With an expected audience of 350,000 for the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 25th, Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials have declared the race to be a sellout, the first time since the historic 100th anniversary of the race in 2015. Some tickets remain, but so few that all are expected to be sold by Monday. The race itself has typically been televised in the Indianapolis market on a tape delay, but it will be shown live this year in that market.

Wait, IndyCar fans might be saying: The Speedway has 350,000 seats? Good question. They don’t, but the grandstands can hold a still-enormous 232,000 people. Add in another 20,000 who will be watching in suites, another 12,000 who are employees on race day, fans who will watch from the infield, the Fox TV crew, team employees in the garages and on pit lane, and “You can see how quickly we get to that 350,000 number,” said Doug Boles, president of both the Speedway and the IndyCar series, at a press conference today.

In tandem with this historic update, event organizers have also lifted the local broadcast delay of the race. Expanded coverage of the first Indy 500 to air on FOX starts on Sunday, May 25 at 10 a.m. ET across the country, including Indianapolis, with the green flag set for approximately 12:45 p.m. ET.

Penske Entertainment President and CEO Mark Miles proclaimed that this is a “terrific showcase for the IndyCar series and a great milestone to supercharge our relationship with Fox Sports. It is also absolutely a fitting tribute to the continued leadership and investment of Roger Penske.” This is the first year of a multi-year contract with Fox, and Roger Penske is the owner of both the track and the series. Billionaire Penske, 88, is expected to be on his usual perch for IndyCar races, on top of a pit box helping with strategy for his three-car team, which includes Josef Newgarden, who is hoping to do something never before done in the Indy 500, and that’s win three of them in a row.

“I love living here for three weeks. I almost wish it was longer,” Newgarden said. “It’s definitely one of my favorite times of the year, if not the favorite. It just gets better when you win it. We have an opportunity to make history, which would be tremendous.”

This year, there are multiple solid story lines to follow between now and the race, one of them being NASCAR Cup driver, and past champion, Kyle Larson, who will attempt for the second year in a row to be the first driver since Tony Stewart, in 2001, to complete all 500 miles of the Indy 500, and all 600 miles of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Larson tried it last year, but a rain delay at the 500 had him board the private jet to North Carolina too late to race in the 600. Like last year, he’s driving for Arrow McLaren at Indy and for Rick Hendrick’s NASCAR team at Charlotte.

The rain delay that made Larson miss the 600 last year meant that he earned no season points for that day; this year, Hendrick has made it clear that Larson will be at the 600, even if it means getting yanked out of the IndyCar mid-race. Should that happen, and likely only would with another rain delay, Indy winner Tony Kanaan will be standing by.

In practice for the 500, there had been no serious crashes, and only one minor one, until today, when Chip Ganassi Racing driver Kyffin Simpson crashed hard into the turn 4 outside wall, getting airborne and very nearly flipping before landing upright, and sliding down into the inside wall. Simpson was shaken but uninjured, but the car suffered a lot of damage, meaning Ganassi Racing must get the backup car ready for qualifying on Saturday and Sunday.

Another storyline to watch is another attempt by Helio Castroneves to win his fifth Indy 500, which has never been done. Castroneves, who is semi-retired from racing, will be in the Meyer Shank Racing car, run by the team that gave Castroneves his last victory at the Speedway.

More things to watch: Can anyone stop Alex Palou? The Spaniard has won four of the five IndyCar races so far this year, with his only loss coming at Long Beach to Kyle Kirkwood. Also, Pato O’Ward, who drives for Arrow McLaren, was leading last year’s race until the very last lap, when Newgarden seemed to come from nowhere to pass him. The TV coverage caught a devastated O’Ward on pit road after the race, and his fans think Indy owes him one.

And finally, 33 cars will start the Indianapolis 500, not 34, as a reporter who asked Boles whether or not the track will make an exception, as it has before, and let all 34 cars entered this year in the race. Absolutely not, Boles replied, “Not as long as I’m the president here.” So one car will go home after this weekend, and as Boles pointed out, some very big names over the years have failed to make the race.

