Make your selection: Predict #WhosGonnaWin the 98th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race through an interactive social media campaign sponsored by Verizon. Through Twitter and www.WhosGonnaWin.com, fans are invited to cast their vote by using the hashtag #WhosGonnaWin with the name of the driver they believe will take the checkered flag. Prizes will be awarded.
TV: ABC telecasts the race live (11 a.m. ET). Allen Bestwick is the chief announcer, with Scott Goodyear and Eddie Cheever Jr. the analysts.
ESPN distributes Verizon IndyCar Series race telecasts through a combination of ESPN networks and syndication to more than 198 countries and 101 million homes. Also, U.S. troops serving overseas and on Navy vessels around the world can watch live via a broadcast agreement between ESPN and the American Forces Network. Viewers of the ABC telecast will have the option of a second screen experience through a choice of live streaming video from the onboard cameras on ESPN3, ESPN’s multi-screen live sports network. ESPN3 will carry the feeds exclusively through WatchESPN and on www.indycar.com.
Radio/web: All Verizon IndyCar Series sessions are broadcast on IMS Radio Network affiliates, XM 209 and Sirius 213, www.indycar.com and INDYCAR 14 app (both in conjunction with real-time Timing & Scoring and in-car cameras from ESPN3). Paul Page is the chief announcer, with former Indy car driver and team owner Robbie Buhl and Indianapolis Motor Speedway historian Donald Davidson providing commentary and analysis.
Click it: Indianapolis 500 starting lineup
Twitter: @IMS, @IndyCar, #Indy500
Weather forecast: Sunny; high in the upper 70s
Race laps: 200 in counter-clockwise direction on 2.5-mile oval
Start: Three-wide rolling start. … Single-file restarts
Tires: Firestone has supplied a new-for-2014 left and right tire compound to provide “a touch more” grip along with a new construction of the left-rear for more rear security.
Pit box dimensions: 47 x 14 feet
Race day fuel: 130 U.S. gallons of E85 ... Verizon IndyCar Series cars carry 18.5 U.S. gallons
Verizon P1 Award: Ed Carpenter won the pole for the second consecutive year with a four-lap average speed of 231.067 mph in the Fast Nine Shootout on May 18 in the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka car. It was the fastest average speed since 2003. James Hinchcliffe and Will Power join Carpenter on the front row.
He said it: "There really is no feeling like winning the Indianapolis 500. It's the biggest race in the world. It's hard not to think back over all that history and all the drivers that came before you to help build this place. On top of that, winning here for Roger Penske just makes it that much sweeter. He has obviously put so much into winning here that it's great when you are able to reward him with a win." -- three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves
2013: Tony Kanaan won the race from the 12th starting position in his 12th Indianapolis 500 start with a race-record 187.433 mph average speed. There were a race-record 68 lead changes among 14 drivers. Rookie Carlos Munoz was runner-up.
Notable: Jim Nabors will sing “(Back Home Again in) Indiana” for the final time. … Martina McBride will perform “America The Beautiful.” … The average speed of the 33-car field of 229.698 mph is the fastest in Indy 500 history. … There are four American-born drivers on the first three rows for the race. Five other countries represented. … Five different Verizon IndyCar Series teams are represented on the first three rows. … There are six former Indy 500 winners in the starting field: Kanaan (2013), Castroneves (2001, 2002, 2009), Scott Dixon (2008), Juan Pablo Montoya (2000), Buddy Lazier (1996) and Jacques Villeneuve (1995). The record for most former winners is 10 (1992) and the fewest, other than the inaugural race in 1911, is zero (1912). … There are seven rookies in the starting field: Kurt Busch, James Davison, Jack Hawksworth, Carlos Huertos, Sage Karam, Martin Plowman and Mikhail Aleshin. Last year there were four rookies. … Karam is the youngest competitor, who will be 19 years, 2 months, 20 days on Race Day. He's the fourth-youngest to contest the Indy 500. A.J. Foyt IV, who turned 19 on Race Day in 2003, is the youngest.