The 2026 Indianapolis 500 (branded as the 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge for sponsorship reasons) is an upcoming IndyCar Series race that will be held on Sunday, May 24, 2026, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. The race will be round seven of the NTT IndyCar Series season. The month of May activities formally begin with the Sonsio Grand Prix on the combined road course on May 9. The race will be televised on Fox. This will be the first "500" since the Fox Corporation acquired a one-third stake in IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway parent company Penske Entertainment in August 2025.
Practice will begin on Tuesday, May 12, and Time Trials will be held on May 16âÂÂ17. Carb Day, the traditional final day of practice, along with the Pit Stop Challenge, will take place on May 22. A full-field open test is planned for April 28âÂÂ29, which will include rookie orientation. ÃÂlex Palou is the defending winner, and three-time defending IndyCar Series champion.
The Indianapolis 500, commonly called the Indy 500, is held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a paved oval. First held in 1911, it is currently a points-paying race of the NTT IndyCar Series. The event is contested by "Indy cars", a formula of professional-level, single-seat, open cockpit, open-wheel, purpose-built race cars. The race is the most prestigious event of the IndyCar calendar, and one of the oldest and most important automobile races in the world. The race traditionally has a field of 33 cars.
According to Speedway president Doug Boles, track maintenance crews been investigating bumps in Turn 2 since 2019. During track evaluations prior to the 2025 race, the Turn 2 bump in question was considerably higher than in the past. The pavement was pressed in an attempt to reduce the severity. In July 2025, during the Brickyard 400, the severity of the bumps in Turn 2 were reported by drivers and crew chiefs during the track walk and all sessions.
On September 23, 2025, construction crews excavated the section of track in question. It was determined that bricks originally installed in 1909 (that had been paved over by asphalt in 1937) had expanded and split due to moisture, which raised the pavement. The damaged bricks were removed and a new base was applied. The section of the track was repaved, followed by diamond grinding to blend the new section with the adjacent asphalt. The track was allowed to cure for four weeks before the late October Speedway tests for Firestone.
Online financial services company Gainbridge signed an initial four-year deal for presenting sponsorship of the Indianapolis 500 from 2019 to 2022. A multi-year extension was signed in 2022. On November 6, 2025, Gainbridge signed another multi-year contract extension. Terms of the deal were undisclosed.
The 2026 Indianapolis 500 will be the seventh race of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season. ÃÂlex Palou won the season opener St. Petersburg. Josef Newgarden won at Phoenix, and Kyle Kirkwood won at Arlington. Palou won for the second time this season at Alabama. The season will continue at Long Beach, and the Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Rookie rules for the Indianapolis 500 include the mandate that a driver pass a supervised high-speed oval test before he/she is allowed to participate in the official Rookie Orientation Program (ROP) at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Approved venues for the initial high-speed oval track test include Texas Motor Speedway, HomesteadâÂÂMiami Speedway, and a few other select venues.
The Rookie Orientation Program at Indianapolis consists of three phases. For phase 1, each driver is required to complete ten laps between , while demonstrating satisfactory car control, proper racing line, and safe interaction with other cars on the circuit. The laps do not have to be consecutive. Phase 2 is fifteen laps between , and phase 3 is fifteen laps over . Veteran drivers that have not competed in an IndyCar oval race since the previous year's Indy 500 are required to take a refresher test. The refresher test consists of phase 2 and phase 3 of the aforementioned rookie test.
On October 20âÂÂ21, 2025, the Speedway organized private testing. ÃÂlex Palou (Ganassi) and Pato O'Ward (Arrow McLaren) participated in tire tests for Firestone, including evaluating the newly repaved section of track to remove bumps in turn 2. A new tire compound was developed in order to address weight balance issues stemming from the hybrid system first used at the Speedway in 2025. Alexander Rossi (ECR) and Takuma Sato (RLLR) tested brake and damper components for speedway-specific braking systems (used at Indianapolis and Nashville).
The series hosted a high-speed oval rookie evaluation test at Nashville Superspeedway on November 6, 2025. Two drivers participated: Dennis Hauger (Coyne) and Caio Collet (Foyt). No incidents were reported. Both drivers completed their evaluations and were approved to take the Rookie Orientation Program at the April Open Test at Indianapolis.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing conducted a private oval evaluation test for rookie driver Mick Schumacher at HomesteadâÂÂMiami Speedway on February 4, 2026. Schumacher, guided by driver coach Ryan Briscoe, took his first laps on an oval, completing 97 laps without incident. He posted a top lap of 194 mph.
A full-field open test is scheduled for April 28âÂÂ29, 2026.
All entries will utilize a spec Dallara DW12 chassis with the UAK-18 universal aero kit and the 2020-adopted aeroscreen. Honda (HRC US) and Chevrolet (Ilmor) are the engine providers. Firestone is the exclusive tire supplier. This will be the second year of hybrid energy recovery system powertrains at Indianapolis.
The official entry list is typically released in early May. Based on officially announced rides, as of March 17 there are currently 31 confirmed entries for the race. This includes 25 full-time IndyCar Series entries, and six one-off or "Indy-only" entries for:
Andretti Global is expected to add one additional "Indy-only" entry, bringing the tentative car/driver count to 32.
PREMA Racing currently has two Chevrolet engine leases for the 2026 IndyCar Series season, but is currently undergoing an ownership shake-up which has left the team in limbo regarding competing in any of the 2026 events. If PREMA is unable to participate, either A. J. Foyt Racing or Juncos Hollinger Racing have expressed willingness to roll out a third car to achieve the 33rd entry.
Colton Herta is competing full time in Formula 2 in 2026. However, since F2 has no races scheduled in May, Herta is attempting to put together a program to run with Andretti Global in the No. 98 entry. Also pursuing entries are: Jacob Abel, who failed to qualify in 2025, Devlin DeFrancesco, who raced full-time for RLL in 2025, Katherine Legge, the most recent female to have competed in the Indy 500 (2024), and Stefan Wilson, who last competed in 2023.
The race will be televised live by Fox in the second year of a multi-year contract. On February 18, 2026, Fox announced their primary broadcast team for the IndyCar season, with Will Buxton serving as lead commentator and driver analysts James Hinchcliffe and Townsend Bell each returning from 2025.
The race will be broadcast by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network. The chief announcer will be Mark Jaynes in his eleventh year as chief announcer, and 31st year overall with the network.