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| We are down to the final days prior to the Indianapolis 500 |
Coverage
Time: Coverage begins at 11:00 a.m. ET on Sunday May 27th. Green flag at 12:21 p.m. ET.
TV Channel: ABC.
Announcers: Allen Bestwick, Scott Goodyear and Eddie Cheever in the booth with Rick DeBruhl, Dr. Jerry Punch and Jon Beekhius working the pit lane.
Indianapolis 500 Weekend Schedule
Carb Day:
Practice - 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. ET (1 hour). NBCSN will have live coverage.
Pit Stop Competition - 1:30-3:30 p.m. ET (2 hours). NBCSN will have live coverage.
Sunday:
Race- 12:21 p.m. ET (200 laps).
Indianapolis 500 Weekend Schedule
Carb Day:
Practice - 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. ET (1 hour). NBCSN will have live coverage.
Pit Stop Competition - 1:30-3:30 p.m. ET (2 hours). NBCSN will have live coverage.
Sunday:
Race- 12:21 p.m. ET (200 laps).
Carb Day Practice
The traditional Carb Day practice takes place on Friday May 25th and once again it will be the final time for teams to work on their race cars before race day on Sunday.
Last year, Hélio Castroneves and Takuma Sato were the top two drivers in the Carb Day practice session and in the race Sato would beat Castroneves to the finish line for the victory in the 101st Indianapolis 500. Three other drivers who were in the top ten of that Carb Day practice session would finish in the top ten in the race with those three drivers being Tony Kanaan, Alexander Rossi and Juan Pablo Montoya. Fernando Alonso and Ryan Hunter-Reay were both in the top ten on Carb Day but had engine failures, Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden each retired because of accidents and Graham Rahal finished 12th.
In the post-qualifying Monday practice, Sage Karam was the fastest driver at 226.461 MPH, almost a quarter of a second ahead of Tony Kanaan. Ryan Hunter-Reay was the fastest Honda in third, 0.2901 seconds behind Karam. Charlie Kimball had an impressive session and was fourth fastest with Alexander Rossi, who suffered a tire puncture on his qualifying run that left him 32nd on the grid, fifth in the session.
Will Power was the top Penske driver in sixth with Hélio Castroneves right behind him in seventh. Marco Andretti found himself in the top ten for another session with Pennsylvanian in eighth. Zachary Claman De Melo's first Indianapolis 500 continues to be swell and he was ninth fastest on Monday while Scott Dixon rounded out the top ten ahead of Sébastien Bourdais.
Stefan Wilson and Kyle Kaiser had a respectable Monday in 12th and 13th both within a half-second of Karam's top time with pole-sitter Ed Carpenter in 14th with J.R. Hildebrand in 15th.
A few other notable drivers in Monday's practice session was Graham Rahal in 17th after a rough qualifying weekend, Danica Patrick was 19th with Takuma Sato in 23rd and Robert Wickens in 25th after having an accident in the middle of back straightaway after completing only three laps during the session. Josef Newgarden was 28th while Simon Pagenaud was the slowest driver on Monday.
In last year's Monday practice Max Chilton and Ed Jones were the top two drivers and Jones and Chilton finished third and fourth in the race. Sato was fifth fastest in last year's post-qualifying Monday practice.
Can Honda Repeat Its 2012 Performance?
Chevrolet took the top four positions in qualifying and the American manufacture had nine of the first 12 positions. Andretti Autosport was shut out of the Fast Nine for the first time since 2011. The best Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing car and the best Schmidt Peterson Motorsports car are both on row six. The final six cars on the grid are Hondas. After two consecutive years with Honda entering as the favorite, it appears the pendulum has swung to Chevrolet.
