Indy 500: Qualifying format: How to watch online and on TV Sunday
Final qualification for the 108th running of the Indy 500 will get underway from 12:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 19th, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
With last-chance qualifying set to begin on Sunday evening, we will soon know which drivers will take their place on the grid for next weekend’s Indy 500. Needless to say, there is a lot of high-octane action to take in before then.
You can watch a live stream of the 2024 Indy 500 Qualifying on FuboTV.
When does the 2024 Indy 500 Qualifying begin?
2024 Indy 500 Qualifying will begin on Sunday, May 19th. You can see the full list of broadcast times below:
- 12:00 - 2:00 p.m.: Practice for Fast 12 and Last Row Shootout cars
- 3:05 p.m.: Fast 12 qualifying
- 4:15 p.m.: Last Chance Qualifying
- 5:25 p.m.: Firestone Fast Six
How to watch the 2024 Indy 500 Qaulifying?
If you’re watching 2024 Indy 500 Qualifying on TV, you can find it on the following channels:
But remember you can also watch a live stream of the 2024 Indy 500 Qualifying on FuboTV.
What is the format for 2024 Indy 500 qualifying?
To be clear, there are several qualifying races - see below - with perhaps the biggest, Last Chance Qualifying, beginning at 4:15 p.m. ET. It will see Marcus Ericsson, Katherine Legge, Graham Rahal, and Nolan Siegel going head-to-head with one driver being eliminated. We then have the Firestone Six which begins at 5:25 p.m. ET and determines who will take pole position in the Indy 500 itself. On the grid, we will see NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson as he takes on 11 others with the hope of getting out front first. The Hendrick Motorsports star is of course about to become only the fifth driver to race the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same day.
That of course brings us to the other 11 drivers who are in the Fast 12. They are as follows: Will Power, Scott McLaughlin, Josef Newgarden, Alexander Rossi, Kyle Kirkwood, Felix Rosenqvist, Santino Ferrucci, Takuma Sato, Pato O’Ward, Rinus VeeKay and Ryan Hunter-Reay. In case you didn’t know, the remaining positions 13 through 30 were locked in during the first day of qualifying.
Now, in terms of how it all works, the first thing to know is that drivers must complete four laps around the 2.5-mile oval, and the best average speed wins the pole position. If you’re interested in history, the lap record was set by Arie Luyendyk back on May 12, 1996, with a lap time of 37.895 seconds and a top speed of 237.498 mph. One other important point to note is that of ‘turbo boost’. Available for the ‘Fast Friday’ practice that was as well as qualifying on Saturday and Sunday, it grants IndyCar teams approximately 100 horsepower more. What that translates to is an average speed of 235 mph across the four laps.