By Austin Lawton
Saturday’s qualifying session for the 110th Indianapolis 500 was canceled, due to rain. Weather issues plagued Speedway, IN early in the morning but a brief period of two hours early in the afternoon where track drying efforts were positive, but canceled out due to more rain.
Saturday’s washout is the first time since 2008 where a day of Indy 500 qualifying was canceled due to weather, but Sunday’s weather forecast is promising, calling for a 10% chance of rain.
IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway released schedule changes as a result. Indy 500 qualifying will be condensed into a one-day format and scrapping the “Final 15” session that was introduced for 2026.
Public gates will open at 9am ET and the sixth practice session, a split group session, will be held at 9:30am ET. Proper qualifications begin at 12pm ET, where each of the 33 cars and drivers will get one attempt to advance to the next shootout rounds. Scott Dixon will be the driver to go out first, being awarded the spot in Friday evening’s Qualifying Draw. The full-field qualifying will end at 3pm ET.
SEE: Indianapolis 500 Qualifying Order
Positions 13 through 33 will be set through proper qualification attempts and the top 12 drivers will advance to the “Top 12” session at 4pm ET. The fastest six cars will advance to the Firestone “Fast Six”, scheduled to end at 7pm ET. Before each of the knockout sessions, the drivers will get a cooldown session behind the pace car, at laps of 100mph.
Fans who braved the weather on Saturday will have their tickets and paid parking honored on Sunday.