The track experienced rainfall throughout the afternoon, which subsided about three hours prior to the race's scheduled start time.

[1][2] The race began at 1:49 p.m. CT, which itself was delayed from a 1:06 p.m. start in order to address issues with the track's drainage system.

[3] Josef Newgarden and Conor Daly were involved in a wreck on lap 42, which resulted in an extended, nearly 30-lap caution period in order to repair a SAFER barrier.

[3] Due to forecasts calling for more rain on Monday, and logistical issues surrounding driver participation (several IndyCar Series drivers were scheduled to participate in the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans the following weekend) and impact on testing schedules, IndyCar announced that the Firestone 600 would be restarted on the evening of August 27, 2016 at 8:15 p.m.[5] The race would continue from lap 71, with James Hinchcliffe as leader.

[1][2][7] The rescheduled continuation of the event occurred on August 27 with far better weather than the original attempt to complete the race.

At the beginning of the first session, Takuma Sato crashed following a suspension piece breaking on his car, putting him in jeopardy of not be able to restart the race.

[8] The team would be able to repair the car in time, but Sato retired early due to mechanical issues.

However, on lap 79, Hinchcliffe retook the lead and began to pull away from the rest of the field quickly.

Hélio Castroneves moved into second position on lap 85 and became to only person who could keep pace with Hinchcliffe over the early stages of the race.

Carpenter was out of the race, while Castroneves miraculously avoided race-ending damage and managed to stay on the lead lap.

Aleshin was able to circle back around to the tail end of the field as the fifth and final car on the lead lap.

One lap later, caution flew again, this time for Aleshin spinning in turn four and collecting Jack Hawksworth, putting them both out of the race.