMS road course. Sikes has 114 points. Nicolás Baptiste has 97 points, four ahead of Ricardo Escotto with Frankie Mossman rounding out the top ten on 92 points. After three finishes of 18th or worse on the IMS road course, Mac Clark plummeted to 11th on 85 points.

The Freedom 90 will run at 9:30 p.m. ET on Friday May 24. The race will run for 90 laps or 50 minutes.

Max Garcia has won four of seven U.S. F2000 races this season and with Garcia's worst result being sixth, he is leading the championship on 184 points, 40 points ahead of Evagoras Papasavvas. Papasavvas had finished on the podium in the first five of the season before finishing fourth and 19th on the IMS road course. 

Sam Corry opened the season with six consecutive top five finishes, including a victory at NOLA Motorsports Park. Corry is on 140 points. Max Taylor went first and second on the IMS road course and he is now fourth in the championship with 121 points. 

Elliot Cox and Joey Brienza makes it six American drivers in the top six of the championship. Cox is coming off his best finish of the season in third of the second IMS road course race. Brienza had four consecutive top five finishes before he was 22nd in that IMS road course race. Cox has 99 points, four more than Brienza.

Nico Christodoulou was outside the top 15 in both races at 16th and Georgetown, and Christodoulou is down in seventh on 92 points. Ayrton Houk has 79 points, one more than Hudson Schwartz. Quinn Armstrong rounds out the top ten with 68 points.

The Freedom 75 will be at 8:30 p.m. ET. The 75-lap race has a 45-minute time limit.

Fast Facts

This will be the tenth IndyCar race to take place on May 26 and the first since Simon Pagenaud won the 103rd Indianapolis 500 in 2019.

This will be the eighth Indianapolis 500 to take place on May 26. Team Penske has won four of the seven Indianapolis 500s held on this date. 

This year's race is on the 50th anniversary of Johnny Rutherford's first Indianapolis 500 victory, which was also McLaren's first Indianapolis 500 victory as a team. 

This year's race is also the 39th anniversary of Danny Sullivan's "spin and win," the 33rd anniversary of Rick Mears' fourth Indianapolis 500 victory, and the 22nd anniversary of Hélio Castroneves' controversial victory over Paul Tracy.

This will be the 177th 500-mile race in IndyCar history.

The United States has produced the most 500-mile race winners with 67. Brazil and the United Kingdom has each produced seven 500-mile race winners. Canada has had four, Italy and France have each had three winners. Sweden has two winners. The Netherlands, Mexico, Colombia, New Zealand, Australia and Japan have each produced one winner. 

Nine of the last 13 Indianapolis 500s have been completed in under three hours. Only five of the first 87 Indianapolis 500s that went the distance were completed in under three hours.

This year's grid features...

12 Americans...

Three New Zealanders...

Three Britons...

Three Swedes...

Two Danes...

Two Brazilians...

An Australian...

A Dutchman...

A Mexican...

A Japanese...

A Spaniard...

A Caymanian...

An Argentine and...

A Frenchman.

The Cayman Islands will become the 31st country with a representative to start the Indianapolis 500 as Kyffin Simpson will start the race.

This is the first Indianapolis 500 without a Canadian starter since 2006.

Nine drivers have won on both the oval and road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. They are Alex Lloyd, Jack Harvey, Dean Stoneman, Colton Herta, Will Power, Simon Pagenaud, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden and Alexander Rossi.

The drivers who could become the tenth driver to win on both the oval and road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend are Marco Andretti, Patricio O'Ward, Rinus VeeKay, Christian Rasmussen, Kyle Kirkwood and Álex Palou.

Josef Newgarden, Rinus VeeKay, Colton Herta or Álex Palou could join Will Power, Simon Pagenaud, Scott Dixon and Alexander Rossi as the only drivers to win an IndyCar race on the IMS oval and road course. 

The average starting position for an Indianapolis 500 winner is 7.5046 with a median of fifth.

Last year, Josef Newgarden became the first winner to start 17th since Eddie Cheever in 1998.

The average number of lead changes in the Indianapolis 500 is 14.4018 with a median of ten. 

In the DW12-era, the average number of lead changes in the Indianapolis 500 is 38.91667 with a median of 35. 

The driver who led the most laps has won only two of the last 12 Indianapolis 500s, Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2014 and Simon Pagenaud in 2019. 

The driver who led the most laps has not won the last four Indianapolis 500s. The last time there were at least five consecutive Indianapolis 500s with the driver who led the most laps not winning was an eight-year streak from 1990 through 1997.

The average number of cautions in the Indianapolis 500 is 7.571 with a median of seven. The average number of caution laps is 43.306 with a median of 42.

In the last 13 Indianapolis 500s, eight races have had more than five cautions.

This will be the 75th Indianapolis 500 victory for Firestone. 

This will be the 24th Indianapolis 500 victory for Dallara, extending Dallara's record for most Indianapolis 500 victories for a chassis manufacturer.

If Honda wins the race, it will be the manufacturer's 16th Indianapolis 500 victory. Honda is currently second all-time in victories for engine manufacturers, 12 victories behind Offenhauser's 27. 

If Chevrolet wins the race, it will surpass Miller for third all-time on 13 Indianapolis 500 victories. 

Predictions

Scott McLaughlin wins from pole position and Team Penske will combined to lead over 125 laps, but at least one Penske car finishes outside the top five. Honda will get at least one top five finish and at least four top ten finishes. Scott Dixon will make up at least ten spots. Kyle Larson will complete fewer than 200 laps on Sunday in Speedway, Indiana. The Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year will finish in the top ten. There will be fewer than two red flags for incidents. The final 16 laps will take less than an hour to complete. The final green flag run will be at least 20 laps long. Sleeper: Alexander Rossi. 

Musings From the Weekend: What Would an Indianapolis 500 Look Like With Guaranteed Spots?

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...

It flooded at North Wilkesboro Speedway, but the races were able to get in, though maybe it was better underwater. It would have saved us from a fight. It did not flood at Imola this year, and there was a tense finish. It was a busy weekend in the Emilia-Romagna region. Austin hosted a historic first and then a historic second. Thanks to Théo Pourchaire's move to IndyCar, Ben Barnicoat made his Super Formula debut at the 11th-hour, and he set fastest lap. Scott McLaughlin set the record for fastest pole position in the history of the Indianapolis 500 with a four-lap average at 234.220 mph. However, the future is on my mind.

What Would an Indianapolis 500 Look Like With Guaranteed Spots?

This likely isn't an avenue you wish to venture down, but as IndyCar's charter agreement remains on the precipice of being agreed upon, though it appears guaranteed spots for the Indianapolis 500 will not be included in the initial phase of the agreement, the subject will come up repeatedly in the near future. It will be inescapable every May until either it happens or there is such a financial boon for the series and teams that they can live with this being the one race they can fail to make. 

Anyone watching the situation and who is semi-competent knows a day could come and rather soon where guaranteed spots will exist for 25 full-time teams in IndyCar's biggest race. Many think it is sacrilegious. It might not be that serious but it is a significant shift from it being a meritocracy where anyone can make the race and anyone can miss it. It takes away from the drama of watching someone thought to be a lock for the race sweat out what could be the worst day of his or her career. 