However, in 2012, Chevrolet took eight of the top nine and had nine of the top 12 times. The best Chip Ganassi Racing entry was 12th. The best Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was in 19th. It appeared the race was set to be a battle between three Chevrolets from Team Penske and three Chevrolets from Andretti Autosport. In the race, the Ganassi Hondas of Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti were first and second at the halfway points. Marco Andretti did lead a race-high 59 laps but Honda teams led a combined 112 laps and the next highest number of laps led by a Chevrolet entry was 15 laps by pole-sitter Ryan Briscoe. Nine of the 16 lead lap finishers that year were Honda entries. In the closing laps it was a three-car battle between Franchitti, Dixon and Takuma Sato for the victory. Dixon led 53 laps in the race while Sato led 31 laps and Franchitti led 23 laps on his way to victory.
Ganassi took the top two positions in thnexte race in 2012 with three other Hondas from two additional teams also making it into the top ten. Dale Coyne Racing's Justin Wilson finished seventh with Ganassi's Charlie Kimball in eighth and Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports' Townsend Bell coming home in ninth. All five of Honda's top ten finishers in that year's race started on row four or further back.
Freedom 100
The Carb Day tradition of the Freedom 100 continues and the 16th edition of the race features eight entries.
Patricio O'Ward enters as the championship leader with 145 points, one ahead of his Andretti Autosport teammate Colton Herta. O'Ward will be the fourth Mexican driver to attempt the Freedom 100 and a Mexican driver has never finished in the top five in this race. Herta made his Freedom 100 debut last year but his race did not make it through the first lap after contact with teammate Ryan Norman. Norman is back for this year's race. He is fifth in the championship on 105 points. Dalton Kellett has finished third the last two years in the Freedom 100. The Canadian is seventh in the championship on 87 points.
Santiago Urrutia returns for his third Freedom 100 start. He finished fifth last year and he is third in the championship on 139 points. Aaron Telitz is coming off a pair of podium finishes in the IMS road course races and he finished second last year in the Freedom 100 behind Matheus Leist. Telitz is sixth in the championship on 98 points. Victor Franzoni finds himself fourth in the championship on 119 points. Davey Hamilton, Jr. will make his Freedom 100 debut driving for Team Pelfrey. It is his first Indy Lights appearance since the 2016 season finale at Laguna Seca.
Eight different drivers have won the last eight Freedom 100s. Four different teams have won the last four Freedom 100s. This will be the smallest grid in the history of the event. The previous smallest grid size was 11 cars in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
The Freedom 100 will take place at 12:30 p.m. ET on Friday May 25th.
Carb Night Classic From Indianapolis Raceway Park
After a year off, the Pro Mazda and U.S. F2000 series are back at Indianapolis Raceway Park for races during the Carb Night Classic.
Through six Pro Mazda races Exclusive Autosport's Parker Thompson leads the championship with 150 points with the Canadian having two victories, two runner-up finishes and two fifth-place finishes. Juncos Racing's Rinus VeeKay trails Thompson by 22 points and VeeKay is eight points ahead of teammate Carlos Cunha. RP Motorsport's Harrison Scott has won two of the last three races and the British driver heads into his first oval race fourth in the championship on 106 points. David Malukas rounds out the top five on 105 points while reigning U.S. F2000 champion Oliver Askew sits on 102 points in sixth.
Askew won last year in the only U.S. F2000 oval race at Iowa ahead of VeeKay while Cunha finished third in the only Pro Mazda race on last year's schedule at Gateway.
Kyle Kirkwood and Alexandre Baron each have two victories and a runner-up finish this season but Kirkwood holds the championship lead on 106 points as he has a fifth place finish to Baron's 22nd, leaving the American 13 points clear of the Frenchman. José Sierra has two podium finishes this season but he is 42 points behind Kirkwood in the championship. Igor Fraga and Julian van der Watt round out the top five on 55 points and 54 points respectively.
Darren Keane is a point outside the top five with Calvin Ming on 49 points in seventh. Lucas Kohl and Kory Enders are tied on 45 points while Rasmus Lindh rounds on the 41 points.
