Rain could cause some delays at the 2026 Indy 500, but the crew is prepared and have a plan to get the track dry if necessary.
How long does it take to dry the track at the Indy 500? This is the multi-step process to dry the race surface
It wouldn’t be the first time that a race was stopped or delayed in Indianapolis on Memorial Day weekend. The forecast is calling for light rain early in the morning and possible showers in the afternoon. Fans and drivers are hoping for sunshine at the 2026 Indy 500, but the forecast is calling for clouds and humidity.
INDY 500: Alright, here we go. A few light, spotty showers are possible for the first part of the day today. We could see some dry windows long enough to run the Indianapolis 500. More showers will develop later this afternoon between 3 and 4 pm. None of the thunderstorms are… pic.twitter.com/zJ7sSroq8k
— Ryan Morse (@RyanMorseWx) May 24, 2026
How long does it take to dry the track at the Indy 500?
The track drying team have years of experience and have recently improved the time and efficiency when they need to dry the track. It’s an impressive operation and consists of several steps to get the moisture off of the racing surface.
They begin with trucks driving around the track to get the water off the track. The next step is for a sweeper to go on to the track to suck up the water and remove it from the surface. Then trucks go around the track with jet blowers to heat up the surface to remove any remaining water. The final step consists in using the NASCAR Air Titan system, which is an advanced track-drying process that significantly reduces rain delays at race events.
Air Titan 2.0 will be more contained than Air Titan 1. #ASKMRN #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/J0ly0iiGK8
— Motor Racing Network (@MRNRadio) March 28, 2014
So, if it rains this year at the Indy 500, the track drying team should have the race surface dry and ready to go in a little over an hour, that’s less than half the time it used to take. Fingers crossed none of this will be necessary, but the Indy track staff are ready just in case.
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