2007 Indianapolis 500

• Weather: Sunny, 73 °F
• Practice summary: The first day of practice opened with a ceremonial lap celebrating A. J. Foyt's fiftieth year of participation at Indianapolis. Practice focused on the rookie tests of Milka Duno and Phil Giebler, as well as refresher tests by five veterans. Duno completed all four phases of her rookie test, and Giebler completed two. Michael Andretti posted the fastest speed of the day, while popular Davey Hamilton made his return to the cockpit, after a devastating 2001 crash at Texas. No incidents were reported.

May 6, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds[13]

Rank	Car No.	Driver	Team	Best Speed
1	39	Michael Andretti	Andretti Green	219.871
2	12	Ryan Briscoe	Luczo-Dragon Racing	218.216
3	02	Davey Hamilton	Vision Racing	218.022
4	21	Jaques Lazier	Playa Del Racing	216.467
5	23	Milka Duno  R	SAMAX Motorsports	214.128

• Weather: Sunny, 76 °F
• Practice summary: The second day of Rookie Orientation saw the same seven drivers from the previous day's practice without incident. Rookie Phil Giebler finished the final two phases of his rookie test. Rookie Milka Duno completed the most practice laps of the day (74), while Michael Andretti posted the fastest speed for the second day in a row.

May 7, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds[14]

Rank	Car No.	Driver	Team	Best Speed
1	39	Michael Andretti	Andretti Green	221.579
2	12	Ryan Briscoe	Luczo-Dragon Racing	221.427
3	02	Davey Hamilton	Vision Racing	220.214
4	21	Phil Giebler  R	Playa Del Racing	217.091
5	19	Jon Herb	Racing Professionals	216.763

• Weather: Sunny, 82 °F
• Practice summary: The first full day of practice featured veterans on the track for the first time. Dan Wheldon led the speed chart as the first driver over 225 mph (362 km/h). Jon Herb was involved in the first crash of the month, doing a half-spin at the exit of turn two and crashing into the outside wall. Herb was not injured.

May 8, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds[15]

Rank	Car No.	Driver	Team	Best Speed
1	10	Dan Wheldon	Target Chip Ganassi	225.074
2	3	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	224.996
3	2	Tomas Scheckter	Vision Racing	224.783
4	11	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Green	224.622
5	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi	224.564

• Weather: Morning rain, afternoon clouds, 78 °F
• Practice summary: Rain in the morning and early afternoon delayed the start of practice until 4:00 p.m. The two-hours session saw heavy action, with Dan Wheldon leading the speed chart for the second day in a row. No incidents were reported.

May 9, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds[16]

Rank	Car No.	Driver	Team	Best Speed
1	10	Dan Wheldon	Target Chip Ganassi	226.391
2	3	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	225.820
3	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi	224.902
4	26	Marco Andretti	Andretti Green	224.745
5	11	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Green	224.112

• Weather: Partly cloudy, 86 °F
• Practice summary: The warmest day of the week thus far saw some of the fastest laps turned so far for the month. Scott Dixon set fast lap with two minutes remaining in the session. Danica Patrick was second fastest for the day. No incidents were reported

May 10, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds[17]

Rank	Car No.	Driver	Team	Best Speed
1	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi	226.473
2	7	Danica Patrick	Andretti Green	226.358
3	10	Dan Wheldon	Target Chip Ganassi	224.902
4	2	Tomas Scheckter	Vision Racing	226.161
5	12	Ryan Briscoe	Luczo-Dragon Racing	225.995

• Weather: Partly cloudy, 85 °F
• Practice summary: The final day of practice before pole qualifying saw Scott Dixon turn the fastest lap of the month. Rookie Milka Duno crashed in the exit of turn 1. She spun and hit the SAFER barrier hard with the rear of the car, but she was not injured.