One storyline to check out in the U.S. F2000 race is Aaron Telitz, who will compete only hours after he will have run the Freedom 100 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Telitz will drive the #14 Mazda for ArmsUp Motorsports.
The U.S. F2000 race will lead off the night at 6:05 p.m. ET on Friday May 25th and the race is scheduled for 75 laps. The 90-lap Pro Mazda race will take place at 7:05 p.m. ET.
Fun Facts
This will be the eighth Indianapolis 500 to take place on May 27th (1972, 1979, 1984, 1990, 2001, 2007 and 2012). The winners of those races are Mark Donohue, Rick Mears, Rick Mears, Arie Luyendyk, Hélio Castroneves, Dario Franchitti and Dario Franchitti.
Two other IndyCar races have been held on May 27th. Tom Kincaid won the Prestolite Trophy Race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1910 and Gil de Ferran won at Nazareth in 2000.
Last year's Indianapolis 500 was the first to average under 160 MPH since 2009.
Last year's race was the first to have the final lead change not occur in the final four laps since 2010.
The last six Indianapolis 500s have had the six most lead changes in the event's history.
This year's grid features...
14 Americans.
Four Britons.
Three Brazilians.
Two Frenchmen.
Two Canadians.
Two Australians.
Two Colombians.
One New Zealander.
One Japanese.
One Spaniard and...
One Emirati.
Ed Carpenter, Josef Newgarden, Gabby Chaves, Jack Harvey and Matheus Leist could become the first driver to win the Freedom 100 and the Indianapolis 500.
Will Power, Simon Pagenaud, Sébastien Bourdais, Marco Andretti, Ed Jones and Kyle Kaiser look to join Alex Lloyd, Jack Harvey and Dean Stoneman as the only drivers to win both on the oval and road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The pole-sitter has failed to win the last eight Indianapolis 500s.
The only time the driver who led the most laps has gone on to win the Indianapolis 500 in the DW12-era was Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2014.
The average starting position for an Indianapolis 500 winner is 7.58 with a median of five.
Last year, Takuma Sato became the first Indianapolis 500 winner in the DW12-era to win the race from inside the top ten on the grid. Sato started fourth in last year's race.
The average number of cautions in the Indianapolis 500 is 7.79 with a median of eight. The average number of caution laps is 44.418 with a median of 44.
This will be the 69th Indianapolis 500 victory for Firestone.
This will be the 18th Indianapolis 500 victory for Dallara. Dallara is the all-time leader in Indianapolis 500 victories for chassis manufactures.
If Honda wins it will be the manufacture's 13th Indianapolis 500 victory, breaking a tie with Miller for second all-time in engine manufacture victories.
If Chevrolet wins it will be the manufacture's tenth Indianapolis 500 victory, putting it level with Cosworth for fourth all-time.
Possible Milestones:
Hélio Castroneves is one top five finish away from moving into sole possession of fourth-most top five finish all-time.
Ryan Hunter-Reay needs to lead 170 laps to reach the 1,500 laps led milestone.
Simon Pagenaud needs to lead 92 laps to reach the 1,000 laps led milestone.
Takuma Sato needs to lead 33 laps to reach the 500 laps led milestone.
Graham Rahal needs to lead 40 laps to reach the 400 laps led milestone.
Ed Carpenter needs to lead 90 laps to reach the 400 laps led milestone.
Predictions
I normally don't pick a winner for the Indianapolis 500 but this year I will make an exception because I will take Danica Patrick to win the race because if she does win I look good, she is at 20/1 odds so that could be a good pay day and if she doesn't win it now then she will likely never win it... because she is retiring. There will be over 24 lead changes. Caution laps will be less than the average. Alexander Rossi finishes at least 20 points better than his starting position. At least two Penske drivers finish outside the top ten. Fewer than three Honda teams will suffer engine failures. Sleeper: Charlie Kimball.