Even with guaranteed spots, drama would still exist, it would only be limited to smaller number of cars. Eight spots would be available. If nine cars show up, someone will be on the outside looking in when it is all said and done. It will still be the worst day for somebody. There will be heroics trying to get into the field. The drama will not be entirely removed from the event but it will be isolated to a fraction of the field and reserved for mostly lesser known names while the big shots get to sit easy and watch.

If there is anything that could be learned from the 25/8 Rule that existed during the early years of the Indy Racing League it is to segment qualifying from the start and not allow it to be an all-skate from the first car on track. That is how we ended up with 35 cars in 1997 when the fastest 33 wasn't going to make the race. If IndyCar is going to reintroduced locked in spots for the "500," it should at least prevent a situation where three or four cars are missing the race despite being faster than the last few entries.

Qualifying is already segmented. Saturday locks in 30 cars. The positions are set for 13th through 30th. The top 12 will start no worse than 12th. Any car outside the top 30 cannot start better than 31st. We have been living with this format for a number of years now, and we are fine with it. Guaranteed spots should add a different wrinkle to it. 

"Open" qualifying should happen on its own. The field of 33 should be set before the run for pole position happens. We know 25 cars will be in the race. Instead of having them qualifying with all the open cars, qualifying should take place separately to decide which eight cars make the race. That should open the qualifying weekend. 

Saturday qualifying should begin with a three-hour session for the "Open" teams. Start at 10:00 am and allow each three attempts to make the race. When the gun sounds at 1:00 p.m., the top eight cars are in the race and advance to "Field of 33" qualifying. 

This way it is a different session. We know who is in the race. We aren't going to see a full-time team coast through qualifying and potentially every team that failed to qualify out of the "Open" session run quicker than one chartered team but end up going home. It is held in different conditions from the "Field of 33" qualifying. Though times may be slower in the second session, it would not be an accurate comparison. It squelches the "fastest 33" debate before it can come up.

With guaranteed spots, it does make some of the current format excessive. If 25 cars are locked in, there is really no need for multiple qualifying attempts. Besides the "Open" teams, qualifying isn't qualifying in the sense of making the race for about 75% of the entries. It is determining grid position. There is no point in having cars go out multiple times. What would be greater drama is if every team got one attempt to make the Fast 12. 

We did this in 2017 when there were only 33 entries. After an extended delay for rain, when qualifying began on Saturday, each car got one attempt. It was great. One run to make what was then the Fast Nine. I think it would be a suitable way to do it.

"Field of 33" qualifying begins at 3:00 p.m. and everyone gets one run. If you are worried about teams still taking it easy, we could go back to awarding points for every position in Indianapolis 500 qualifying. Again, something you might not like, but an incentive for teams not to ride around. Once through the line, the top 12 advance to the Fast 12 on Sunday afternoon. 

With no last chance qualifying, the Fast 12 can evolve as well. It doesn't needs to be two rounds. We don't have to go from 12 to six. The two-round system exists at the present to allow last chance qualifying to run in the middle and allow the teams to cool their cars to get the most possible speed out in the final run for pole position. Make it a two-hour session on Sunday. Everyone gets one run and then there will be about an hour minutes for additional attempts if someone believes they can improve and take the top spot. 

Indianapolis 500 qualifying has changed over the years. For the most part, we have lived. We no longer have four qualifying days over two weekends. It is no longer noon to 6:00 p.m. Cars can re-qualify and there hasn't been a three-attempt limit for a handful of years. The Fast Nine was first used to determine pole position in 2010. With guaranteed spots, change would be necessary, but suspense will still be there, if done right. 

It is not necessarily going to happen next year or the year after that or before the decade is out. It may never happen, but the conversation over guaranteed spots in the Indianapolis 500 is not going away anytime soon. As much as we disdain the idea, the Indianapolis 500 would continue onward either way. It is a matter of how does setting the grid adapt to new procedures and how does it keep you on the edge of your seat. Once you swallow the medicine and look at it through a different light, you could see how different can still be rather compelling. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Scott McLaughlin, but did you know...

Max Verstappen won the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, his fifth victory of the season.

Franco Colapinto (sprint) and Isack Hadar (main) split the Formula Two races from Imola. Oliver Goethe (sprint) and Sami Meguetounif (main) split the Formula Three races.

Joey Logano won the NASCAR All-Star Race from North Wilkesboro, leading 199 of 200 laps in the process. Corey Heim won the Truck race, his third victory of the season.

Tadasuke Makino won the Super Formula race from Autopolis, his first career victory.

Chaz Mostert and Cam Waters split the Supercars races from Perth. 

The #63 DXDT Racing Corvette of Tommy Milner and Alec Udell swept the GT World Challenge America races from Austin. The #97 CrowdSrike Racing by Random Vandals BMW of Kenton Koch and Kevin Boehm won the three-hour GT4 America race. Jason Daskalos and George Kurtz split the GT America races. 

The #46 Team WRT BMW of Maxime Martin and Valentino Rossi and the #32 Team WRT BMW of Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts split the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup races from Misano.

Coming Up This Weekend

108th Indianapolis 500

81st Monaco Grand Prix

65th Coca-Cola 600

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters will race for the 35th and 36th time around the Lausitzring.

MotoGP visits Barcelona for the 33rd time.

Formula E makes its first visit to the Shanghai International Circuit.

There will also be some racing at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

First Impressions: 108th Indianapolis 500 Sunday Qualifying

1. The best driver in the world is starting on pole position for the Indianapolis 500. 

It is not the driver you are thinking about. It is not the driver that received the most air time and who left on a helicopter before the Fast Six session was over. 

From New Zealand by way of Australia, Scott McLaughlin ran 234.220 mph over four laps to win pole position for the 108th Indianapolis 500. McLaughlin has already lit up the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst. He left Australia as a three-time champion in Supercars. This is year four in IndyCar. He won the first race of his sophomore season and been a regular winner in IndyCar ever since. Now, he is the fastest man at the greatest track on the circuit.

McLaughlin didn't come from an open-wheel background let alone an oval background. He has been living like a fish out of water for the last four years, and yet he is thriving on dry land. Changing disciplines in motorsports is one thing. McLaughlin moved halfway around the world. The common language might be the same, but moving from Australia to the United States is an eye-opening experience. It would have been easy to get homesick or realize after a year this wasn't for him. He was always going to have suitors should he yearn to return to Supercars. Instead, McLaughlin has become one of the best in IndyCar and calls this place home. 

It helps driving for the best team in IndyCar history. Team Penske was always going to give McLaughlin what he needed to succeed. McLaughlin has made the most of it. It is like he was always meant to be in this place. He could not have gotten the timing any better.

Team Penske has found something that no other team is close to replicating. McLaughlin was able to top the bunch as Penske swept the front row for the second time in Indianapolis 500 history, repeating its 1988 performance. The Penske cars were about 8/10ths of a mile per hour clear of everyone else in the field. It was only qualifying, but that is a gulf to overcome. 

Penske has its 20th Indianapolis 500 within its sights and McLaughlin is leading the way.