May 11, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds[18]

Rank	Car No.	Driver	Team	Best Speed
1	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi	227.167
2	10	Dan Wheldon	Target Chip Ganassi	226.650
3	11	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Green	226.236
4	26	Marco Andretti	Andretti Green	226.230
5	27	Dario Franchitti	Andretti Green	226.189

• Weather: Sunny, high 82 °F
• Qualifying summary: Pole day time trials were held under a new qualifying procedure, implemented in 2005, but not fully utilized in 2005 or 2006 due to rain delays. Only the top 11 cars would qualify on pole day, and the remaining would be "bumped" out. Each qualifying run consisted of four laps, and each car was allowed three attempts per day. Buddy Rice was the first out to qualify, but his speed ultimately did not make the top 11. During the first trip through the qualifying order, Team Penske pulled both Hélio Castroneves and Sam Hornish, Jr. out of line, and decided to attempt to qualify later in the day, when the temperatures would be cooler. After the initial qualifying runs, Dario Franchitti qualified for the provisional pole position. Later in the afternoon, both Castroneves and Hornish completed qualifying runs, but neither were unable to knock Franchitti off the pole. Hornish's first attempt would have been fast enough to take the pole, but he nearly hit the outside wall in the southchute on his second lap. Even with this error, however, Hornish's run was only 0.0327 seconds slower than Franchitti's. Almost immediately, Hornish withdrew and tried a second attempt, and again nearly took the pole, but on his final lap, his car bobbled in the north chute, and his second attempt was slower than his first. This would cost him a spot on the starting grid when Scott Dixon later withdrew his qualifying run and made another attempt, this one faster than Hornish's second attempt. With eight minutes left in qualifying, Castroneves' car was withdrawn, and he made a second attempt. After nearly four hours, Franchitti was finally knocked off the pole position. With only three minutes left, Tony Kanaan withdrew his first attempt, made the final qualifying run of the day. While his first three laps were fast enough to take the pole away from Castroneves, his last lap fell short and qualified second. This is Hélio Castroneves' second Indy 500 pole position. He also won the pole in 2003.

May 12, 2007 - Pole Day Qualifying Results Rank Car No. Driver Team Qual. Speed 1 3 Hélio Castroneves Team Penske 225.817 2 11 Tony Kanaan Andretti Green 225.757 3 27 Dario Franchitti Andretti Green 225.191 4 9 Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi 225.122 5 6 Sam Hornish, Jr. Team Penske 225.109 6 10 Dan Wheldon Target Chip Ganassi 224.641 7 12 Ryan Briscoe Luczo-Dragon Racing 224.410 8 7 Danica Patrick Andretti Green 224.076 9 26 Marco Andretti Andretti Green 223.299 10 2 Tomas Scheckter Vision Racing 222.877 11 39 Michael Andretti Andretti Green 222.789

May 12, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds[19] Rank Car No. Driver Team Best Speed 1 11 Tony Kanaan Andretti Green 226.827 2 7 Danica Patrick Andretti Green 226.058 3 9 Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi 225.968 4 3 Hélio Castroneves Team Penske 225.920 5 10 Dan Wheldon Target Chip Ganassi 225.917

• Weather: Fair skies, high 74 °F
• Qualifying summary: The second day of time trials filled positions 12-22 on the starting grid. The first hour saw heavy action, featuring strong runs from IndyCar Series regulars such as Scott Sharp (the first to qualify, and his 223.875 speed would hold up as the fastest of the day), Jeff Simmons and Darren Manning. Fan favorite Davey Hamilton also qualified with a solid speed. Later in the afternoon, Sarah Fisher became the second woman to qualify for the field. Bumping began with Marty Roth, Buddy Lazier and Jon Herb all being bumped. Herb went out later, and bumped himself back into the field, only to be bumped out a second time by Lazier. As time was running out, Jaques Lazier took to the track to try to bump himself into the top 22, and effectively bump his brother Buddy out. He was too slow and waved off the run. At the end of the day, two-time Indy 500 winner Al Unser, Jr. was the most notable driver bumped for the day, and had to attempt to qualify on the second weekend.

May 13, 2007 - Second Day Qualifying Results Rank Car No. Driver Team Qual. Speed 12 8 Scott Sharp Rahal Letterman 223.875 13 17 Jeff Simmons Rahal Letterman 223.693 14 20 Ed Carpenter Vision Racing 223.495 15 14 Darren Manning A.J. Foyt Racing 223.471 16 15 Buddy Rice Dreyer & Reinbold 222.820 17 55 Kosuke Matsuura Panther Racing 222.595 18 22 A. J. Foyt IV Vision Racing 222.413 19 4 Vítor Meira Panther Racing 222.333 20 02 Davey Hamilton Vision Racing 222.327 21 5 Sarah Fisher Dreyer & Reinbold 221.960 22 99 Buddy Lazier Sam Schmidt Motorsports 221.380

