The 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 is Sunday May 24, 2026. Green flag drops at 12:45 PM Eastern. Fox Sports has the broadcast. Practice opens at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Wednesday May 13. Qualifying weekend runs Saturday May 16 and Sunday May 17. The Last Row Shootout for positions 31 to 33 runs Sunday afternoon. Carb Day, the final practice session before the race, is Friday May 22. The Indianapolis 500 remains the largest single-day sporting event in the United States with attendance projected at 350,000 paid plus credentialed staff.
Pato O'Ward enters race week as the favorite at 6 to 1 according to BetMGM. The Mexican driver finished second in 2024 and won at Long Beach in April. He sits second in the IndyCar championship behind Alex Palou. Palou is 7 to 1 to win the 500. Palou won his first Indy 500 in 2025 and chases a second straight victory. Josef Newgarden is 9 to 1 attempting to become the first three-peat winner since Helio Castroneves in 2002. Castroneves himself returns for his 24th start at age 51.
Kyle Larson runs the Memorial Day double again with Hendrick Motorsports and Arrow McLaren. Larson takes the green at Indianapolis at 12:45 PM Eastern, lands by helicopter at Concord Regional, and runs the Coca-Cola 600 starting at 6 PM Eastern. Larson failed to complete the double in 2024 because of weather delays at Charlotte and crashed at Indy. He returned in 2025 and finished 18th at Indianapolis with a top 10 at Charlotte. The 2026 attempt is his third try.
Andretti Global brings six cars including 2017 winner Takuma Sato and 2014 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay returning for one off duty. Marcus Ericsson, the 2022 winner, drives the Andretti number 28. Colton Herta drives the 26. Kyle Kirkwood drives the 27. Hunter-Reay drives the 98 in his retirement run. Andretti has not won the 500 since Ericsson in 2022. Team Penske brings Newgarden in the 2, Will Power in the 12, and Scott McLaughlin in the 3. Penske has won the 500 a record 19 times.
Chip Ganassi Racing brings Palou in the 10, Scott Dixon in the 9, and Marcus Armstrong in the 11. Dixon, the 2008 winner, makes his 24th start. He has the most poles in 500 history with five. Ganassi added Kyffin Simpson to the lineup for road and street courses. The fifth Ganassi entry for Indy is filled by Linus Lundqvist. Arrow McLaren brings O'Ward in the 5, Christian Lundgaard in the 7, and Nolan Siegel in the 6. Larson runs the McLaren 17 for the 500 only.
The 500 purse for 2026 is $19 million. The winner's share is approximately $4.4 million inclusive of contingency awards. The Borg Warner Trophy adds the winner's likeness in sterling silver. Penske Entertainment has invested $43 million in track upgrades since acquiring the speedway in 2019, including new lighting at Turn 3, refreshed pit lane, and a $9 million video board package installed for the 2026 race. The Hulman Terrace Club received a $7 million renovation completed in March.
Bump day pressure shifts to a deeper field this year. The 2026 entry list closed at 36 cars vying for 33 starting positions. Three drivers will go home. Hunter-Reay's seat with Andretti gives him no special protection. Sting Ray Robb returns with Juncos Hollinger Racing. Conor Daly is back with Dreyer and Reinbold. Stefan Wilson is in a Cusick Motorsports entry. The mathematical pressure of three-way bumping has not been seen since 2018.
Television numbers in 2025 averaged 6.1 million viewers on Fox, the highest since 2008. Streaming on Fox Sports app added 720,000 average minute audience. The race aired in 196 countries. The British Sky Sports broadcast averaged 1.4 million viewers, helped by Lando Norris's brother Oliver running a NASCAR Truck race the day before. International ticket sales for 2026 sit at 31,400 according to IMS sales data, up 18 percent from 2025.
The Coca-Cola 600 begins at Charlotte Motor Speedway at 6 PM Eastern May 24. Defending winner is Christopher Bell. Kyle Busch chases his 60th career Cup Series victory. Larson's challenge is to lead laps at both venues, an accomplishment unmatched in the modern era. Tony Stewart and Robby Gordon completed all 1,100 miles in 2001 and 2002 respectively but neither led at both. Race time at Charlotte averages four hours. Both events sit inside the Memorial Day window with the AAA travel forecast at a record 47.1 million Americans on the move that weekend.