2024 Indy 500 weather forecast - will rain impact Sunday's race?

The excitement is beginning to build already ahead of Sunday's (May 26) Indy 500 race.

The 108th edition, taking place at the iconic Indianapolis Speedway, will see Josef Newgarden attempt to defend his crown from the front row, having won last year's showpiece race after narrowly beating former F1 star Marcus Ericsson.

However, in order to do so, he may have to be patient, as a changeable forecast looks set to disrupt proceedings on Sunday afternoon.

Here then, is all your need to know about the weather heading into the weekend's festivities.

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When is the Indy 500?

The 108th running of the Indy 500 is on Sunday, May 26 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

For US viewers, television coverage begins at 11:00am ET (09:00am PT) on NBC. The race can also be streamed on Peacock and IndyCar Live.

The green flag is scheduled to drop at 12:45pm ET (10:45am PT).

When was Indianapolis 500 qualifying?

Qualifying for the 2024 Indy 500 took place on Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Team Penske dominated qualifying, with Scott McLaughlin taking Pole, while Will Power and Josef Newgarden round out the front row. Sitting behind them on the grid will be the Arrow McLaren duo of Alexander Rossi and Kyle Larson.

What is the weather forecast for this year's Indy 500?

According to the Weather Underground website, there is (at the time of writing) a 70% chance of rainfall in Indianapolis on Sunday.

Rain and thunderstorms are expected to occur all day, which has caused concern that the race may not go ahead as planned - despite projected temperatures of up to 76F.

This is chiefly due to the cars using Firestone’s slick tyres, which are not suitable for wet conditions.

And if they were to race in the rain, that would cascade water onto trailing cars making racing around the tight oval even more dangerous.

But race organisers will not make any announcement until Sunday, as they will do all they can to ensure the race is run as planned - with the speedway taking around 80 minutes to dry.

There is still some real uncertainty over the storms' timing, "but what is known is the combination of a potent mid to late Spring System, potentially very unstable atmosphere along with strong 0-3km shear present a clear severe weather outbreak possibility Sunday and Sunday night," NWS meteorologists in Indianapolis wrote in their Friday morning forecast discussion (via Foxweather).

Starting Grid for the 2024 Indianapolis 500

Row 1: Scott McLaughlin (pole), Will Power, Josef Newgarden

Row 2: Alexander Rossi, Kyle Larson, Santino Ferrucci

Row 3: Rinus Veekay, Pato Oward, Felix Rosenqvist

Row 4: Takuma Sato, Kyle Kirkwood, Ryan Hunter-Reay

Row 5: Colton Herta, Alex Palou, Callum Ilott

Row 6: Marcus Armstrong, Ed Carpenter, Kyffin Simpson

Row 7: Marco Andretti, Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon

Row 8: Agustin Canapino, Sting Ray Robb, Christian Rasmussen

Row 9: Tom Blomqvist, Romain Grosjean, Linus Lundqvist

Row 10: Christian Lundgaard, Conor Daly, Pietro Fittipaldi

Row 11: Katherine Legge, Marcus Ericsson, Graham Rahal

Who is the favorite?

That very much depends on whose odds you take. Pole-sitter Scott McLaughlin (+400 at DraftKings) and defending race champ Josef Newgarden (+500 at BetMGM) are the favorites, with teammate Will Power close behind.

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