May 13, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds[20] Rank Car No. Driver Team Best Speed 1 8 Scott Sharp Rahal Letterman 224.214 2 20 Ed Carpenter Vision Racing 224.106 3 17 Jeff Simmons Rahal Letterman 223.894 4 14 Darren Manning A.J. Foyt Racing 223.603 5 4 Vítor Meira Panther Racing 223.095

• Weather: Mostly cloudy early, clearing late, high 62 °F, 18 mph (29 km/h) WNW winds
• Practice summary: The first day of practice for second-week deals. Only incident was a spin of Jimmy Kite's car when the gearbox casing of his PDM Racing Panoz cracked in turn 2, causing the left-rear suspension to fail. The car made moderate wall contact with the left-front corner and Kite was cleared to drive. Several teams that qualified during the first weekend tested race set ups and ran in packs, including Danica Patrick who set the fastest lap of the day. Jaques Lazier (217.159 mph) had the fastest lap among drivers who are not yet in the field.

May 16, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds[21]

Rank	Car No.	Driver	Team	Best Speed
1	7	Danica Patrick	Andretti Green	221.189
2	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi	220.556
3	6	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Team Penske	220.484
4	26	Marco Andretti	Andretti Green	220.399
5	27	Dario Franchitti	Andretti Green	220.131

• Weather: Mostly cloudy early, clearing late, high 65 °F, 16 mph (26 km/h) North winds
• Practice summary: The second straight day of cold and windy weather resulted in fewer than 800 total laps being turned among 23 drivers. The only incident of the day resulted when Stephan Gregoire lost control on the exit of turn 1 and backed the car into the wall in the south short chute. Only light damage was sustained to the car, but Gregoire complained of back pain and was transported to Methodist Hospital where he was diagnosed with a fracture of the third vertebra endplate and was ruled out for the rest of the month. John Andretti made his first appearance in an IndyCar since 1994 and completed his refresher test. Scott Dixon turned the fastest lap of the day while drafting with teammate Dan Wheldon. Gregoire (217.851 mph) turned the fastest lap among drivers yet to qualify before his encounter with the wall.

May 17, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds[22]

Rank	Car No.	Driver	Team	Best Speed
1	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi	219.985
2	10	Dan Wheldon	Target Chip Ganassi	219.773
3	14	Darren Manning	A.J. Foyt Racing	219.116
4	2	Tomas Scheckter	Vision Racing	218.230
5	20	Ed Carpenter	Vision Racing	217.995

• Weather: Sunny, high 65 °F
• Practice summary: The final full day of practice went incident free as 31 cars took to the track. All the front runners were running in packs, learning how their cars performed in "dirty air." Sam Hornish, Jr. turned the fastest lap of the day during such a session. The non-qualified cars of John Andretti and Roger Yasukawa both turned laps over 222 mph (357 km/h) without drafting assistance as their teams trimmed their cars out to prepare for qualifying. Friday marked the last day of full practice; however, all cars will be permitted to practice on Saturday and Sunday during down periods when no cars are presenting to qualify.

May 18, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds[23]

Rank	Car No.	Driver	Team	Best Speed
1	6	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Team Penske	225.006
2	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi	224.458
3	11	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Green	224.340
4	27	Dario Franchitti	Andretti Green	224.253
5	26	Marco Andretti	Andretti Green	223.668

• Weather: 72 degrees, sunny and fair skies
• Qualifying summary: The third day of time trials focused on positions 23-33. Rookie Milka Duno was the first car to make an attempt, and she became the third female (along with Danica Patrick and Sarah Fisher) to qualify for the same race, an Indy 500 record, becoming the fifth female in Indy 500 history to start the race. Veterans Al Unser, Jr. and John Andretti qualified solidly, while second-week drivers Roger Yasukawa and Alex Barron also completed runs. In the final hour, Jon Herb finally made the field, after being bumped the weekend before, but rookie Phil Giebler crashed on his fourth and final lap. Roberto Moreno, just named to the ride Friday, along with Jimmy Kite, wrapped up the qualifying for the day. At the end of the day, the field stood with 32 qualified cars, one short of a full field. During the morning and afternoon, 32 cars made practice runs, most in preparations for race day. Since only 10 of the 11 allotted positions were filled, no bumping occurred Saturday.

