How to watch the Indy 500 on NBC Sports

May is for racing. And that means the 103rd running Indianapolis 500 on NBC.

On May 26, fans will be able to watch IndyCar’s flagship race on NBC and the NBC Sports app, not to mention all the IndyCar content leading up it, whether it’s on NBCSN or NBC Sports Gold.

Mike Tirico will also be the host for NBC Sports’ inaugural coverage of one of the biggest spectacles in racing, while he’ll be joined by some of racing’s biggest names in Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick and more.

The schedule for this and week and next is below.

Date	Time (ET)	Event	Platform
May 14	11 a.m.	Indy 500 Practice	NBC Sports Gold
May 15	11 a.m.	Indy 500 Practice	NBC Sports Gold
May 16	11 a.m.	Indy 500 Practice	NBC Sports Gold
May 17	11 a.m.	Indy 500 Practice	NBC Sports Gold
May 18	8 a.m.	Indy 500 Practice	NBC Sports Gold
	11 a.m.	Indy 500 Qualifying	NBC Sports Gold
	5 p.m.	Indy 500 Qualifying	NBCSN/NBC Sports Gold
May 19	10:15 a.m.	Indy 500 Practice	NBC Sports Gold
May 24	11 a.m.	Indy 500 Carb Day	NBCSN/NBC Sports Gold
	1 p.m.	IndyLights – Firestone 100	NBCSN/NBC Sports Gold
	2 p.m.	Indy 500 Carb Day	NBCSN/NBC Sports Gold
May 25	11:45 a.m.	Indy 500 Parade	NBC Sports Gold
May 27	7:30 p.m.	Red Carpet/Indy 500 Victory Banquet	NBC Sports Gold

When is Indy 500 qualifying?

Find out who will lead the field of 33 to the green flag for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 with qualifying at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 18 through Sunday, May 19.

What is Carb Day and when is it?

It’s racing. It’s rock and roll. It’s Carb Day! On Friday, May 24 Indianapolis Motor Speedway will throw a party filled with racing and music, featuring the final practice for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500, the Freedom 100, the Indy 500 Pit Stop Competition, and the Carb Day Concert, headlined by Foreigner and Kool & the Gang.

When is the Indy 500 and how do I watch?

The 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 will take place on Sunday, May 26. Live coverage begins at 11 a.m. ET on NBC and streaming on the NBC Sports app.

IndyCar Pass on NBC Sports Gold

IndyCar fans can also watch every qualifying, practice, race, and more, live and commercial-free and on-demand with the NBC Sports Gold IndyCar pass.

Qualifying for the Indy 500 is never an easy task, especially for a new driver and team, and with 36 cars vying for 33 starting positions last weekend, 34-year-old rookie Ben Hanley knew there was a chance he and his DragonSpeed team would not make the show.

“I wouldn’t say we were very confident, but we wanted to [make the field],” Hanley told NBC Sports. “The biggest thing we were trying to achieve was to not be on track on Sunday in the shootout because it only takes one mistake or one little issue and that’s it, you’re not in the race.”

But Hanley would not have to worry about being bumped from the field. He qualified 27th after making three attempts on Day 1, which was enough to lock the No. 81 team into the show. Not too shabby for a driver and team making only their third NTT IndyCar Series start.

THE 103RD INDIANAPOLIS 500: Click here for how to watch, full daily schedules

“That last run everything just came together,” Hanley said. “We trimmed out a little bit more and found a good balance of trim and grip over four [qualifying] laps and it was enough to get us through.

“It was a huge relief to get through in P27. A massive achievement for everybody involved.”

Indeed it was a massive achievement, as DragonSpeed is one of the smallest teams in the garage, with no corporate sponsors and a tiny team of around 20 personnel. Many of those were picked up by the team just a week before qualifying, when members of the team’s regular crew were denied entry into the United States due to visa issues after leaving a sports car race in Italy.

“It was all down to the team organizing some people who were in and around Indianapolis who weren’t needed for the race weekend,” Hanley said. “Obviously, I don’t think many people are going to refuse the chance to work on a car that’s trying to qualify for the 500.”

Though the team made its first Indy 500 on Day 1 of qualifying, the DragonSpeed team did not spend Saturday night out late celebrating. Instead, Hanley said the extra time was spent preparing for the race.

“We went straight on to race prep then for the car, so Sunday was a good day for the guys to take time to prep the car into the race spec and get everything sorted out in a nice, organized manner.”

Following the Indy 500, DragonSpeed will run two other races this season at Road America and Mid-Ohio. The team is hopeful that a good run at Indy will result in an opportunity to run a bigger schedule next season and attract sponsors.

Hanley stated that though he’s happy to have made the Indy 500 starting grid for the first time in his career, the magnitude of his feat hasn’t hit him yet.

“It hasn’t really soaked in yet,” he said. “I think it will soak in on Sunday when we roll out to the grid.

“It was such a huge relief to not be involved in Bump Day. Even just watching [Bump Day] it was intense, especially with the weather. I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to be involved in that.”

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