The 2023 Indianapolis 500, branded as the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge for sponsorship reasons, was a 500-mile (804.7 km, 200 lap) race in the 2023 IndyCar Series, held on Sunday, May 28, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States. The month of May activities formally began on Saturday, May 13 with the GMR Grand Prix on the combined road course. Practice on the oval was slated to begin on May 16 but was canceled due to rain and as a result, the first practice was held on May 17. Time trials took place on May 20–21, while Carb Day, the traditional final day of practice, along with the Pit Stop Challenge, took place on May 26.
Marcus Ericsson of Chip Ganassi Racing entered the race as the defending winner. 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner and 2004 series champion Tony Kanaan announced that he would retire after the race. Álex Palou won the pole position for the race, his first pole at Indianapolis and the eighth for the Chip Ganassi Racing team. Palou's qualifying speed of set a new record for fastest pole speed for the Indianapolis 500, besting the speed that his teammate Scott Dixon had set the previous year. The run also replaced Dixon's as the second-fastest qualification run at Indianapolis ever.
Josef Newgarden passed Marcus Ericsson on a frantic restart with half a lap to go following multiple late race incidents to win his first Indianapolis 500. It was the third Indy 500 in history with a last lap pass for the win (the others being 2006 and 2011), and the first with a one-lap shootout to the finish since 1997. It was also the first Indianapolis 500 since 1973 to have the red flag put out three times and first time race was red-flagged three times in history of IndyCar Series under this title. Roger Penske (owner of Team Penske) collected his record-extending 19th Indianapolis 500 victory as an owner, and first Indy victory since purchasing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in late 2019.
Race background
Sponsorship On May 25, 2022, it was announced that online financial services company Gainbridge reached a multiyear agreement to extend their presenting sponsorship of the Indianapolis 500. The extension was for an undisclosed length. This will be the first year under the current deal. Gainbridge originally signed a four-year deal which was in place from 2019 to 2022.
Rule changes Championship points for the Indianapolis 500 will revert to standard point values. From 2014 to 2022, double points were awarded at the Indianapolis 500. Bonus points awarded during qualifying remain unchanged from 2022. New rear attenuators, rear wheel tethers, and new front suspension pieces have been introduced and made mandatory. New aerodynamic devices have been approved for use, including additional Gurney flaps, and bargeboards. Maximum allowed rear wing angles have been increased from 2° to 5° of positive inclination by use of a new mounting pillar, and an updated cockpit helmet surround will be used. The modified Two-day Qualifying format used in 2022 will remain in place, with one minor schedule change. On the second day (Sunday May 21), Top 12 Qualifying will start at 2 p.m., followed by Last Chance Qualifying at 4 p.m. The Firestone Fast Six will begin at 5:15 p.m. Previously Last Chance Qualifying took place first, followed by Top 12 Qualifying, then the Fast Six. Placing the Last Chance session between the Top 12 and Fast Six sessions is intended to provide the Fast Six teams with additional time to prepare their cars for the final runs. In addition, it provides over an hour for their engines to cool down and reduce the effects of "heat soak". Furthermore, participants in the Top 12 session will be allowed two cool down laps after their runs, to aid in the cooling process.
2023 IndyCar Series
The 2023 Indianapolis 500 was the sixth race of the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series season. Five different drivers won the first five races of the season. Marcus Ericsson won the season opener at St. Petersburg, and Josef Newgarden won the first oval race of the season at Texas. Kyle Kirkwood then won at Long Beach, his first career IndyCar victory, followed by Scott McLaughlin at Alabama. Álex Palou won the GMR Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, and held the championship points lead going into the Indy 500.
Race schedules The 2023 IndyCar Series schedule was announced on September 27, 2022, with the Indianapolis 500 scheduled for Sunday, May 28. Practice, time trials, and other ancillary events are scheduled for the two weeks leading up to the race. The Open Test was held on April 20–21, which included rookie orientation and refresher tests.
The GMR Grand Prix, including the Road to Indy races, again served as the opening weekend of track activity, on May 12–13. The Freedom 100 was left off the schedule for the fourth year in a row. The 2023 Indy NXT series (formerly known as Indy Lights) included a race on the road course during GMR Grand Prix weekend.
Race schedule—April 2023SunMonTueWedThuFriSat16Long Beach17 18 19 20Open Test21Open Test22 Race schedule—May 202330Alabama 1 2 3 4 5 6Mini-Marathon 7 8 9 10 11RTI Test12GMR Grand Prix13GMR Grand Prix14 15 16Practice17Practice18Practice19Fast Friday20Time Trials21Time Trials22Practice23 24 25Special test26Carb Day27Parade28Indianapolis 50029Memorial Day30 31 Color Notes Green Practice Yellow Limited testing* Dark Blue Time trials Silver Race day Red Rained out** Blank No track activity * 15 minutes of "shakedown testing"available only to Katherine Legge andGraham Rahal due to their car rebuilds/swaps
** Includes days where trackactivity was significantly limited due to rain
Source: 2023 Indianapolis 500 Event Schedule
Entry list
All entries utilized a spec Dallara IR18 chassis with universal aero kit and Firestone tires. 34 entries were confirmed, including nine former winners and four race rookies. 2013 winner and 2004 champion Tony Kanaan announced that he would retire after the race. Four-time race winner Hélio Castroneves attempted to make his 23rd "500" (all consecutive), leading all active drivers. Katherine Legge made her first appearance since 2013, the first female participant since 2021; no female drivers entered in 2022. On April 15, Racer confirmed that both Chevrolet and Honda will supply 17 entries each. With 34 confirmed entries, bumping will return for the first time since 2021. The official entry list was released on May 15.
