Simon Pagenaud won the race from the pole position, earning Team Penske's record-extending 18th Indy 500 victory.

Simon Pagenaud became the second driver in a row to sweep both the IndyCar Grand Prix and the Indy 500 in the same year.

During the Last Row Shootout on May 19, former Formula 1 World Champion Fernando Alonso, attempting his second Indy 500, was bumped from the field, and failed to qualify.

On Saturday, the procedure was as follows: On Sunday, time trials will conclude as follows: Five different drivers won the first five races of the 2019 IndyCar Series season.

On January 31, 2019, it was announced that the online financial services company Gainbridge would become the new presenting sponsor of the 500 under a four-year deal.

[21] * Includes days where trackactivity was significantly limited due to rain On August 6, 2018 a private test was conducted at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval by Firestone.

After some criticism during the 2018 race, improvements were made to the front wing endplate and underwing panels to address stability issues.

Six teams tested with six cars, further developing aerodynamic specifications for the UAK18 universal aero kit as well as Firestone tires.

In addition, the drivers were able to experience for the first time the performance of the Speedway's pavement, which was recently upgraded with an application of the asphalt binding agent Recycled Polyethylene (RPE).

Ben Hanley, Colton Herta and Marcus Ericsson took part in the test, which was conducted by IndyCar officials.

The test provided the drivers with high-speed oval experience prior to the start of the Rookie Orientation Program.

Charlie Kimball was the only Carlin entry to make the starting field (he had qualified 20th the day before and as such was not involved in the session).

Despite an adequate budget, McLaren's effort with Fernando Alonso was riddled with mistakes, missteps, unpreparedness, and in hindsight was described as a "comedy of errors".

One practice run on Sunday was aborted when the team realized they had made errors in their chassis setups from converting from imperial to metric units.

[40] Team Penske won their record-extending 18th Indianapolis 500 pole position, as driver Simon Pagenaud took the top spot in the Fast Nine Shootout.

Three-time polesitter Ed Carpenter was the third car out and set the pace early on with a four-lap average of 229.889 mph.

After a disappointing run by Will Power, which saw him drop from 2nd on Saturday to 6th on Sunday, Spencer Pigot was the last car with a chance for the pole.

The first green flag run was short lived, with the first caution period coming after just four laps, when Colton Herta came to a halt at the exit of turn 4; a gearbox failure causing a quick end to the rookie's race.

[44] Racing resumed on lap 10, with Power moving into second place ahead of Carpenter, with Spencer Pigot running fourth.

[44] Despite the slow stop, Alexander Rossi quickly climbed back up the order, and by lap 112 was in second place and fighting with leader Simon Pagenaud.

Behind Rossi, Marcus Ericsson spun coming into the pit lane, making contact with the wall with the nose of the car.

Pagenaud elected to stay behind Newgarden for several laps in an effort to conserve fuel and make it to the end on only one more pit stop.

Behind them, Felix Rosenqvist, Zach Veach, and Charlie Kimball also lost control of their cars trying to avoid the incident.

NBC televised the race in the United States, having assumed the broadcast rights as part of a new, three-year deal to televise the entire IndyCar Series, replacing ABC for the first time since 1965 (NBCSN held cable rights over the previous contract, but selected races, including the Indianapolis 500, were part of a separate package sold to ABC).

Mike Tirico served as on-air host for pre-race coverage, joined by Danica Patrick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. as analysts.

The season-long broadcast team of Jake Query, Anders Krohn, and Katie Hargitt covered the Indy Lights Freedom 100.

[52] The 2019 Indianapolis 500 saw an average of 5.4 million viewers, and a 3.9 overnight rating—a 15% increase over the 2018 edition (which was the least-viewed 500 since the introduction of live flag-to-flag coverage).

The IMS Radio Network took over the studio formerly occupied by ABC television, on the second floor of the Pagoda renamed the Sid Collins Booth.

Nick Yeoman took the prestigious turn one reporting location, as Jerry Baker was now permanently retired from the crew but was working with the public address department.

1070 The Fan broadcast nightly with Trackside with Curt Cavin and Kevin Lee, followed by Donald Davidson's The Talk of Gasoline Alley.