INDIANAPOLIS – With the threat of rain in the Sunday morning forecast, Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles said the start of the 108th Indy 500 could be affected.
During a 6:20 a.m. (ET) news conference, Boles said IMS will likely make a decision between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. on how to handle the prerace ceremony schedule.
“We have had several conversations since last night with our internal team, our security team and NBC,” Boles said. “Our plan is to continue to monitor the storm. We will get some weather again at some point. Our biggest concern is not so much the rain as the lightning.
“The next few hours will determine when the storm could hit Indianapolis. We still have a few hours to monitor the weather and make a new decision on what is the right thing to do to protect our customers.”
How to watch the 2024 Indy 500 on NBC: start times, live stream, schedule for the race’s 108th run
Here are start times, full schedule, TV and streaming information for watching the 108th Indy 500 on May 26 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
IMS clears the stands when lightning strikes within a radius of 8 miles from the track.
Boles said once the expected storm passes, the weather looks good for the race to continue for the rest of Sunday. He also noted that despite a 100 percent chance of rain in 2019, the race started on time and came to completion after a brief morning shower.
“That’s why we’re waiting,” Boles said. “We really hope we get a window.”
Boles said the storm was on its current track and would arrive as early as noon or as late as 1 p.m.
The green flag is scheduled for 12:45 PM ET.
Boles said the track considered moving the start back 30 minutes, but at 4:45 a.m. ET decided to stick with the original schedule.
“There was consideration to moving the start time to 12:15 p.m., but it didn’t make any sense to do that,” Boles said. “The last thing we want to do is move it to 12:15 p.m. and have customers wait and then ask them to leave because of the weather. Because of where (the storm) is located, that doesn’t make sense and might result in us being in a worse situation.”
Indy 500 coverage begins at 11 a.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