Saturday, televised coverage from the track will begin at 9:30 a.m. on Fox Sports 1, with coverage throughout the day shifting to Fox Sports 2 at 1:30, and then at 4 p.m., to the Fox network. Sunday, coverage will air on the Fox network from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. As mentioned, coverage of the race on May 25th will begin on Fox at 10 a.m. ET, with the green flag scheduled for 12:45 p.m. Fans who want to watch Larson’s performance at the NASCAR race in Charlotte will need Amazon Prime, which will televise the next five NASCAR races.

Kyle Larson’s barnstorming begins this weekend when he undertakes a trying commute between three racetracks in two national motorsports series.

Larson is bidding to become the fifth driver to complete the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. To accomplish the feat, Larson will miss NASCAR All-Star Race preparations Friday and Saturday at North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, to focus on Indy 500 practice and qualifying at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

After attempting to qualify for the field of 33 for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” on Sunday at more than 230 mph in an IndyCar, Larson will hustle to the Indianapolis airport for a flight to tiny North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina, where he will race against the Cup Series’ best for $1 million in the NASCAR All-Star Race.

Larson will return to Indy for Monday practice, spend Tuesday in New York on a media tour and bounce between Indy and Charlotte Motor Speedway three times from Friday to Sunday ahead of the Coca-Cola 600.

It’s a daunting journey, but Larson is ready for the harried itinerary.

The Hendrick Motorsports star has squeezed in several dozen dirt races around his annual NASCAR schedule of 38 Cup Series weekends for the past decade.

“Yeah, I mean honestly it just feels like another week for me,” Larson said. “If anything, it’s a little easier of a week than normal.”

That’s in part because Indy 500 qualifying will end an hour later this year, so Larson will be unable to run for the pole position at North Wilkesboro, even if he were to advance to the final round of six drivers.

He already will be on the way to North Wilkesboro as a favorite, along with defending series champion Joey Logano, who led 199 of 200 laps to win last year’s NASCAR All-Star Race. Larson led 145 laps to win the 2023 All-Star Race debut at North Wilkesboro.

After the runaway wins, NASCAR has spiced up this year’s race by adding 50 laps to the distance and a random caution flag that will bunch up the field.

The format changes don’t faze Larson, who has won three of the past six All-Star Races, nor does the lack of track time. He missed practice and qualifying for last year’s All-Star Race and then drove from last to fourth on the recently repaved track.

“I think you could plug any of us in without practice, and by Lap 10 you’re going to be up to speed,” he said. “Last year was probably more of a disadvantage because I hadn’t made a single lap on that surface, but we were able to move forward right off the bat. So, hopefully we’ll have an opportunity to win like we did last year.”

Justin Allgaier will practice and qualify Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet, but the team will skip Saturday’s 75-lap heat races that set the lineup for Sunday’s main event because Larson will start from the rear for using a replacement driver Friday.

Coming off a dominant victory May 11 at Kansas Speedway, Larson leads the points standings with three wins – making him even more confident of handling his jet-setting lifestyle.

“Every year, there’s one or two weekends where it’s either late nights or cutting it close to making it to a dirt race because practice and qualifying got done later in NASCAR,” Larson said. “This week and next week feel pretty normal to me.”

But what he’s trying to do is far from normal. He crashed Friday — after wrecking last month in a test at Indy — while trying to get up to speed with the extra horsepower that he will have for Indy 500 qualifying.

“Obviously it’s tricky. I spun,” Larson said after leaving the Indy care center. “I don’t know. Kind of caught off guard a little bit there, but I think we’ll be fine. I tend to get over things pretty quickly. I know I spun but my balance felt pretty close to being good.”

Last year, his attempt at the feat known as “The Double” was scuttled because the Indy 500 was delayed four hours by rain, preventing him from racing in a rain-shortened event at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“It’s something that not many people have gotten the opportunity to do and it’s a challenging day of racing,” he said. “I love the challenge. I’ve looked up to a lot of the guys that have done it, and you want to add your name to the record book somehow. Hopefully, it all goes well, and we can complete ‘The Double’ and live out a dream, but also try and do a good job with it.”