May 19, 2007 - Third Day Qualifying Results Rank Car No. Driver Team Qual. Speed 23 24 Roger Yasukawa Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 222.654 24 33 John Andretti Panther Racing 221.756 25 50 Al Unser, Jr. A.J. Foyt Racing 220.876 26 98 Alex Barron CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports 220.471 27 19 Jon Herb Racing Professionals 220.108 28 21 Jaques Lazier Playa Del Racing 219.409 29 23 Milka Duno SAMAX Motorsports 219.228 30 25 Marty Roth Roth Racing 218.922 31† 77 Roberto Moreno Chastain Motorsports 216.229 32†† 18 Jimmy Kite PDM Racing 214.528 †Qualification withdrawn on bump day. ††Bumped on bump day.

May 19, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds[24] Rank Car No. Driver Team Best Speed 1 10 Dan Wheldon Target Chip Ganassi 224.895 2 3 Hélio Castroneves Team Penske 224.692 3 11 Tony Kanaan Andretti Green 224.593 4 9 Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi 223.692 5 39 Michael Andretti Andretti Green 223.417

• Weather: Sunny and warm
• Qualifying summary: The field filled to 33 cars just before 3 p.m. as Richie Hearn completed a qualifying attempt. Phil Giebler recovered from his crash the previous day and was able to put his car solidly in the field, bumping Jimmy Kite. Roberto Moreno withdrew his time from the previous day and improved his average by about 4 mph (6.4 km/h), putting Marty Roth on the bubble. P. J. Jones and Jimmy Kite spent the afternoon trying to get their cars up to speed. In the final hour, both Jones and Kite were running out of miles on their Honda engines leases, and neither had made much progress. Ultimately, Jones gave up. Meanwhile, Kite decided to go out and make last ditch qualifying effort, but his speed was not nearly fast enough to bump Roth. The 6 p.m. gun sounded, and Roth held on to qualify for his third Indy 500.

May 20, 2007 - Bump Day Qualifying Results Rank Car No. Driver Team Qual. Speed 31 77 Roberto Moreno Chastain Motorsports 220.299 32 91 Richie Hearn Hemelgarn Racing/Racing Professionals 219.860 33 31 Phil Giebler Playa Del Racing 219.637

May 20, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds[25] Rank Car No. Driver Team Best Speed 1 10 Dan Wheldon Target Chip Ganassi 222.797 2 9 Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi 222.779 3 27 Dario Franchitti Andretti Green 222.699 4 11 Tony Kanaan Andretti Green 222.632 5 26 Marco Andretti Andretti Green 222.144

• Weather: cloudy, humid, 82 °F
• Practice summary: All 33 qualified cars took to the track and turned in a complete hour-long final practice without incident. Later that evening at 3:30 the Miller Lite Concert started with headline act Kid Rock.

May 25, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds

Rank	Car No.	Driver	Team	Best Speed
1	11	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Green	225.467
2	27	Dario Franchitti	Andretti Green	223.807
3	39	Michael Andretti	Andretti Green	223.575
4	3	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	223.527
5	21	Jaques Lazier	Playa Del Racing	223.468

Team Penske won the 31st annual pit stop contest, their record tenth overall victory in the event. The teams of Hélio Castroneves and Sam Hornish, Jr. (both Penske entries) met in the finals with Castroneves and his chief mechanic Rick Rinaman winning the $100,000 first prize after an 8.335-second pit stop.

• Weather: 76 degrees, cloudy and rain, some patches of sunshine in the afternoon

Rain fell overnight, but stopped before the gates opened in the morning. At 7:45 a.m., rain began to fall again, and threatened to delay or wash out the race. Around 10:00 a.m., the rain stopped and maintenance crews began to dry the track. Despite the morning showers, Speedway chairperson Mari Hulman George gave the command to start engines on time as scheduled at 1:05 p.m. EDT.

During the pace lap, the race nearly took a dramatic turn as pole-sitter Hélio Castroneves failed to start. After several attempts, his car finally fired, and he joined the field in turn 4. A rather ragged start saw Castroneves take the lead into the first turn, but Tony Kanaan slipped by to lead lap one. Green-flag racing continued until lap 11, when John Andretti lost a rear-view mirror, bringing out a debris caution yellow flag.