2. History is lining it up so the driver with the most pole positions in IndyCar history will never have an Indianapolis 500 pole position. If it wasn't going to happen this year for Will Power when he ran a four-lap average at 233.917 mph, it isn't going to happen. Power will have at least four or five more attempts at it. He could get it, but if he hasn't gotten it now, when will it occur? It is destined to be one of those quirky things in the history book. 

I would bet Power would take a second Indianapolis 500 victory over a pole position, and his stiffest competition will likely come from within the Penske camp, but Power is in a great spot. This season has started out outstandingly well. He has yet to have a bad day. Momentum is on Power's side heading into next week.

3. It has been a rocky month for Josef Newgarden, but he ended up third in qualifying as he looks to defend his Indianapolis 500 victory. Newgarden has embraced this Indianapolis 500 as a reset. After the push-to-pass manipulation penalty from St. Petersburg, Newgarden's results have not match his ability. We know this penalty and violation has shaken Newgarden. We saw it in his press conference ahead of the Barber Motorsports Park weekend. This is a blemish he likely thought he would never have to sport, and he has been learning how to live with it. 

The easiest way is to win. A segment of the viewers will call him a cheater from now until his career is over. That is what the narrow-minded do. Newgarden won 29 races in his career aboveboard. He has two championships and an Indianapolis 500 victory. He knows he is one of the best of the last decade and os pushing to be one of IndyCar's all-time greats. Another Indianapolis 500 victory would wash away the scar of St. Petersburg. He knows what the glory of winning this race tastes like. He is hungry for more, arguably more so than a year ago.

4. Alexander Rossi has been the clear fourth-best driver this past week. The problem is the Penske cars are just out of reach for Rossi. The race is a different animal compared to qualifying. The race will not be flat-out with cars trimmed beyond belief. It is a methodical battle. You cannot win with 200 laps of haymakers. 

Rossi can bob and weave. He has often been in contention. The best example is 2019 where Rossi ran in Simon Pagenaud's shadow and then made a run late. One caution kept Rossi from running away and allowed Pagenaud to outmaneuver him in the closing laps. Put Rossi in that position again and he might come out on top. This is a battle lost, but war has yet to be decided.

5. If you are upset about how much attention Kyle Larson has been receiving, what did you think was going to happen? How many times has the NASCAR Cup Series championship leader come and run the Indianapolis 500? How many times has a driver that has won the Knoxville Nationals and 24 Hours of Daytona come and run the Indianapolis 500? How many times has one of the most accomplished drivers in the world come and run the Indianapolis 500? 

It doesn't happen as often as you think. Add to it that Larson had one of the best cars and qualified fifth. He wasn't going to be lost in the shuffle. Larson has done what was expected from him. Take him and throw him in an Arrow McLaren entry and the Fast 12 was the bare minimum. There hasn't been a car that Larson hasn't got a handle on quickly. Everything he slides behind the wheel of he is quick in. When Larson is stepping into one of the best teams at Indianapolis, he was always going to be at the front. 

Now, attention turns to the race. There will be a few things he will learn one the fly. As much as you can prepare for the Indianapolis 500, about a half-dozen things will come out of the blue. They likely will not trip him up.

6. Three Penskes are the front row ahead of two Arrow McLarens and then A.J. Foyt Racing's Santino Ferrucci in sixth. Bravo to Ferrucci for getting back to the Fast Six when everyone around them got better. Foyt wasn't going to lose everything it had last year, but it was not going to be easy getting back to the Fast Six. Penske couldn't make the Fast 12 last year. All three of those cars found something while Chip Ganassi Racing vanished. It is the nature of Indianapolis, but Foyt held firm. Ferrucci was close last year. He has never finished outside the top ten at Indianapolis. Life is a number's game. The roll of the dice will eventually not go his way. Does he get one more in his favor?

7. It was always going to be brutal for someone. For Nolan Siegel, missing the Indianapolis 500 after brushing the wall on the final qualifying attempt of the last chance qualifying session is a lot for a 19-year-old kid to digest. 

It is not easy to make it to the top level of motorsports, no matter your socioeconomic background. Siegel has won at every level. He has been one of the best drivers in Indy Lights the last two years. Taking a shot at the Indianapolis 500 in a part-time program while still in Indy Lights is a challenge. Doing it when there are 34 entries and with the smallest team on the grid that has been trending in the wrong direction is a monumental ask. 

If there is any reason for optimism, Siegel will be back. IndyCar is going to happen for him. The irons are in the fire. This was a bonus of sorts. If he made the race, it would have been a great experience. There are plenty of things to take away from this week. Siegel knows the car and the track. He knows how a practice week works. He has been through excruciatingly long rain delays. He has had an accident and been on the back foot. It is a terrible feeling, but Siegel can strengthen from this moment. 

You lost today kid, but that doesn't mean you have to like it.

8. This played out how it was written on paper. Dale Coyne Racing was a concern before practice even started. Its lineup was a 19-year-old kid that is still full-time in Indy Lights and a driver that has made one IndyCar start in the previous decade. This was never a combination that injected confidence in both cars making the race especially against the competition around it. 

Once Siegel had his accident on Friday, he became the clear favorite to miss the race. The team gets some credit because it found speed and Siegel's best qualifying run of the week was the one to lead off the last chance qualifying session. However, it was an uphill battle that proved to be too much. 

Seven years ago, Dale Coyne Racing had the fastest car at the Speedway until Sébastien Bourdais lost it in turn two on his qualifying run. It is difficult to keep up and it is only getting tougher. Coyne has some work to do and some decisions to make.

9. As for the drivers that made it, Katherine Legge went ten years between Indianapolis 500 appearances when she arrived last year with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Legge was the fastest of the four RLLR cars last year. This year, she topped the last chance qualifying session and will start 31st next Sunday. Legge has not been regularly in an open-wheel car since 2012. She has done well in sports cars, but a GT3 machine is much different from an IndyCar, yet it has not held Legge back. Even back in 2013, she was a late entry for Schimdt Peterson Motorsports and was up against Michel Jourdain, Jr., who coincidentally was driving for RLLR, to make the race. Legge pulled it out. She has emerged from these high pressure situations fully intact and in the field on a consistent basis. That should not be overlooked.

10. Marcus Ericsson nearly had the biggest blunder in Indianapolis 500 qualifying. On his first attempt in the last chance qualifying session, Ericsson lifted at the end of the third lap, a complete brain fade on his part. The team had to cool the car down and make a second attempt. Ericsson ended up saving himself and putting the car in 32nd, but it was an unnecessary bit of drama. 

Since his accident Thursday, it has been a trying few days for Ericsson and company. With how close the grid is, it is difficult to find the speed in a backup car to get back to a competitive position. One incident can knock you out of contention. If Ericsson doesn't lose the car on Thursday, he probably isn't in this spot. One moment and you could be on the edge of the worst moment of your career. Ericsson made it through, but this is a long way from his victory two years ago and his runner-up finish last year.

11. Graham Rahal lived the nightmare for another year. It had a different ending. Rahal will start 33rd for a second consecutive year. This time he made the race on his own time. Rahal was not seated on the side of his car wondering how the hell it happened, but I am sure he is wondering what he must do to get some breathing room from this moment. 