Fresh start

Harrison Burton will be making his All-Star Race debut Sunday, even though he last raced the Cup Series in the 2024 season finale. After three years in the No. 21 Ford, Burton lost his ride with Wood Brothers Racing and dropped to the Xfinity Series.

But he was guaranteed a spot in the All-Star Race because of his victory at Daytona International Speedway last August, so Rick Ware Racing hired Burton to drive its No. 51 Ford at North Wilkesboro in a one-off deal.

“You kind of never know if an opportunity will come and having an automatic bid into the All-Star Race is such a big deal to me,” Burton said. “Especially how my story has gone with the ups and downs. This is such a cool moment for me. I really wanted to make this deal work out, and I’m really happy it did.”

Title barometer

The All-Star Race winner has gone on to win the Cup championship in three of the past five years (Chase Elliott in 2020, Larson in ’21, Logano last year), which adds another layer to the race’s prestige. The select field will feature 23 drivers (20 qualified with wins, two transfer from a warmup race and the final slot is a fan vote winner).

“Just being a part of the race against some of the biggest names in the series is big and important,” said Team Penske’s Austin Cindric, who missed last year’s main event. “It’s not a points race but there’s a lot of cash on the line and definitely a cool title to go with it.”

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Kyle Larson’s barnstorming begins this weekend when he undertakes a trying commute between three racetracks in two national motorsports series.

Larson is bidding to become the fifth driver to complete the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. To accomplish the feat, Larson will miss NASCAR All-Star Race preparations Friday and Saturday at North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, to focus on Indy 500 practice and qualifying at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

After attempting to qualify for the field of 33 for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” on Sunday at more than 230 mph in an IndyCar, Larson will hustle to the Indianapolis airport for a flight to tiny North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina, where he will race against the Cup Series’ best for $1 million in the NASCAR All-Star Race.

Larson will return to Indy for Monday practice, spend Tuesday in New York on a media tour and bounce between Indy and Charlotte Motor Speedway three times from Friday to Sunday ahead of the Coca-Cola 600.

It’s a daunting journey, but Larson is ready for the harried itinerary.

The Hendrick Motorsports star has squeezed in several dozen dirt races around his annual NASCAR schedule of 38 Cup Series weekends for the past decade.

“Yeah, I mean honestly it just feels like another week for me,” Larson said. “If anything, it’s a little easier of a week than normal.”

That’s in part because Indy 500 qualifying will end an hour later this year, so Larson will be unable to run for the pole position at North Wilkesboro, even if he were to advance to the final round of six drivers.

He already will be on the way to North Wilkesboro as a favorite, along with defending series champion Joey Logano, who led 199 of 200 laps to win last year’s NASCAR All-Star Race. Larson led 145 laps to win the 2023 All-Star Race debut at North Wilkesboro.

After the runaway wins, NASCAR has spiced up this year’s race by adding 50 laps to the distance and a random caution flag that will bunch up the field.

The format changes don’t faze Larson, who has won three of the past six All-Star Races, nor does the lack of track time. He missed practice and qualifying for last year’s All-Star Race and then drove from last to fourth on the recently repaved track.

“I think you could plug any of us in without practice, and by Lap 10 you’re going to be up to speed,” he said. “Last year was probably more of a disadvantage because I hadn’t made a single lap on that surface, but we were able to move forward right off the bat. So, hopefully we’ll have an opportunity to win like we did last year.”

Justin Allgaier will practice and qualify Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet, but the team will skip Saturday’s 75-lap heat races that set the lineup for Sunday’s main event because Larson will start from the rear for using a replacement driver Friday.

Coming off a dominant victory May 11 at Kansas Speedway, Larson leads the points standings with three wins – making him even more confident of handling his jet-setting lifestyle.

“Every year, there’s one or two weekends where it’s either late nights or cutting it close to making it to a dirt race because practice and qualifying got done later in NASCAR,” Larson said. “This week and next week feel pretty normal to me.”

