The Indycar Dad Podcast May 17, 2026

Soil Yourself Sunday - Indy 500 Qualifying - Ep. 28

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Indy 500

The Indy 500 is IndyCar’s biggest race. Qualifying for it is especially important because it can earn points toward the season championship, not just bragging rights.

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The Fast 12

Qualifying at the Indy 500 is like a multi-round speed contest. “The Fast 12” means the 12 quickest cars from the first attempt move on to the next step.

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The Fast 6

After the first qualifying round, the Indy 500 cuts the field down again. “The Fast 6” means only the six quickest cars get to make the final runs to fight for pole.

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four ultra high speed laps

Qualifying isn’t just one quick lap—it’s usually a short run of multiple laps. The host is saying the drivers will push for several very fast laps to set their qualifying speed.

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fresh track

A “fresh track” is a track that hasn’t been used much yet. That can help cars get better grip, which matters a lot when you’re trying to set the fastest qualifying time.

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Indianapolis Motor Speedway

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the famous oval track where the Indy 500 happens. Like any race track, conditions there can change, and that can affect how fast cars can go in qualifying.

LIVE

Indycar Dad Podcast: Folks, it's IndyCarDad and you've got to watch what I'm calling Soil Yourself Sunday. Sunday is going to be the best day of IndyCar qualifying I've ever seen. Today's IndyCar qualifying, Saturday for the Indy 500, got rained out completely.

So no one's gone at all. So Sunday, starting at noon, all 33 cars are going to have to put in a qualifying run and then The Fast 12 will be picked from there and then the Fast 6 will be picked from there.

This is high stakes drama because at Indy for the Indy 500, not only is there a hundred grand on the line for the pole winner, but they award championship points for the top 12 cars. So ⁓ getting the pole for the Indy 500 gets you 12 championship points.

That doesn't happen at other races. So it's very exciting. All the cars are gonna be out there. They drew randomly for starting positions. Scott Dixon is gonna go first. Catherine Legg will be going last.

And they're all gonna try to put down four ultra high speed laps on a fresh track on a heating up day. It's gonna be super exciting. It starts at noon on Sunday. I'm actually getting in my car at 4 a.m.

tomorrow morning and driving five hours to Indianapolis to watch this. I wasn't actually gonna go to Indy for qualifying weekend. I was there for last weekend for the GP. I was there for the open test and I'll be there next year for the next week for the big race.

But I can't resist tomorrow. What I'm calling soil yourself Sunday because it's all on the line for these guys starting positions very important in the 500 and there's just gonna be a ton of drama between noon and about 550.

PM tomorrow, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is going to be high drama. So I hope you get a chance to see it. I hope you're watching me on social media right now and you're like, okay, man, I'll tune in.

anyway, that's your update for today and we'll talk to you soon. I got some road tripping to do tomorrow.

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Soil Yourself Sunday - Indy 500 Qualifying - Ep. 28

Indy 500

The Fast 12

The Fast 6

four ultra high speed laps

fresh track

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

About this episode

Original notes