The Indianapolis 500 is held annually at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, a 2.5-mile oval track that sees cars race at average speeds above 170 mph, while some drivers flirt with the possibility of being the first to reach 240 mph.

As the name would suggest, the race is 500 miles long, which is 200 laps around the famous oval. 

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The first Indianapolis 500 was held in 1911, and with the car technology at the time, it took nearly seven hours for inaugural winner Ray Harroun to cross the finish line. That’s about 74 miles per hour, but a crowd of 80,000 spectators proved how popular the concept could be.

The tradition continued in 1912, where the starting field was locked in at 33 (40 participated in 1911). That has not changed.

The 2024 edition of “the greatest spectacle in racing” will be the 108th running of the race and is expected to bring well above 300,000 fans to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The finishing time nowadays is closer to 3-3.5 hours, however, if everything goes smoothly.

Take a look below at some of the fastest lap times ever recorded at the Indianapolis 500, along with the fastest lap for each race since 1950.

10 Fastest Laps Ever Run At The Indianapolis 500

1. Eddie Cheever Jr. (1996) – 236.103 mph – 38.119 sec
2. Tony Kanaan (2003) – 229.187 – 39.26 sec
3. Michael Andretti (1993) – 229.118 mph – 39.281 sec
4. Tony Kanaan (2005) – 228.102 mph – 39.4560 sec
5. Santino Ferrucci (2021) – 227.345 mph – 39.5874 sec
6. Justin Wilson (2013) – 226.940 mph – 39.6580 sec
7. Charlie Kimball (2015) – 226.712 mph – 39.6979 sec
8. Tomas Scheckter (2002) – 226.499 mph – 39.735 sec
9. Takuma Sato (2017) – 226.190 mph – 39.7896 sec
10. David Malukas (2023) – 226.021 mph – 39.8193 sec

Fastest Laps At The Indianapolis 500 By Year 

*This first was recorded in 1950.

How To Watch The 2024 Indianapolis 500

Coverage of the 2024 Indianapolis 500 will be provided by NBC Sports on NBC, Peacock and Universo (Spanish), which will log more than 60 hours of programming this year. 

Pre-race coverage on May 26 will begin exclusively on Peacock at 9 a.m. Eastern, then move to Peacock and NBC at 11 a.m. EDT. The race is scheduled to begin around 12:45 p.m. EDT.

A post-race show will be shown on Peacock Premium. All broadcasts will be available for streaming on Peacock, the NBC Sports App and NBCSports.com.

FloRacing will provide results, editorial content and more throughout May, as the festivities in Indianapolis will get underway May 14 with the start of practice. Qualifying will be May 18-19.

Schedule For The 2024 Indianapolis 500

The complete schedule for the month of May and the official day of the 2024 Indianapolis 500 can be found here.

To follow the FloTrack coverage, click HERE.

Results For The 2024 Indianapolis 500

Results For the 2024 Indianapolis 500 will be available here.

Check out the official Indianapolis 500 race hub HERE.

FloRacing Is The Streaming Home For Many Racing Events Each Year

Don’t miss all the dirt, pavement, drag, action racing and more, much of which can be enjoyed live on FloRacing. Check out the FloRacing schedule for more events.

FloRacing Archived Footage

Video footage from the event will be archived and stored in a video library for FloRacing subscribers to watch for the duration of their subscription.

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