But what he’s trying to do is far from normal. He crashed Friday — after wrecking last month in a test at Indy — while trying to get up to speed with the extra horsepower that he will have for Indy 500 qualifying.

“Obviously it’s tricky. I spun,” Larson said after leaving the Indy care center. “I don’t know. Kind of caught off guard a little bit there, but I think we’ll be fine. I tend to get over things pretty quickly. I know I spun but my balance felt pretty close to being good.”

Last year, his attempt at the feat known as “The Double” was scuttled because the Indy 500 was delayed four hours by rain, preventing him from racing in a rain-shortened event at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“It’s something that not many people have gotten the opportunity to do and it’s a challenging day of racing,” he said. “I love the challenge. I’ve looked up to a lot of the guys that have done it, and you want to add your name to the record book somehow. Hopefully, it all goes well, and we can complete ‘The Double’ and live out a dream, but also try and do a good job with it.”

Fresh start

Harrison Burton will be making his All-Star Race debut Sunday, even though he last raced the Cup Series in the 2024 season finale. After three years in the No. 21 Ford, Burton lost his ride with Wood Brothers Racing and dropped to the Xfinity Series.

But he was guaranteed a spot in the All-Star Race because of his victory at Daytona International Speedway last August, so Rick Ware Racing hired Burton to drive its No. 51 Ford at North Wilkesboro in a one-off deal.

“You kind of never know if an opportunity will come and having an automatic bid into the All-Star Race is such a big deal to me,” Burton said. “Especially how my story has gone with the ups and downs. This is such a cool moment for me. I really wanted to make this deal work out, and I’m really happy it did.”

Title barometer

The All-Star Race winner has gone on to win the Cup championship in three of the past five years (Chase Elliott in 2020, Larson in ’21, Logano last year), which adds another layer to the race’s prestige. The select field will feature 23 drivers (20 qualified with wins, two transfer from a warmup race and the final slot is a fan vote winner).

“Just being a part of the race against some of the biggest names in the series is big and important,” said Team Penske’s Austin Cindric, who missed last year’s main event. “It’s not a points race but there’s a lot of cash on the line and definitely a cool title to go with it.”

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

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INDIANAPOLIS — NASCAR star Kyle Larson crashed for the second time in the lead-up to the Indianapolis 500 on Friday when he lost control of his Arrow McLaren entry and hit the wall in the final practice session before this weekend’s qualifying runs.

The damage was relatively minor, though, and it only took Larson’s team about an hour to make repairs to the front and rear of the car. That allowed him to get in some precious laps with about 30 minutes left in the 6-hour session.

Larson, who also crashed on April 24 during an open test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is taking his second shot at trying to complete “the Double” by running the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. Larson finished 18th in the rain-delayed 500 last year, but he never ran a lap in the NASCAR race in Charlotte when rain there ended the race early.

“Obviously it’s tricky. I spun,” Larson said after leaving the care center. “I don’t know. Kind of caught off guard a little bit there, but I think we’ll be fine. I tend to get over things pretty quickly. I know I spun but my balance felt pretty close to being good.”

Larson waited until there were about 90 minutes left in Friday’s practice, which was marked by high temperatures and gusty winds that made for treacherous conditions, before trying his first qualifying simulation. He wasn’t far into the run when his No. 17 car went skittering up the track, bumped nose-first into the wall and then spun around and hit it again.

The crash came several hours after Kyffin Simpson hit the wall hard and nearly flipped his car.

Larson’s damaged car was put on a hoist and taken to Gasoline Alley, where Arrow McLaren went to work fixing it. Along with the late laps he got Friday, the team will have an hour-long practice Saturday morning before qualifying begins at 11 a.m. EDT.

“I’m sure at this point, we’ll want to get out there and shake it down,” Larson said. “If not, you still get time to make a few runs tomorrow. The track conditions will be better and I’m sure we’ll pack a little extra downforce to be safe that first run, and get a run in. Not too worried about it.”

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

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