RLLR made a step this year. Takuma Sato made the Fast 12. Christian Lundgaard and Pietro Fittipaldi made the top 30, though not by much. The team did so much work, and yet it barely made a difference. RLLR is in a better position, but it must find more.

12. As for the Fast 12 participants, Rinus VeeKay has his worst starting position in the Indianapolis 500. It is seventh. Twenty four hours ago, it didn't look like VeeKay would be close to seventh. Reeling from an accident on his first qualifying run, just getting in the top 30 on the second attempt was mission accomplished for this team. VeeKay went out on a third attempt and put the team in the top 12, guaranteeing it one more run on Sunday. The front row streak is over, but seventh is a fine place to start.

13. Patricio O'Ward will start eighth. Someone is going to miss the Fast 12. O'Ward was the third-best McLaren car, but he is going to be in the conversation at some point next Sunday. He will move forward. He will be running with his teammates. We can make everyone who didn't make the Fast Six into some kind of failure, but they aren't. O'Ward is in a better position than most. 

14. It is hard to see how Honda will beat Chevrolet. Again, the race is different from qualifying, but the best Honda could do was qualify ninth, credit to Felix Rosenqvist who remains on a tear to start the season. We saw Honda outnumbered eight to one in the Fast Nine in 2012, and Honda went 1-2 with two cars that started 16th and 15th respectively, and led 112 of 200 laps. It doesn't feel like we will see that this year. 

The race has evolved, and Honda just doesn't quite appear to have it. Kudos to Takuma Sato and Kyle Kirkwood for also making the Fast 12. Sato has a Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing car starting tenth. RLLR would have bitten your hand off if offered that at the start of the week, although it appears Sato is an outlier from his teammates. Kirkwood drove forward last year from 15th starting position. I think we can see the same from him, but we need to see something either tomorrow in practice or on Carb Day to think a Honda can be a threat on race day.

15. Making the Fast 12 is a victory in its own right for Ryan Hunter-Reay and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Nobody had Hunter-Reay in the Fast 12 at the start of qualifying on Saturday morning. He has fewer Indianapolis 500s ahead of him than behind him. Hunter-Reay is a bit of an under-appreciated driver in Indianapolis 500 history. He has won this race, but he has been better than one victory. I don't know if he has another victory in him, but another solid day is something we would all like to see for Hunter-Reay and this team, the only Indianapolis 500-only effort remaining.

16. I am always glad when qualifying is over. This is an exhausting two days. There will be a practice tomorrow and we wish everyone gets through it without any issues. We have a few days to decompress, and then the anticipation will start to build.

First Impressions: 108th Indianapolis 500 Saturday Qualifying

1. The phrase "plenum event" will be burned into your mind perhaps for eternity after the first qualifying day from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as a half-dozen entries, all Chevrolets suffered sudden losses of power that cost drivers quick qualifying runs. However, Chevrolet still came out on top, taking nine of the top 12 while Honda will have all four participants in the last chance qualifying session for the second consecutive year.

Team Penske swept the top three with Will Power leading Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden. Power ran four laps at 233.758 mph. At the back end of the grid, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing improved from 2023, but Graham Rahal will again be in the last chance qualifying session, living the nightmare all over again. Joining him will be Marcus Ericsson, who has not found the speed in the backup car after his practice accident, and the Dale Coyne Racing entries of Katherine Legge and Nolan Siegel. 

It should be no surprise both Dale Coyne Racing cars were in the bottom two, especially Siegel after his accident in Friday practice. The team has never shown the speed to think either car could make the top 30. It has felt destined for Coyne to be competing against itself, duplicating what RLLR did last year. 

2. As for Rahal, it always felt like it was a possibility that one of the RLLR cars would be in the last chance qualifying session, and Rahal felt the most likely of the team's four drivers. RLLR has shown bursts of speed. You wondered if it was a fluke during practice, but Takuma Sato made the Fast 12. Christian Lundgaard spent most of the day in the low 20s before settling in at 28th when time was up. Pietro Fittipaldi clung to 30th. Rahal couldn't find the speed and again has his back against the wall.

Considering RLLR's struggles, one must wonder if the team should continue entering four cars for Indianapolis. Last year, it had three in the bottom four, and four in the bottom five. This year, Rahal is again needing an outstanding qualifying effort on Sunday to make the race. Lundgaard and Fittipaldi were barely safe. RLLR put in the work. It made steps to avoid repeating its painful 2023. It is better but not good enough considering the effort that was made.

3. Accidents can really dictate how you do in qualifying. Siegel was always going to be in the bottom four and banking on a good run on Sunday to make the race. His accident yesterday only cemented his status as the favorite to be bumped. 

Marcus Ericsson was never in the conversation for the last chance qualifying until his accident on Thursday. Andretti Global had a superspeedway dedicated backup car, but it was not enough to break into the top 30. Now the driver who won the Indianapolis 500 two years ago and who was second last year is on the cusp of missing the race. He must beat one driver. It is always easier said than done.

4. It doesn't look good that Honda has the bottom four for a second consecutive year, but it is more than the bottom four. It is the bottom five when including Fittipaldi in 30th. Conor Daly was 29th but Linus Lundqvist and Christian Lundgaard were ahead of him. That is seven Hondas in the bottom eight in qualifying. 

Then you look at the top and Honda could only put three in the top 12, and maybe that was one or two too many. Chevrolet had at least three cars lose out on possible top 12 runs due to plenum events. Ed Carpenter looked set for a top 12 run before his engine sputtered, as did Christian Rasmussen. Agustín Canapino was set to steal the show when his car coughed on the third lap and sent Canapino into a fit of rage.  

Honda has been good but not as great as Chevrolet and Honda's three Fast 12 participants could come down to Chevrolet beating itself than Honda able to wrestle those away from the bowtie brigade.

5. Engines should get more attention because we have never seen plenum events at this frequency with this engine formula. This formula goes back to 2012. The engines have been adjusted ahead of the introduction of the hybrid system, which will be at Mid-Ohio in July, but the number of these incidents seems like it is greater than an new evolution of the engine ahead of the electrification of the power plant. 

After all these years, Chevrolet and Honda are pushing it as far as they can go. Honda had a number of engine changes leading up to qualifying and even on Saturday. Scott Dixon and Rahal had the engine swapped out. Takuma Sato got a new engine ahead of qualifying. You would think 13 years into this era of regulations we would have seen it all, but the manufacturers keep pulling some tricks out of their sleeves.

6. We touched upon Team Penske. This feels like a redemption run. Penske was already looking to improve after failing to put a car on one of the first three rows of the grid in the previous four years. After the events of St. Petersburg, the team is looking to absolve itself and reclaim some integrity. It has swept the front row for the Indianapolis 500 once before. That was 36 years ago. Penske has a great shot at it this year.

7. McLaren's had one of the kookier days we have seen in recent years. Kyle Larson had a plenum event on his first qualifying run and bailed out. Patricio O'Ward had an engine change and then suffered a plenum event on his first qualifying run. Callum Ilott had a respectable first run, but the time was disallowed after it was found his car a non-compliant left rear wheel offset.

