2022 Indianapolis 500

On January 31, 2019, it was announced that the online financial services company Gainbridge would become the new presenting sponsor of the 500 under a four-year deal. This will be the fourth year under the current deal.[1]

• During pit stops, crew members are prohibited from physically assisting with the car's exit of the pit box. A car must leave the pits under its own power and can not be pushed.[2]

The Two-day format that began in 2019 has been expanded, based on the popularity of the three-round system used on road and street courses (except Indianapolis Road Course NASCAR weekend). The system will continue to use the two day system (Saturday May 21 & Sunday May 22), and cars will continue to utilize the traditional four-lap qualifying attempts. The top twelve cars from the first day will advance to a new second round that will be held on the second day, with the top six cars in the second round advancing to the final round that determines the pole position to starting position six. If more than 33 entries take part in the event, the Last Chance Qualifying session will be used once again to set starting positions 31–32–33.[3]

On Saturday, the procedure will be as follows:

• Qualifying will be open from 12:00 p.m. to 5:50 p.m. All cars entered will be guaranteed at least one attempt. Additional attempts are allowed, time/weather permitting.
• Cars ranking 1–12 will advance to Second Round Qualifying.
• Cars ranking 13–30 will be locked-in to those starting positions, and will not re-qualify.
• Cars ranking 31 and lower will be entered into the Last Chance Qualifying.
• If there are only 33 entries, the Last Chance Qualifying will not be held, and instead all positions 13-33 will be locked-in.

On Sunday, time trials will conclude as follows:

• At 2 p.m. the Last Chance Qualifying session will be held (if necessary). Entries that ranked 31st and lower on Saturday will have at least one attempt to qualify. Qualifying speeds from Saturday will be erased. Additional attempts will be allowed, time/weather permitting, until 3 p.m. Starting positions 31–32–33 will be filled. All other cars from 34th and lower will fail to qualify.
• At 4 p.m., the second round of qualifying will be held. The cars that ranked 1st through 12th on Saturday will have one guaranteed attempt. Qualifying speeds from Saturday will be erased. Cars will go out in reverse order (12th to 1st). The top six cars will advance to the final round. The cars ranking 7th through 12th will be locked-in to those starting positions.
• At 5:10 p.m., the final round of qualifying will be held. The cars that ranked 1st through 6th during the second round will have one guaranteed attempt. Qualifying speeds from the Top 12 session will be erased. Cars will go out in reverse order (6th to 1st). The top six starting positions will be set, including the pole position.

The 2022 Indianapolis 500 will be the sixth race of the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season. Three different drivers won the first four races of the season, including one first-time winner. Scott McLaughlin won the season opener at St. Petersburg his first career IndyCar win. At Texas, Josef Newgarden won, passing McLaughlin coming off the last turn of the last lap. Newgarden followed up with another win at Long Beach and Pato O'Ward won at Alabama. The GMR Grand Prix is the last race prior to the 500.

7-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, and 4-time Brickyard 400 winner Jimmie Johnson began the Rookie Orientation Program in October 2021.

A private offseason Firestone tire test was scheduled for October 8. Hélio Castroneves (Meyer Shank Racing) and Pato O'Ward (Arrow McLaren SP) were scheduled to participate. Jimmie Johnson (Ganassi) and Romain Grosjean (Andretti) were scheduled to complete the Rookie Orientation Program during a separate session on October 6.[9]

Rookie Orientation consists of three phases. Phase 1 was ten laps between 205–210 mph, Phase 2 was fifteen laps between 210–215 mph, and Phase 3 was fifteen laps over 215 mph. Lingering rain hampered track activity, but the track was dried and Johnson and Grosjean both completed Phase 1 and Phase 2. Both drivers completed about half of Phase 3 before a downpour closed the track for the day at 4:15 p.m.. Series officials announced that both drivers had completed a satisfactory amount of laps, and would be eligible to participate in the full-field Open Test scheduled for April.[10][11][12]

On Friday October 8, Castroneves and O'Ward conducted baseline testing, as well as preliminary KERS testing. No incidents were reported, and no speeds were announced.[13]

• Weather: 64 °F (18 °C), light rain early, cloudy in the afternoon
• Summary: A full-field open test was scheduled at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval for April 20–21, 2022.[12] All 32 confirmed entries for the 2022 Indianapolis 500 were present for the test.[14] Light rain delayed testing by roughly 90 minutes, with the veterans only session beginning at roughly 12:30 p.m. Scott Dixon was fastest in the opening session at 225.622 mph, while Scott McLaughlin was second. McLaughlin was fastest in the "no-tow" rankings - laps set without the benefit of aerodynamic drafting. The only significant incident of the opening session came when Alexander Rossi spun in the pit exit lane during his first installment lap, but avoided any contact and continued on.[15]

Top Practice Speeds

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Speed (mph)	Speed (km/h)
1	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	225.622	363.103
2	3	Scott McLaughlin	Team Penske	Chevrolet	223.984	360.467
3	23	Santino Ferrucci	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Chevrolet	223.053	358.969
OFFICIAL REPORT

• Summary: At 2:30 p.m., the track was opened to drivers needing to complete Rookie Orientation and veteran Refresher tests. Eight drivers took to the track during the session, with all rookies and two of the veterans completing their tests. Juan Pablo Montoya and Sage Karam did not pass their refresher programs, but had completed enough to be allowed on track for the full-field session later in the day. The fastest time in the session came from rookie Callum Ilott at 222.184 mph.[16] No incidents were reported.