Driver Team Engine 2 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Chevrolet 3 Scott McLaughlin Team Penske Chevrolet 5 Pato O'Ward Arrow McLaren Chevrolet 6 Felix Rosenqvist Arrow McLaren Chevrolet 06 Hélio Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing Honda 7 Alexander Rossi Arrow McLaren Chevrolet 8 Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 10 Álex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 11 Takuma Sato Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 12 Will Power Team Penske Chevrolet 14 Santino Ferrucci A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 15 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 18 David Malukas Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports Honda 20 Conor Daly Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 21 Rinus VeeKay Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 23 Ryan Hunter-Reay Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet 24 Stefan Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Cusick Motorsports Chevrolet 26 Colton Herta Andretti Autosport w/ Curb-Agajanian Honda 27 Kyle Kirkwood Andretti Autosport Honda 28 Romain Grosjean Andretti Autosport Honda 29 Devlin DeFrancesco Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport Honda 30 Jack Harvey Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 33 Ed Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 44 Katherine Legge Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 45 Christian Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 50 R. C. Enerson Abel Motorsports Chevrolet 51 Sting Ray Robb Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing Honda 55 Benjamin Pedersen A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 60 Simon Pagenaud Meyer Shank Racing Honda 66 Tony Kanaan Arrow McLaren Chevrolet 77 Callum Ilott Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet 78 Agustín Canapino Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet 98 Marco Andretti Andretti Herta Autosport with Marco Andretti & Curb-Agajanian Honda Official Report Former Indianapolis 500 winner Indianapolis 500 rookie
Testing and rookie orientation A full-field open test was scheduled on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval for April 20–21, 2023. Katherine Legge, who has not competed in the race since 2013, took part in an oval re-acclimation test with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing at Texas Motor Speedway on April 3. Linus Lundqvist, the 2022 Indy Lights champion, also participated in the private oval test at Texas, but did not secure a ride for the Indy 500.
The rookie orientation test was conducted in three phases. For phase 1, each driver was required to complete ten laps between , while demonstrating satisfactory car control, proper racing line, and safe interaction with other cars on the circuit. The laps do not have to be consecutive. Phase 2 was fifteen laps between , and phase 3 was fifteen laps over . Veteran drivers that have not competed in an IndyCar oval race since the previous year's Indy 500 are required to take a refresher test. The refresher test consists of phase 2 and phase 3 of the aforementioned rookie test.
Open Test—Thursday April 20
Weather: , Mostly cloudy with rain in early afternoon, partly cloudy and high winds later Summary: The first day of testing was divided into three sessions: first a veterans-only session beginning at 10:00 a.m., second the rookie and refresher session beginning at 12:00 p.m., and lastly a full-field session at 2:00 p.m. lasting until 6:30 p.m. The timing of the sessions were brought forward and extended due to a threat of poor weather both late Thursday and on Friday. During the veterans-only session to start to day, defending race winner Marcus Ericsson was the fastest, running a lap at .
At 12:00 p.m., the track opened for drivers requiring rookie orientation or refresher tests. All drivers needing these tests took to the track except R. C. Enerson. Later in the day, Enerson was officially announced as the 34th entry with Abel Motorsports, and would conduct his rookie/refresher test during May. The rookie/refresher session was cut short by roughly thirty minutes due to light rain. However, all drivers completed their tests except Agustín Canapino, who needed to finish the final lap of his rookie orientation run. IndyCar officials permitted his to complete the test during the full-field session. Marco Andretti turned the fastest lap in the rookie/refresher session at . The session was briefly halted for a tow-in for Katherine Legge, who ran out of fuel and stalled out on track. She was able to continue in the session.
The full-field session was slightly delayed by the rain, but drivers were still provided over four hours of track time. During the session, Canapino completed his rookie test, meaning that all drivers present needing their rookie/refresher tests successfully completed. With predictions that Friday's testing would likely be canceled by rain, drivers turned a large number of laps during the day, with a cumulative 3,522 laps being run among all drivers. Josef Newgarden turned the fastest lap of the day at . The fastest "no-tow" lap - a lap completed without the aid of aerodynamic drafting - went to Devlin DeFrancesco with a lap at . No major incidents occurred during the session, but Katherine Legge suffered a second mechanical issue with less than five minutes remaining that forced her to coast back to the pit lane in the warm-up lane between turns 3 and 4.
+ Top speeds Driver Team Engine 12 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Chevrolet 220 Conor Daly Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 39 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Official Report
Open test—Friday April 21 The scheduled second day of the open test was canceled due to rain.
Practice
Opening day—Tuesday May 16 Weather: , Rain