IndyCar: Indy 500 qualifying not being shown on NBC

Practice for the 108th running of the Indy 500 began on Tuesday, May 14, and after two more sessions on Wednesday, May 15 and Thursday, May 16, the engines were turned up to full power on Friday, May 17 for the "Fast Friday" session ahead of qualifying this Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19.

All practice sessions have been shown exclusively on Peacock, requiring a subscription to either Peacock Premium ($5.99 per month or $59.99 per year) or Peacock Premium Plus ($11.99 per month or $119.99 per year).

That is set to be true for next week's two practice sessions (Monday, May 20 and Friday, May 24) as well. Unfortunately, it is also set to be true for Saturday's qualifying session.

Indy 500 qualifying not being shown on NBC

Neither NBC nor USA Network, the NBCUniversal-owned alternate network which effectively replaced NBC Sports Network after NBC Sports Network shut down at the end of 2021, will carry live coverage of Saturday's full field qualifying session. This session is also a Peacock exclusive.

Saturday's session is the full field qualifying session, with the qualifying order determined by a random draw after Friday's practice session.

The full qualifying order can be found here.

All 34 drivers are set to make a four-lap qualifying attempt during Saturday's session. After that, anybody can make as many additional attempts as they please, utilizing one of two methods: risk or no risk.

Drivers who wish to move to the front of the line must withdraw their previous qualifying speeds to do so. Drivers who do not wish to remove their previous qualifying speeds must wait behind anybody who has withdrawn their speed. The fast (risk) lane is always the prioritized lane.

At the end of the day, the fastest 12 drivers move on to Sunday's Top 12 session, while the drivers who place from 13th through 30th place are locked into their respective starting positions.

The four drivers who finish outside of the top 30 are relegated to the Sunday's Last Chance session, where one will ultimately fail to qualify as the others secure the three spots on the 11th and final row of the 33-car grid.

Fortunately, Sunday's three qualifying sessions are all set to be shown live on NBC, with coverage scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET to 6:00 p.m. ET. The Top 12 session is set to take place first (3:05 p.m. ET), followed by the Last Chance session (4:15 p.m. ET).

The fastest six drivers from the Top 12 session are then set to compete in the Firestone Fast Six (5:25 p.m. ET) session to determine the polesitter.

NBC is set to provide live coverage of the 108th running of the Indy 500 beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, May 26. If you have yet to start a free trial of FuboTV, do so now and don't miss it!