Alexander Rossi was the only one who didn't experience any drama, and his best qualifying run put him fourth at 233.069 mph. 

Once McLaren got everything settled, Larson qualified sixth at 232.563 mph. Patricio O'Ward took tenth. Ilott ended up 15th. It played out as we thought, three McLarens in the Fast 12 and Ilott as the lone car on the outside. It is shaping up for Penske vs. McLaren for pole position.

8. We know Takuma Sato made the Fast 12, but Kyle Kirkwood was the top Honda in fifth and Felix Rosenqvist was seventh. None of them appear close to pole position. Kirkwood has had good speed all week, as has Rosenqvist, but they are just out of reach of the Chevrolets. 

9. Santino Ferrucci made it back to the Fast 12 for a second consecutive year. The competition is a little tougher this year. He will put up a good qualifying run, but it will be an uphill battle to make the Fast Six again.

10. The final hour of qualifying did provide unexpected drama. First, Ryan Hunter-Reay went out on a  run that many likely thought would just get him a few more spots. It put Hunter-Reay in the Fast 12, knocking out Álex Palou, a fabulous run for the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing driver. The plenum event did not trip him up as the track cooled.

Then Rinus VeeKay went out as the penultimate qualifier, withdrawing his time, which was 29th. That was fine because it essentially created an open spot in 30th and all VeeKay had to do was complete the run and he would be in the field. VeeKay didn't just get distance from the bubble, he put himself at the sharp end of the grid. A 232.419-mph average earned VeeKay 11th, knocked Colton Herta down to 13th, and the Dutchman's hopes of extending his front row start streak to four consecutive years remains alive. 

VeeKay was the fourth qualifier today and he had an accident in turn three. He ended the day streaking into the top 12. That seemed unfathomable. We have seen a number of teams struggle with backup cars, and VeeKay went out and shot right back into the conversation for pole position. Ed Carpenter Racing deserves all the credit in the world, as does VeeKay because Ed Carpenter and Christian Rasmussen didn't come close to making the top 12 with their primary cars and VeeKay put a backup car 11th after it was 29th going into that final attempt.

11. There were plenty of good drivers that didn't make the Fast 12. Colton Herta just couldn't get away from the cutline for the Fast 12. Herta was a late runner in the initial pass through the qualifying line. If you flipped Herta with his teammate Kirkwood, who went out first, I think Herta would have been where Kirkwood ended up. The luck of the draw so to speak. 

12. No Chip Ganassi Racing driver made the Fast 12. That is a little bit of a stunner. We didn't see the pace the last two days to think Ganassi was going to get there, but the top 12 was not out of reach. Palou was there. Dixon never got close. Marcus Armstrong and Kyffin Simpson both had respectable runs, but they were two of the first 11 qualifiers. Linus Lundqvist did what he had to with a repaired car and was 27th.

You cannot find many positives from this day for Ganassi. Perhaps the race cars will be better. Palou only goes forward in races. It is not easy winning from 14th, but if anyone can do it, Palou is the man. Scott Dixon has pulled out some impressive results before. We are still over a week from race day, but 21st is not an ideal starting position. Then again, Dixon has made it a habit of winning from unideal starting positions lately.

13. The second half of the grid is kind of what you expect. Marco Andretti did well as a one-off. Hélio Castroneves was 20th. Canapino is upset because he looked set to make the Fast 12, but 22nd is where we expected for him. Sting Ray Robb was 23rd. Christian Rasmussen and Tom Blomqvist did what was needed to lock themselves in. Romain Grosjean was upset in the lack of speed. Juncos Hollinger Racing has been all over the place. One day they look quick, the next day the team is lost in the middle. 

14. Race control had a habit of waving attempts off if a driver was clearly not going to improve. It is understandable. Why have a car stay on the track for an extra 45 seconds if the run will not be better? But I think an easy way to control this is to limit attempts to three runs per team.

If we are going to have this many attempts that are not an improvement, limit the teams and make them think twice before going out, especially if they do not have to withdraw their time. I guess the alternative would be these cars would go out and the teams would just be waiving their runs or the track would be empty. Qualifying is now meant to have as many attempts as possible from the start of the day through the gun. The problem is we get a great number of qualifying runs that feel pointless. 

Can IndyCar correct that or does it even care?

15. Why does qualifying still end at 5:50 p.m.? That change came a number of years ago because television demanded it. Qualifying until 6:00 p.m. meant the last attempt wasn't over until 6:02 p.m. It would preempt whatever what was following. No network wants that. The 5:50 p.m. ending allows for one more commercial break before moving onto the 6:00 p.m. programming.

But qualifying today was entirely on Peacock. There is no programming following. I don't know if ten minutes would have changed anything, but there is no fear of going long on a streaming service. This could be adjusted for future qualifying sessions. 

16. We are going to be in for another tense Sunday. If we are being honest, we know how the last chance qualifying session will play out. Nolan Siegel is a mile per hour away from behind a mile per hour away. If Marcus Ericsson, Katherine Legge and Graham Rahal hit their marks, they will make the race. Anything above 230 mph should do. Siegel hasn't even broken 229 mph yet.

As for pole position, the Penske cars have swept the top three on four-lap runs the last two days. Rossi is close, but even he was nearly 7/10th of a mile per hour off Power's top run today. Perhaps O'Ward could jump up there and maybe VeeKay steals the show again and takes a stunning pole position. We will know in less than 24 hours.

108th Indianapolis 500 Qualifying Preview

After a fractured week that saw the first two days of Indianapolis 500 practice considerable shortened due to rain, the second two days were practical run in full, with Friday running completely uninterrupted from weather after it appeared it would be a lost day from the start of the week. 

Practice is over. Qualifying is upon us. The teams will get a chance to shakedown their cars Saturday morning but come 11:00 a.m. ET the 34 entries will line up to begin time trials for the 108th running of this race.

Last year saw breath-taking and record speeds. The expectation is we will see more of the same, if not quicker times from top to bottom. Some of the usual names are on top, but the door is always open for a surprise. At the bottom, most of the names we expected are down there, but you never know what could happen over a ten-mile run around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

What will it take to win pole position?

Last year, Álex Palou took pole position with a four-lap average of 234.217 mph, a 0.171 mph increase over Scott Dixon's 2022 pole position-winning average. 

The fastest lap in Fast Friday practice last year was at 232.789 mph, which Takuma Sato set, meaning the difference between the fastest practice lap and the pole average was 1.428 mph, about a 0.6134% improvement. Colton Herta ran the fastest lap in practice yesterday at 234.974 mph, albeit with a tow from Graham Rahal. 

If we are to see the same percentage increase from Fast Friday's fastest lap to the pole position-winning average, we would be looking at a four-lap average at 236.415 mph, 0.571 mph off Arie Luyendyk's four-lap track record of 236.986 mph. 

If we see a percentage increase in line with what we saw from Dixon in 2022 to Palou in 2023, the pole position average would be around 234.388 mph.

For the last two years at Indianapolis the fastest qualifying run was faster than the fastest lap run in practice in the lead up to qualifying. That had not happened in the ten previous seasons of the DW12-era.

Who is in play for the Fast 12?

