Saturday, May 17 •
Weather: , Mostly cloudy with strong winds gusting to 35 mph
Pre-qualifying practice •
Summary: A pre-qualifying practice was held in the morning starting at 8:30 a.m., with the session split in to two 30-minute segments. At 8:42 a.m.,
Marcus Armstrong suffered a major accident after losing control of his car in turn 1 and impacting the outside wall. Armstrong was transported to the infield medical care center for extended evaluation after the incident, though was awake and alert.
Felix Rosenqvist ran the fastest single lap of the morning session, while
Álex Palou ran the fastest "no-tow" lap.
Qualifying (
pictured in 2024) finished Saturday "on the bubble", the 30th and final car locked-in to the starting grid. •
Summary:The first day of qualifying was scheduled from 11:00 a.m. to 5:50 p.m. Cars qualifying 1st–12th advanced to the Top 12 Qualifying session on Sunday. Cars qualifying in positions 13th–30th were locked-in to those positions. Cars qualifying 31st–34th moved on to take part in the Last Chance Qualifying session on Sunday to determine the final row of the starting grid. All entered cars were eligible for one guaranteed attempt on Saturday, then unlimited additional attempts were permitted, time-permitting, until 5:50 p.m. :One major accident occurred at 12:05 p.m. during the guaranteed runs, when
Colton Herta spun in turn 1 on the first lap of his attempt and heavily impacted the outside wall. Herta's car then became airborne, flipped and landed upside down before sliding against the turn 2 wall and coming to a stop. Herta's
Andretti Global team switched to a backup car after the accident, and Herta would qualify later in the day in the 29th position. :
Álex Palou was fastest in the first day of qualifying, turning a four-lap average of .
Team Penske teammates
Scott McLaughlin and
Josef Newgarden were also above 233 mph with their runs, running at and respectively.
Prema Racing's
Robert Shwartzman was the fastest rookie qualifier at , fast enough for sixth place and a spot in the following day's Fast 12 qualifying session.
Conor Daly narrowly missed out on making the Fast 12 qualifying session, qualifying 13th in the final attempt of the day before the track closed. :With only the top 30 cars locked in during Saturday qualifying, the slowest four qualifiers would need to qualify again on Sunday in the Last Chance Qualifying session. The fight for the 30th and final locked-in position for much of the day was between
Graham Rahal and
Marco Andretti. Rahal narrowly avoided being in the Last Chance Qualifying for a third-straight year, besting Andretti by only 0.0028 seconds. Andretti was thereby relegated to Last Chance Qualifying on Sunday.
Dale Coyne Racing teammates
Rinus VeeKay and
Jacob Abel also posted times too slow to make the top 30 and were also relegated to the Last Chance Qualifier.
Marcus Armstrong, driving a backup car after his crash in morning practice, made two qualifying attempts late in the day, but aborted both runs and posted no time on Saturday.
Sunday, May 18 •
Weather: , Fair
Pre-qualifying practice •
Summary: A pre-qualifying practice was held from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. The first hour of practice was open to cars participating in the Fast 12 qualifying, while the second hour was open to cars in the Last Chance Qualifying. At 1:18 p.m.,
Scott McLaughlin, on the fourth and final lap of a simulated qualifying run, spun exiting turn 2 and heavily impacted the wall. The car became airborne and initially landed on its side, severing the left-rear wheel from the car and creating a gouge in the track surface before it came back down upright. McLaughlin was uninjured, but the car was damaged beyond repair. The team announced that he would not participate in the Fast 12 session and would move to a backup car. McLaughlin had turned the fastest lap of practice prior to his accident, running at .
Top 12 qualifying •
Summary: Top 12 qualifying began at 4:05 p.m., with each entry permitted one attempt. Positions 1–6 in this session advanced to the Fast Six qualifying session, while positions 7–12 were locked in to their spots. Prior to the start of the session, both remaining
Team Penske cars of
Josef Newgarden and
Will Power failed pre-qualifying technical inspection and were thereby not allowed to compete in the session. Team president
Tim Cindric explained afterwards that the issue was over filling seams in the cars' rear-crash structures to improve airflow, which was a violation of INDYCAR rules. Since they did not make an attempt during the Top 12 session, the three Penske cars were lined up behind all other Top 12 qualifiers in the order of their Saturday qualification times.
Scott McLaughlin was assigned 10th starting position, Newgarden 11th, and Power 12th. IndyCar indicated that further potential penalties for the technical violations would be possible pending investigation. :During Top 12 qualifying,
Felix Rosenqvist ran the fastest time at . Also advancing to the Fast Six session were
Pato O'Ward,
Robert Shwartzman,
Scott Dixon,
Álex Palou, and
Takuma Sato. Following the conclusion of Top 12 qualifying, the Last Chance Qualifier began.
Last Chance Qualifying •
Summary: Last Chance Qualifying began at 5:15 p.m. and lasted one hour. The session determined positions 31–33 on the starting grid, as well as the one entry failing to qualify. All entries were given one guaranteed attempt. Unlimited subsequent attempts were permitted, but would require that their existing times be withdrawn and erased. After the guaranteed runs,
Marco Andretti was comfortably in 31st position, with
Marcus Armstrong fairly close behind in 32nd.
Rinus VeeKay sat in the 33rd and final position, with
Jacob Abel not in the field as 34th fastest. With under 8 minutes remaining, VeeKay's crew withdrew his time in order to make another attempt. However, he ran slower on his second attempt at and fell within potential reach of Abel. Just before time expired, Abel took to the track for one last attempt. However, Abel was unable to bump his way into the field, only running at . VeeKay held on to 33rd position, and Abel failed to qualify.
Fast Six Qualifying (
pictured in 2018) became the first rookie to qualify on pole position since 1983. •
Summary: Fast Six qualifying began at 6:25 p.m., which all drivers given one attempt to qualify. This session determined the first six starting spots on the starting grid. Rookie
Robert Shwartzman qualified on pole position with a four-lap average at , the Russo-Israeli deposing two-time winner
Takuma Sato with the fourth run of the session. The result was considered surprising, as neither Shwartzman nor the
Prema Racing team he drove for had prior oval racing experience prior to this event. Shwartzman was the first race rookie to qualify on pole since
Teo Fabi in
1983, whilst the Prema team additionally became the first rookie team to qualify on pole position at the Indianapolis 500 since
Teddy Mayer's Mayer Motor Racing team in
1984. Sato qualified in 2nd place, while
Pato O'Ward completed the front row. Some consideration was given to elevating
Jacob Abel in to the starting grid and pushing one of the Penske cars out, but this was dismissed. IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway president
Doug Boles remarked on the topic that Penske's cars had passed technical inspection on Saturday and had successfully qualified in the top 30 "locked-in" positions, meaning that they should still be considered among the traditional fastest 33 starters. Journalists that visited Newgarden's
2024 Indy 500-winning car kept on display at the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum found the same modified attenuator installed that failed inspection. In the fallout of the technical infractions, Team Penske announced on May 21 that team president
Tim Cindric, managing director Ron Ruzewski, and general manager Kyle Moyer had all been dismissed by the team. ==Post-qualifying practice==