When racing resumed, Castroneves, Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti, and Scott Dixon all took their turn at the lead. Roberto Moreno caused the 2nd caution when he slid high in turn 1, slapped the wall, and hit the wall again in turn 2 before coming to rest. Jon Herb was the next car to be in an accident after he slid in turn 2 and hit the wall, ending his day. Milka Duno also spun in turn 1 and backed her car into the wall, damaging and ending her day as well.

On the 74th lap, Dario Franchitti took the lead for the first time, and led until he pit on the 89th lap. Around that time, officials were warning that rain was approaching the area. After several drivers sequenced through green-flag pit stops, Tony Kanaan led Marco Andretti. Suddenly, on the 99th lap, John Andretti got high in turn two, and crashed into the outside wall, bringing out the caution. Jeff Simmons found himself unexpectedly in the lead, but pitted a lap later, giving Marco Andretti the lead. With rain only a few miles away, the ensuing lap 107 restart could decide the winner. As the green came out, Tony Kanaan got the jump on Andretti, and took the lead in turn 1. Moments later, Phil Giebler spun and crashed in turn 1, bringing the yellow out once again. Before safety crews could clear the track, heavy rain fell, and the race was red flagged.

When the race was stopped, 113 laps were completed. A race is required to go a minimum of 101 laps before it can be official. If rain continued the rest of the afternoon, it could be declared official. Andretti Green Racing was scored 1st-2nd-3rd with Kanaan leading, Marco Andretti second, and Danica Patrick third. After nearly three hours, the rain stopped and the track was dry. Shortly after 6:00 p.m., the field lined up in the pits for a restart.

Tony Kanaan took over where he left off and pulled away from the field. Danica Patrick got by Marco Andretti and took over second place. Approximately 30 laps of uninterrupted intense green flag racing followed. Another sequence of green-flag pit stops saw all of the leaders head to the pits. Jaques Lazier stayed out a couple of extra laps, and led the race for the first time in his career. After the stops, Kanaan returned to the lead, followed by defending champion Sam Hornish Jr.

On the 151st lap, Marty Roth slid high in turn 1 and smacked the wall, and started an exciting sequence of events. The skies were darkening, and rain was fast approaching again, which would certainly end the race for good. Under the yellow, many leaders pit for tires and fuel, while some drivers, including Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon, stayed out to gain track position. On the 156th lap, the field went back to green, however, in turn four, Tony Kanaan came up on the back of Jaques Lazier, sending Lazier into the wall, and sending Kanaan's car into a spin. He blew a tire and coasted into the pits. Moments later, the field assembled for what was expected to be the final restart before the rains came. Franchitti, working lap 163, held the lead into the backstretch. Behind him, Marco Andretti tangled with Dan Wheldon, and Andretti's car flipped down the backstretch. Buddy Rice was also involved. Before the track could be cleared, a heavy rainstorm fell on the track, and the race was called after 166 laps with Dario Franchitti declared the winner. A makeshift victory lane celebration was held indoors underneath the Pagoda, as had been done for Rice who also won in the rain in 2004.

As of the 2020 race, this was the most recent "500" to be shortened by rain.

The race was broadcast in the United States on ABC for the 43rd consecutive year. Time trials were shown live on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2. For the first time, the race would be aired in high definition.

This was the final 500 broadcast for Rusty Wallace as he was involved with ESPN on ABC NASCAR broadcasts.

For the second year in a row, the telecast utilized the Side-by-Side format for commercial breaks.

The race was broadcast on radio by the IMS Radio Network for the 55th consecutive year. Mike King served as anchor. Davey Hamilton, who previously served as the "driver expert" on the network, returned to cockpit for the first time since 2001. After six years recovery from his serious crash, he offered live in-car reporting to the broadcast during caution periods.

Making a popular return to the IMS Radio Network was former "Voice of the 500" Bob Jenkins. In 2006, Jenkins had worked on the Speedway public address system, but for 2007, he took over the turn two reporting location. Jenkins filled the spot previously held by Adam Alexander, who departed the network.

For the third year in a row, Kevin Olson conducted his annual pre-race interview with David Letterman. Olson served as a pit reporter in the center pits during the early stages of the race, then later moved to cover the garages and track hospital.

• 2007 Indianapolis 500 Daily Trackside Report for the Media
• Indianapolis 500 History: Race & All-Time Stats - Official Site