Team Penske took the fastest three four-lap averages in Friday practice and the team had three of the fastest four no tow laps. Josef Newgarden led the way. Newgarden had the fastest four-lap average at 234.063 mph and he had the fastest no tow lap at 234.260 mph. Scott McLaughlin was 0.44 mph off in the four lap average, and McLaughlin's best no tow lap was at 234.102 mph. 

Will Power had the third-best four-lap average, running at 233.451 mph, and Power's best no tow lap was fourth on the day at 233.864 mph. Behind Power in four-lap average, but ahead of him on best no tow lap, was Alexander Rossi. Rossi ran a four-lap average of 233.355 mph while Rossi was the third of three drivers to run a no tow lap above 234 mph. Rossi's best lap was 234.006 mph. 

Rossi led a strong contingent of Arrow McLaren drivers. Three of the four McLaren drivers ranked in the top ten of four-lap averages. Patricio O'Ward was directly behind Rossi at 233.043 mph. Kyle Larson rounded out the top ten at 232.549 mph. 

Agustín Canapino was a surprise with the seventh-best four-lap average at 232.875 mph, directly ahead of Santino Ferrucci at 232.867 mph.

Chevrolet controlled much of the day and did end with the top five four-lap averages, but Honda picked up speed as at the afternoon went along. Felix Rosenqvist led the Hondas with a four-lap average at 232.906 mph. Kyle Kirkwood was in ninth at 232.663 mph, and Colton Herta was 11th only 0.001 mph off Larson. 

Rinus VeeKay had the 12th-best four-lap average at 232.517 mph, just ahead of Sting Ray Robb at 232.207 while Hélio Castroneves (232.200 mph) and Marco Andretti (232.083 mph) rounded out the top 15.

What will it take to clinch the top 30?

Every car that was in the top 30 last year at the conclusion of Saturday qualifying ran a four-lap average over 231 mph. The top 28 in the no tow report yesterday ran their best lap over 231 mph. 

Last year, only 11 drivers completed only one qualifying attempt. Of those 11 drivers, six made the Fast 12 and four qualified 24th or worse. Only Romain Grosjean in 19th was in the middle ground. Thirteen total drivers had their first qualifying run stand as the time that locked them into the top 30. Of the 17 drivers that were locked in a subsequent attempt, six drivers ran their fastest run on their third attempt.

However, three of the bottom four drivers through the first pass through the qualifying line ended up being outside the top 30 and wound up in the last chance qualifying session on Sunday (Jack Harvey, Sting Ray Robb and Graham Rahal). The driver who was on the outside but ended the day in the top 30 was Callum Ilott.

Who is in the most danger of missing the 108th Indianapolis 500?

Nolan Siegel was already struggling for speed prior to his accident during Friday practice, but that contact in turn two, which caused the car to turnover on its side only puts the 19-year-old Californian further in a hole heading into his first Indianapolis 500 qualifying run. 

Siegel had been 22nd, 32nd and 33rd through the first three practice days. His accident left him in 34th as the accident occurred before he could really get up to speed. Siegel had the worst average overall practice result this week.

The #18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda team is preparing a back-up car, which was the team's road course car. 

Dale Coyne Racing doesn't have a lot to feel comfortable about entering qualifying. Katherine Legge has been 31st, 24th and 33rd over the three days she took to the track. She was 33rd on the no tow report on Friday. 

The speed might be better for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, but the team is not expressing any confidence entering tomorrow. There is a tinge of doubt coming from that four-car camp. The four RLLR cars ranked on average overall practice result 14th (Takuma Sato), 23rd (Christian Lundgaard), 28th (Graham Rahal) and 31st (Pietro Fittipaldi). Sato did finish seventh on the no tow report for Friday, but the other three drivers ranked 21st (Lundgaard), 27th (Fittipaldi) and 28th (Rahal).

Kyffin Simpson has the second-worst average overall practice result at 29.667, and the second-worst average no tow report result at 25.667. Conor Daly had the worst average no tow report result at 28th.

Who got a favorable qualifying draw?

Simpson drew third, meaning he will have cooler track conditions and it should give him more speed, perhaps enough to keep him in the top 30 and out of danger of the bubble. Marcus Armstrong hasn't looked in danger of being in the bottom four, but he will be happy to be going out 11th tomorrow.

Many fast cars drew early spots. Six of the top 11 from Friday will be amongst the first ten qualifiers. Kyle Kirkwood drew first ahead of Scott McLaughlin. Will Power and Josef Newgarden are ninth and tenth respectively.

Juncos Hollinger Racing showed good pace over practice and it will have its driver go out fifth (Romain Grosjean) and seventh (Agustín Canapino)

If Siegel's crew can get the backup car ready, he will go out 12th, which could be beneficial. That would be just a little over an hour into qualifying, still cooler than the warmer part of the day, and it could give him a boost compared to some of his competition at the bottom.

Christian Lundgaard would go out two spots after Siegel.

For the sake of making it to North Wilkesboro, Kyle Larson will be going out sixth. Larson will likely know through the first run of attempts whether or not he must stay or if he will be free to fly to North Wilkesboro to compete in the heat races that will decide the starting grid for the NASCAR All-Star Race on Sunday night. 

Who is handcuffed thanks to the qualifying draw?

The other three RLLR drivers are not in advantageous positions. Pietro Fittipaldi will go out 21st while Takuma Sato will be out 26th and Graham Rahal is 32nd.

Those three are worried about making the top 30. Patricio O'Ward and Alexander Rossi looked like locks for the Fast 12, but they will qualify 23rd and 34th in line respectively. A second attempt could be necessary for either or both to make the cut. 

Meyer Shank Racing did not get a great draw. Felix Rosenqvist was the best no tow Honda on Friday, but he will be 24th in the line, two spots after Tom Blomqvist but nine spots better than Hélio Castroneves.

Chip Ganassi Racing has not looked dangerous this week, and with Álex Palou 25th in line and Scott Dixon 27th, this feels like the year Ganassi's streak of Indianapolis 500 pole positions will come to an end. The team had started on the point the last three years.

What is the Qualifying Order?

1. Kyle Kirkwood

2. Scott McLaughlin

3. Kyffin Simpson

4. Rinus VeeKay

5. Romain Grosjean

6. Kyle Larson

7. Agustín Canapino

8. Callum Ilott

9. Will Power

10. Josef Newgarden

11. Marcus Armstrong

12. Nolan Siegel

13. Santino Ferrucci

14. Christian Lundgaard

15. Marcus Ericsson

16. Linus Lundqvist

17. Marco Andretti

18. Ed Carpenter

19. Katherine Legge

20. Conor Daly

21. Pietro Fittipaldi

22. Tom Blomqvist

23. Patricio O'Ward

24. Felix Rosenqvist

25. Álex Palou

26. Takuma Sato

27. Scott Dixon

28. Sting Ray Robb

29. Colton Herta

30. Ryan Hunter-Reay

31. Christian Rasmussen

32. Graham Rahal

33. Hélio Castroneves

34. Alexander Rossi

What Does the Qualifying Order Tell Us?

