Fox Sports CEO drops major update about Indy 500 coverage - Reports

The Indy 500 is one of the most iconic racing events across all motorsports. This year, the 109th edition of the event will take place in Indianapolis in May, and with less than three months until the event, AP Sports's Jenna Fryer has dropped a major report around its FOX coverage.

IndyCar's premier event is the Indy 500, and it has been taking place since 1911. Moreover, the 2024 edition was won by the two-time world champion and Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden.

With the 2025 edition of the event not too far away, Jenna Fryer claimed that Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks has stated that the Indy 500 will have 2.5 hours of pre-race coverage. Via her official X account, Fryer wrote:

"Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks says the network is going to “blow the doors off” with its coverage of the Indy 500. Will have a 2.5-hour pre-race show."

The popular event celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2011, and its 100th edition was run in 2016. It's a 200-lap race that covers a distance of 800 km.

Pato O'Ward's take on his 2024 Indy 500 heartbreak

IndyCar driver Pato O'Ward - Source: Getty

While the hype has started building ahead of the 2025 Indianapolis 500, in 2024, Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward came within touching distance of winning that race. Team Penske's Josef Newgarden was able to triumph in the event by an extremely close margin over the 25-year-old.

In line with this, O'Ward, via his official Instagram handle, recently revealed:

"Oh man, I think about it a lot. I have very memorable moments, good and bad. Of all of my Indy 500s, it was definitely a lot of emotions kind of hitting that moment, but was just, you know, a can that had been opened, obviously that keeps getting heavier and heavier and heavier every year when you just haven't quite gotten it. You know more times than not, we have been so freaking close multiple times, you know, so that what truly showed the passion that I have for not only IndyCar racing, but just winning there," O'Ward said.

Pato O'Ward was one of the standout performers of the 2024 IndyCar season. He ended his 17-race campaign in fifth position with a commendable 460 points and fell short of fourth by 38 against Team Penske's Will Power (two-time world champion). Alongside this, he was also able to amass three wins, six top-fives, and 10 top-ten finishes.

In the ongoing 2025 season of the highest class of open-wheel racing in America, it will be important for him to strongly build up to the Indianapolis 500 event by amassing strong results from tomorrow's Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg onward. There are five Grand Prix events before the commencement of the Indy 500 at the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway.