IndyCar: Weather triggers first Indy 500 schedule change

The opening practice session for the 108th running of the Indy 500 lasted just shy of 24 minutes on Tuesday morning before it was brought to a halt due to rain, and conditions at Indianapolis Motor Speedway never improved throughout the rest of the day.

The session began at 9:00 a.m. ET and was scheduled to last until 11:00 a.m. ET, prior to another session from 1:00 p.m. ET to 6:00 p.m. ET. The first session was never resumed, and the second session was never started.

Fortunately, it wasn't a total washout at the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Speedway, Indiana oval like we saw in both 2022 and 2023 -- and like we saw on day two of the open test at the track last month.

Indy 500 sees limited opening practice

Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon shot to the top of the speed chart early on with an average lap speed of 229.107 miles per hour behind the wheel of his No. 9 Honda.

The 2008 winner was followed by Andretti Global's (officially Andretti Herta w/Marco and Curb-Agajanian's) Marco Andretti at 228.399 miles per hour behind the wheel of his No. 98 Honda and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's Takuma Sato, a two-time winner, at 225.551 miles per hour behind the wheel of his No. 75 Honda.

Only 26 of the 34 drivers turned laps even remotely representative of what you'd expect to see in an Indy 500 practice session, and only three others turned any laps. Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou, the betting favorite to win the race, was among those who did not turn any laps. McLaren-Hendrick's Kyle Larson was among the three who only got to run very slow laps.

As a result of Tuesday's bad weather, Wednesday's practice session has been extended by two hours. It was initially scheduled to take place from 12:00 p.m. ET to 6:00 p.m. ET. The start time has now been shifted forward to 10:00 a.m. ET.

Practice sessions are still scheduled to take place from 12:00 p.m. ET to 6:00 p.m. ET on Thursday and Friday, with Friday's session being the "Fast Friday" session during which the engines are all turned up to the max in preparation for qualifying on Saturday and Sunday.

The qualifying draw is scheduled to take place shortly after Friday's practice session, and qualifying on Saturday is scheduled to last from 11:00 a.m. ET to 5:50 p.m. ET. Sunday's three qualifying sessions are scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m. ET (Top 12), 4:15 p.m. ET (Last Chance/Bump Day), and 5:25 p.m. ET (Firestone Fast Six).

NBC is set to carry live coverage of the three sessions on Sunday, but everything else is set to be shown exclusively on Peacock. The race itself is set to be broadcast live on NBC beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, May 26. Start a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss it!