Of the six drivers that made it to the Fast 12 in 2023 based on their first attempt's speed, those drivers went out eighth (Alexander Rossi), 11th (Benjamin Pedersen), 21st (Rinus VeeKay), 22nd (Patricio O'Ward), 27th (Santino Ferrucci), 28th (Álex Palou). 

Felix Rosenqvist and Scott Dixon each would have made the Fast 12 with the speed from their first attempt, but each went out and improved on a second attempt. Rosenqvist and Dixon went out 13th and ninth respectively on their first attempts.

Twenty-two driver completed multiple attempts last year. Colton Herta and Christian Lundgaard each made four. Herta's fastest run was his first. Lundgaard's best was his third, and that still was not enough to get him into the top 30.

Of the nine drivers to make only three attempts, six had their third attempt be their best and make the top 30. Sting Ray Robb had his third attempt be his best but still not make the top 30. Ryan Hunter-Reay and Will Power each made three attempts, but each had their second run be their fastest.

What is the Weather Forecast?

Qualifying is shaping up to take place over the warmest two days of the week. 

It will begin cloudy at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday and the temperatures around 63º F. There will be a light breeze throughout the morning. When qualifying begins at 11:00 a.m., the conditions should be partly cloudy and the temperature will have risen to 70º F. It will go up about four degrees by noon. After that, temperatures appear to increase two degrees an hour until about 3:00 p.m. when it will 80º F. It will settle at 80º F but could sneak up to 81º F in the closing hour.

Sunday is going to be the warmest day of the weekend.

When the pre-qualifying practice begins at noon, it will already be 82º F under sunny skies. Come 3:00 p.m. for the start of the Fast 12, it will be 86º F. Over the last chance qualifying session and Fast Six, it will be settle between 85-86º F, but there is a chance of increased cloud cover over those final two sessions. 

The wind should remain favorable each day, never exceeding about four miles per hour and only changing from a South Southeast wind on Saturday to a Western wind come Sunday.

What is the Qualifying Weekend Schedule?

There will be a one-hour practice session Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. ET. The 34 drivers will be split into two groups, each getting 30 minutes of that one-hour session. 

Day one qualifying will begin at 11:00 a.m. ET and run until 5:50 p.m. ET. The top 12 drivers at the end of day one will advance to the Fast 12 session on Sunday. Qualifiers 13th to 30th will be locked into the Indianapolis 500, and the bottom four will participate in the last chance qualifying session on Sunday.

The Fast 12 participants will get a one-hour practice session at noon on Sunday with the last chance qualifiers getting an hour of practice starting at 1:00 p.m. The Fast 12 session will be held at 3:00 p.m. Each car will get one attempt. The fastest six advance to the final round to decide pole position. The other six will set rows three and four on the grid. 

At 4:15 p.m., the last chance qualifying session will take place. Each car will get at least one attempt, but multiple attempts will be possible with the qualifying session running through 5:15 p.m. The slowest qualifier from this group will not make the 108th Indianapolis 500. 

The Fast Six qualifying round will begin at 5:25 p.m. with each entry getting one qualifying attempt to win pole position. 

On Monday, a two-hour practice session will held starting at 1:00 p.m. 

108th Indianapolis 500 Practice Preview

For 34 drivers, the next week will become the most important of their season. Preparation for the 108th Indianapolis 500 begins with four practice days ahead of an important qualifying weekend where at least one driver will not qualify for this year's race. 

Besides the competition and the racetrack, the teams will be battling the elements and any unfavorable conditions could cause a loss in crucial time to perfect an otherwise finicky race car. 

In this year's race, Honda has the most entries, 18 to Chevrolet's 16. There are seven rookies in this year's field and there are eight past winners. There have been four different winners through the first four races of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season. The championship lead has changed after each race. Things are already tight, but the Indianapolis 500 ratchets the pressure even more. 

It all starts with practice.

What is the schedule?

Tuesday May 14 will see three separate practice session beginning at 9:15 a.m. ET with a two-hour session for veterans. After an hour and 45-minute break, practice will resume at 1:00 p.m. ET and run for five hours.

Practice will continue Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with the session running from noon to 6:00 p.m. each day. The qualification draw will be at 6:15 p.m. on Friday May 17. 

The 34 entries will be split into two groups and each will run for 30 minutes on Saturday May 18 over an hour period starting at 8:30 a.m. ET. Qualifying begins at 11:00 a.m. and will continue through 5:50 p.m. 

The fastest 12 cars at the end of Saturday will advance to the Fast 12 session on Sunday. The 13th through 30th qualifiers will be locked into the race and have their starting position secured for the 108th Indianapolis 500. The slowest four qualifiers will run int he Last Chance Qualifying session.

Sunday May 19 will have a two-hour practice from noon to 2:00 p.m. for the 16 cars making qualifying runs that afternoon. Qualifying resumes at 3:00 p.m. for the Fast 12 session. Each team will get one qualifying run. The fastest six teams will advance to the Fast Six to determine pole position and the first two rows for the Indianapolis 500.

At 4:15 p.m., the Last Chance Qualifying session will take place. The four entries will have one hour and can make as many attempts as possible. The slowest car at the end of that session will fail to qualify. 

The Fast Six session will begin at 5:25 p.m. with each entry again having one qualifying run. 

On Monday May 20, a two-hour practice session will be held at 1:00 p.m.

What is the forecast?

We are looking at a rainy forecast again for Tuesday practice. There is a 90% chance of precipitation with thunderstorms throughout the day. The high is set for 72º F with an 8 mph wind from the East Southeast. 

Things should clear up but we could see showers carry into Wednesday morning. There is a 60% chance of precipitation. It drops on Thursday to a 24% chance of precipitation. Temperatures will remain in the low 70s on Wednesday, but the high will creep up to 79º F on Thursday. Winds will be around 10 mph from the North Northeast on Wednesday, and about 6 mph from the South Southeast on Thursday. 

Friday will be iffy. There is a chance of scattered thunderstorms, about 63% chance of precipitation. The high will remain around 76º F with a 9 mph wind from the Southest. 

The weekend is looking good, partly cloudy on each day. On Saturday, there is a 24% chance of precipitation but a high of 81º F with a 6 mph Southeastern wind. Sunday could be the warmest day the teams see all week. The high is forecasted for 85º F with a 15% chance of precipitation. The wind will be 8 mph from the West. 

There is a chance of showers for the Monday practice, 37% chance of precipitation with the high dropping to about 80º F.

Who will participate in Rookie Orientation and the Refresher?

Well... everyone has completed the rookie orientation and refresher program between a test held last October and the Indianapolis 500 test held last month. Because everyone is set, there will be no ROP or refresher session held during practice week. A two-hour window was set aside starting at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, but since there are no takers, that time has been converted to extended time for the entire field.

The Rookie Class

Seven rookies are entered in this year's race. 

Five of the rookies are regular participants in the NTT IndyCar Series. Three of those drivers compete for Chip Ganassi Racing: Kyffin Simpson, Linus Lundqvist and Marcus Armstrong. Tom Blomqvist competes full-time with Meyer Shank Racing. Christian Rasmussen is in a third entry for Ed Carpenter Racing, as Rasmussen makes his only oval start of the season while he runs the #20 Chevrolet on road and street courses. 