Top Practice Speeds

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Speed (mph)	Speed (km/h)
1	77	Callum Ilott  R	Juncos Hollinger Racing	Chevrolet	222.184	357.570
2	29	Devlin DeFrancesco  R	Andretti Autosport	Honda	221.608	356.644
3	98	Marco Andretti	Andretti Herta Autosport w/ Marco Andretti and Curb-Agajanian	Honda	220.501	354.862
OFFICIAL REPORT

• Summary: The track was opened to the full field at 4:30 p.m. and was scheduled to stay open until 6:30 p.m. This session saw two significant incidents. At roughly 5:10 p.m., Hélio Castroneves lost control of his car in the warm up lane heading into turn 2. Castroneves spun nearly 360 degrees before impacting the outside wall.[17] About twenty minutes later, Will Power spun from the warm up lane in turn 1 and out onto the racing surface. Colton Herta narrowly avoided Power's car, but lost control of his own in the process, suffering light damage to the rear of the car as he brushed the outside wall at the exit of turn 1. Marcus Ericsson narrowly avoided Herta's spinning car and continued on back to the pit lane with no damage. IndyCar elected to end the session 40 minutes early to allow officials and representatives from Firestone to examine the pit exit lane for a potential cause for the three incidents that occurred during the day.[18] Scott Dixon returned to the top of the time sheets, turning a lap at 227.187 mph. Only ten drivers completed "no-tow" laps during the session, but Scott McLaughlin was fastest again with a lap at 219.841 mph.

Top Practice Speeds

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Speed (mph)	Speed (km/h)
1	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	227.187	365.622
2	20	Conor Daly	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	226.985	365.297
3	77	Callum Ilott  R	Juncos Hollinger Racing	Chevrolet	226.308	364.207
OFFICIAL REPORT

• Weather: 68 °F (20 °C), rain in the morning, mostly cloudy in the afternoon
• Summary: The second day of a full-field open test was scheduled April 22 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.[12] After three incidents on the warm-up lane during testing on Wednesday, series and track officials inspected the course overnight. A chemical sealant applied to the asphalt surface the previous autumn was believed to be the culprit. The grip levels on the warm-up lanes were measured to be significantly lower than that of the racing surface. Track crews spent the night prepping the asphalt along the warm-up lanes and pit lane by dragging tires and scrubbing the surface.[19] Due to morning rain and moisture, Thursday's testing was rescheduled for 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Speeds increased across nearly the whole field for the second test day, with 15 drivers completing laps quicker than the fastest time from the opening day. Josef Newgarden turned the fastest lap on the day, running at 229.519 mph. Rinus VeeKay was fastest in the "no-tow" rankings at 221.314 mph. Hélio Castroneves was the only driver to not partake in the session, as his Meyer Shank Racing team elected not to run after the opening day crash to repair damages. There were no incidents during the Thursday session.[20]

Top Practice Speeds

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Speed (mph)	Speed (km/h)
1	2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	Chevrolet	229.519	369.375
2	51	Takuma Sato	Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing	Honda	229.427	369.227
3	1	Tony Kanaan	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	228.767	368.165
OFFICIAL REPORT

• Weather: 0 °F (−18 °C), TBD
• Summary: TBD

• Weather: 0 °F (−18 °C), TBD
• Summary: TBD

• Weather: 0 °F (−18 °C), TBD
• Summary: TBD

• Weather: 0 °F (−18 °C), TBD
• Summary: TBD

The race will be televised on NBC in the United States, with coverage beginning at 11:00 a.m. EDT.[21] The race will be simulcast on NBC's online streaming platform Peacock.[22]

Former driver James Hinchcliffe joined the NBC Broadcast team for 2022 as a color commentator, replacing Paul Tracy, who had been in the role for the previous three years for the race.[23]

On May 4, NBC announced their full crew for the race broadcast. Mike Tirico and Danica Patrick returned as the hosts for pre-race and post-race coverage, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Rutledge Wood returned for pre-race coverage. Tirico, Patrick, and Earnhardt were also announced as part of the "Peacock Pit Box" crew for mid-race coverage. Dillon Welch joined the crew as a pit reporter, replacing Kelli Stavast, who had been part of NBC's coverage since 2019.[24]