Full Moon over Auto Club Speedway

NBC Sports Network will broadcast the MAVTV 500 at 8 p.m. (ET). Leigh Diffey is the chief announcer.

You can also watch the race live on NBC Sports Live Extra. CLICK HERE

Radio broadcast: IMS Radio Network affiliates, Sirius and XM 211, American Forces Network, INDYCAR 13 app, www.indycar.com. Mike King is the chief announcer.

Timing & Scoring: INDYCAR 13 app, Race Control on www.indycar.com

Click it: MAVTV 500 starting lineup || Interviews with top qualifiers

Twitter: @IndyCar (#IndyCar), @ACSupdates (#MAVTV500)

Track layout: 2-mile D-shaped oval with 14 degrees of banking in turns

Length: 250 laps

Start: Three-wide start with single-file restarts

Verizon P1 Award: Will Power in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car with a two-lap average of 220.775 mph

What to watch: The 2013 season comes down to one race to decide the championship for the eighth year in a row. Contenders Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon were both quick in qualifications, but both will incur 10 grid spot penalties because of unapproved engine changes. 

“It’s a 500-mile race,” said Dixon, who enters the fray with a 25-point lead. “For us, it was more paramount to change the engine and make sure we took maybe the performance gain than sort of just have the straight-out speed and go off whatever qualifying we would have qualified."

The surface conditions will change dramatically during the course of the 500-mile race because the racetrack will be hot with the twilight start and then cool throughout the evening. That will be something the teams will chase throughout the race.