Kyle Larson and Nolan Siegel are the one-off rookie entries. 

Larson is making an attempt at The Double, competing in the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 in the same day. He is the first driver to make the attempt since Kurt Busch in 2014. Larson is driving the #17 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren. 

Siegel will drive the #18 Honda for Dale Coyne Racing. Siegel is full-time in the Indy Lights series, but he is running in the three IndyCar rounds that do not conflict with his Indy Lights responsibilities. 

Who is not there?

The top finisher from last year's Indianapolis 500 not entered in this year's race is Devlin DeFrancesco. The Canadian was 13th last year driving for Andretti Autosport.

Tony Kanaan was 16th in last year's race, which Kanaan has started would be his final IndyCar start. This will be the first time Kanaan is not entered for the Indianapolis 500 since 2001. The Brazilian is working as Arrow McLaren's sporting director, and he is in a reserve roles of sorts in case for any reason Kyle Larson is unable to participate in the Indianapolis 500. 

Another past Indianapolis 500 winner that will not be back will be Simon Pagenaud. Pagenaud, the 2019 "500" winner, has been sidelined since his accident in Mid-Ohio practice last July. He was 25th in last year's race after being caught in an accident on lap 193.

Benjamin Pedersen was the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year in 2023, but Pedersen is not back for 2024. This is the second consecutive year where the reigning Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year is not returning to the race and it is the fourth time in the last seven years the reigning Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year is not returning. 

David Malukas was supposed to be the driver of the #6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, but his wrist injury caused him to be released from his contract as Malukas is still recovering from his injury.

R.C. Enerson will not be back as he was unable to secure funding to bring Abel Motorsports back to the Speedway. Also missing is Stefan Wilson, who qualified for last year's race with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing before suffering a broken vertebra in a Monday post-qualifying practice accident. 

What trends should we know for the Fast 12 and the race?

No tow report speed matters. Last year, all three drivers that top the no tow report during practice made the Fast 12. Rinus VeeKay topped Wednesday and started second. Marcus Ericsson topped Thursday and qualified tenth. Takuma Sato topped Friday and started eighth. 

Since 2016, only once has a driver topped a no tow report and not started in the top 12. That was Jack Harvey in 2020, who topped the no tow report in Thursday practice that year. 

Will Power had the best average no tow report position over the three practice days last year, averaging third, and Power qualified 12th. VeeKay was second-best having an average of fourth but Josef Newgarden was third-best at 6.333 and Newgarden started 17th. Scott McLaughlin had the fifth-best at 6.667, and he started 14th. Kyle Kirkwood and Colton Herta were in the top ten of the no tow report all three days last year, and those two started 15th and 21st respectively. 

After being the overall fastest driver in all three practice days in 2022, Takuma Sato was overall fastest on Wednesday and Friday last year. Ericsson was fastest on Thursday. 

Seven of the top ten cars in average overall practice result made the Fast 12 last year, including six of the best seven. The other five cars ranked 14th (Alexander Rossi), 16th (Rinus VeeKay), 18th (Tony Kanaan), 19th (Felix Rosenqvist) and 22nd (Benjamin Pedersen).

Chevrolet took eight Fast 12 spots last year, the first time Chevrolet has taken majority of the Fast Nine/Fast 12 spots since 2016 when Chevrolet took six of the Fast Nine. All four Honda cars last year were Chip Ganassi Racing's entries. Ganassi took pole position with Álex Palou, put Dixon on row two, had Takuma Sato on row three, and Marcus Ericsson took a spot on row four.

There were four different teams in the Fast Six last year. Ganassi and Arrow McLaren each had two entries while Ed Carpenter Racing and A.J. Foyt Racing took the final two spots. In 2022, Ganassi and ECR swept the Fast Six with Ganassi holding a 4-2 edge.

Last year, Josef Newgarden's practice results were ninth, 20th and sixth. It was only the fourth time since 2012 that the Indianapolis 500 winners was not in the top five overall on any practice days. The others were Tony Kanaan, Juan Pablo Montoya and Hélio Castroneves. Since 2012, only twice has the Indianapolis 500 not been in the top ten for multiple practice days (Power and Castroneves).

Only once in the last 12 years has an Indianapolis 500 winner topped a pre-qualifying practice session. That was Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2014, who topped the Monday pre-qualifying practice day.

Who should be nervous about bumping?

Until proven otherwise, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing should be nervous about having one of its entries bumped from the race. RLLR took three of the bottom four spots last year, and its fourth entry qualified 30th. All three full-time cars were in the Last Chance Qualifying session, and Graham Rahal ended up being on the outside looking in.

With the April test significantly shortened due to rain, there is not a clear indication of where all the teams stand. During testing, the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing cars of Ryan Hunter-Reay and Conor Daly only ran a combined 29 laps. Juncos Hollinger Racing only completed 44 laps. The cars at the bottom were not necessarily an accurate representation of how the field shakes out. 

Going off of last year, Both Juncos Hollinger Racing cars were toward the bottom. Agustín Canapino qualified 27th and Callum Ilott was 28th. Ilott called an audible and switched to his backup car ahead of Friday practice, a move that likely prevented him from at least being in the last chance qualifying session. Dale Coyne Racing had Sting Ray Robb in the Last Chance Qualifying session, and DCR will have rookie Nolan Siegel and Katherine Legge, who has made one IndyCar start in the last ten years, as its drivers this year.

This will also be the first oval weekend for Tom Blomqvist, who has shown improvement on road and street courses this year, but will be diving into an entirely different animal in the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 

What will this race mean for the championship?

This is the second consecutive year the Indianapolis 500 will not pay double points to the drivers, but with the additional points for qualifying, 12 points for pole position descending by one point through the remaining Fast 12 qualifiers, the most points a driver can earn from this race is 65 points. 

Entering this year's Indianapolis 500, seven drivers are within 65 points of the championship lead. If Álex Palou qualifies for the race, only one of the top five in the championship could leave this race as the points leader. Palou is 12 points ahead of Will Power while Scott Dixon are Colton Herta are 25 points back. Felix Rosenqvist trails Palou by 45 points. 

In the outside chance Palou does not make the Indianapolis 500, Scott McLaughlin and Patricio O'Ward have a chance of leaving as the championship leader. Both McLaughlin and O'Ward are 64 points behind Palou, meaning the only way either could be the championship leader is if they won the race from pole position with the most laps led. 

The Indianapolis 500 winner has not won the championship since Dario Franchitti in 2010. In two of the years since the Indianapolis 500 winner was a part-time driver. In the last 13 seasons, the eventual champion has been runner-up in the "500" twice, had five top five finishes and seven top ten finishes. The average Indianapolis 500 finish for the last 13 champions is 10.692. Those five top five finishes have come in the last six seasons.

The average championship finish for the Indianapolis 500 winner since 2005 is 6.6842. If you remove the two cases of when a part-time driver won the race, the average championship finish for the "500" improves to 4.529.

The current 13-year streak without an Indianapolis 500 winner going on to win the championship is the longest since the 15-year streak from 1940 to 1954. However, the Indianapolis 500 was not run in four of those years due to World War II.