Indy Lights Freedom 100 live stream: Start time, TV schedule, and how to watch online

The Indianapolis 500 is best known as the race smack dab in the middle of Memorial Day weekend. Carb Day and the Indy Lights Freedom 100 are reasons for racing fans to extend their holiday to four days.

Carb Day is a longstanding Indy tradition that kicks off the biggest open-wheel event in North America. Indianapolis Motor Speedway will open its gates Friday for a day of food, music, meet and greets and, most importantly, the 100-mile race that serves as an appetizer for Sunday’s big event.

The day kicks off at 11 a.m. ET with the final practice session before the Indianapolis 500. Pole sitter Scott Dixon and a star-studded field will hit America’s most famous oval to compete in IndyCar’s signature race. At 12:30, the Freedom 100 will give some of the world’s most promising young drivers their chance to prove themselves on hallowed ground. The 40-lap event isn’t just filler between practice laps and a performance from the Steve Miller Band; it also could be the launching point for the series’ next great driver.

Indy Lights is a developmental track. It plays the AAA role to IndyCar’s major leagues. The winner of each year’s series not only gets $1 million in scholarship money to join the big boys the following year, but he or she is also guaranteed a spot in at least three IndyCar races — including the 500.

Several big names have joined racing’s upper echelon after paying their dues in Indy Lights. Tony Kanaan won the series in 1997. Dixon earned the title three years later. Other Indy 500 regulars like Oriol Servia, Townsend Bell, Josef Newgarden, and J.R. Hildebrand have all earned minor league titles before moving up to America’s top open-wheel circuit.

Winning the Freedom 100 doesn’t guarantee success, however. Australian Wade Cunningham has won the event three times, even setting a track record with a time of 32:29 back in 2006. Unfortunately, he only spent two years in IndyCar, maxing out with a 31st-place finish at the 2012 Indianapolis 500. Newgarden and hometown favorite Ed Carpenter are the two most recognizable racers to claim the checkered flag on Carb Day.

The race will be followed by the TagHeuer Pit Stop Challenge, a tournament to determine which team’s pit crew is the fastest. Cars will drive into the pit box, get all four tires changed, have their gas tanks refilled, and then race to a finish line approximately 100 yards away. The winner of the event will take home the lion’s share of a $100,000 prize purse.

As usual, Helio Castroneves’ team will be the one to beat. The Brazilian’s pit crew has won the challenge in seven of the past 10 years.

Venue: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis, Ind.

TV: NBC Sports Network

Online: NBC Sports