A swarm of people poured through the gates at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Some were shirtless, some wore American flag overalls, others checkered flag mini-skirts.
As they entered the main tunnel nearly five hours before the Indianapolis 500, a large group began a thunderous "Let's Go Pacers!" chant The Indiana Pacers host Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals against the New York Knicks a few hours after the 109th running of "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing."
The grandstands are sold out for the first time since 2016 and IndyCar expects 350,000 people will be on IMS property for Sunday's race. One tunnel at the speedway had to be closed to motorized vehicles four hours before the race to handle the pedestrian volume.
Pato O'Ward, a two-time Indy 500 runner-up, and two-time reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou are the co-favorites, listed at 500 by BetMGM. O'Ward starts third and would be the first Mexican winner Palou, winner of four of the first five races this season, would be the first Spanish winner should he earn his first career victory on an oval track.
Robert Shwartzman, a dual national of Israel and Russia, will be the first rookie to lead the field to green since 1983 in the Indianapolis 500 debut for Prema Racing. The Italian team is dominant in Europe but new this season to IndyCar, and Shwartzman has never raced on an oval.