Indianapolis 500 announcers: Who’s calling the race on NBC?

These are the announcers that NBC has tapped to call the Indianapolis 500.

The Indianapolis 500 is finally here!

Sunday, May 28 marks the 107th running of the Indy 500, with the race itself set to begin at 12:45 p.m. ET. Actor Adam Driver will begin the proceedings as the green flag waver to kick off the 500-mile race around Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s famous 2.5-mile track.

Once again, NBC will be handling race day coverage, with streaming available on Peacock as well. Some familiar faces will be along for the ride guiding fans through the marquee event, including Mike Tirico, Danica Patrick, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and James Hinchcliffe.

MORE INDY 500: Danica Patrick picks her 2023 Indy 500 favorites and sleeper, talks speedy qualifying.

Here are all the announcers racing fans will hear on NBC during the 2023 Indy 500.

10 peculiar things you didn’t know about the Indy 500

Brush up on your Indy 500 history with these odd and fun facts.

This story was originally published in 2019 and has been updated.

The Indianapolis 500 is one of the oldest and greatest motor sports events in the entire world, capturing the attention of diehard racing fans and once-a-year viewers a like.

The first Indy 500 was back in 1911, so with more than a century of history, it’s hard to keep track of every detail and quirk related to the race and the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway where it’s held. So here are 10 peculiar lesser-known facts about the race.

MORE INDY 500: Meet the true hero of the Indy 500’s bizarre celebratory tradition: The Veteran Milk Man

Danica Patrick on Kyle Larson’s 2024 Indy 500, Coca-Cola 600 double attempt: ‘No doubt he’ll have a good day’

Danica Patrick offered some tips on how Kyle Larson should approach his 2024 “Memorial Day Double” attempt.

Next year around this time, Kyle Larson will attempt a daunting 1,100-mile challenge between two different race tracks in cities nearly 600 miles apart. All on the same Sunday.

The soon-to-be 31-year-old NASCAR driver will attempt the “Memorial Day Double” by competing in the 2024 Indianapolis 500 for Arrow McLaren at Indianapolis Motor Speedway before jetting off to Charlotte Motor Speedway for NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 for Hendrick Motorsports that evening.

As arguably the most versatile racer in the U.S., he’ll be the fifth driver to attempt the Double and could become the fourth to successfully compete in both on the same day.

Larson’s friend and former competitor Danica Patrick said she has an abundance of confidence in his skillset translating to the IndyCar Series and open-wheeled cars and shared some tips on how she’d approach racing 1,100 miles in one day.

RELATED: Danica Patrick picks her 2023 Indy 500 favorites and sleeper, talks speedy qualifying

“With a guy like Kyle and a good team, there’s always a chance to win the Indy 500,” Patrick told For The Win on Thursday. “Especially because usually there’s a high chance of two strategies working: The fast strategy, the leader strategy, and then something off-strategy because there are so many pitstops and there’s so much that happens in the race.

“But it is hard, no doubt. It is a tall challenge to feel really good in the car when it’s not what you do because open-wheeled cars are very different than stock cars. And I know he drives open-wheeled cars, but most of the time when he’s driving an open-wheeled car, he’s on dirt and not going 240 [miles an hour] on pavement.”

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Kyle Larson and Jeff Gordon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May 2023. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Larson will have the opportunity to get as comfortable as possible in an Indy car through practices and qualifying during the month of May. But Patrick emphasized it’s never quite the same as being in an open-wheeled car for a full season.

And she knows from experience. Patrick never attempted the “Memorial Day Double” — though she said she likely could have if she wanted — she ended her racing career after six full-time seasons in NASCAR by returning to her IndyCar roots and doing the Indy 500 one final time. Her retirement run with the 2018 Daytona 500 and Indy 500 was known as the “Danica Double.”

RELATED: Kyle Larson gets to live out Jeff Gordon’s dream by attempting the 2024 Indy 500

“Even when I came back after seven years, I was like, ‘Oh, God, that was harder than I thought it’d be,'” Patrick explained. “I would see drivers pop back in the car for just the 500 and have good days. And I was like, ‘Oh, must be must not be that hard. It must be, once you’ve done it, you’ve done it.’

“But there’s just something to be said for that week-in week-out [routine]. You’re familiar with not only your team but the fit of the car. You’re not dealing with that stuff: starts, restarts, fuel mixtures, all the stuff on the steering wheel — which I’m out of touch with at this point in time exactly — all the things that they have. But all of that stuff, you want that to be second nature because it’s so hard to have a good day anyway. And so I have no doubt [Larson will] have a good day.”

The Indy 500 is a long and physically taxing event by itself that can leave drivers exhausted and dehydrated after sometimes more than three hours of intense racing around Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s iconic 2.5-mile track. But when that’s over — assuming Larson qualifies for the 2024 Indy 500 field — he’ll have to head over to a NASCAR crown-jewel race with the Coca-Cola 600.

Having a plan for the physical side of this formidable 1,100-mile day is crucial, Patrick said. If she were attempting the Double, she said she’d drain an IV bag on the plane ride between Indianapolis and Charlotte.

As for mindset and mental preparation, Patrick said Larson just needs to stay in the moment he’s in as he’ll have to shift from high-adrenaline racing to rest and back to racing again. That could end up being the biggest challenge, she added.

“He’s a pretty cool customer; he doesn’t really get too up or too down,” Patrick said. “But I think still just being able to have the amount of relaxation in the morning that it takes to keep your energy conserved for the race itself at Indy, and then not feeling frantic after it’s over with to hurry up and get to the Coke 600.

“Just staying calm through all that while then going and driving 1,100 miles at 200 miles an hour — I mean, that is a lot. That is a very big shift between staying relaxed in the morning, turning it on for the race, relaxing in between that and the Coke 600 and then turning it back on. …

“His capabilities to be able to drive both cars and do all those miles is good. It’s just, how much energy can you conserve in the in-between during that day, so that you have the most amount of focus and energy for the job itself?”

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Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick share their predictions and hopes for Jimmie Johnson’s first Indy 500

“Jimmie could surprise a lot of people,” Dale Jr. said about the seven-time NASCAR champ’s first Indy 500.

Jimmie Johnson is ready for an incredible ride when he makes his Indianapolis 500 debut Sunday behind the wheel of the No. 48 Carvana/American Legion Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Sure, he’s started 18 races and won four on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s iconic 2.5-mile oval in the NASCAR Cup Series. But the IndyCar Series is a totally different, and faster, beast at the mammoth venue.

The seven-time NASCAR champ’s old racing pals — Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danica Patrick, who are both part of NBC’s Indy 500 broadcast team — have confidence in Johnson and high hopes for his first Indy 500 and only second IndyCar oval race.

“I think Jimmie could surprise a lot of people,” Earnhardt said Tuesday during an NBC press conference call.

“This whole month, he was able to have so much time with the car and the team at the facility, sort of move beyond the enormity of the moment. I know that’s going to be nearly impossible when he walks out on the grid for the race to sort of be beyond the enormity of the moment or the weight of it. I really think Jimmie could do really, really well.”

(Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports)

MORE INDY 500: Mario Andretti expects Jimmie Johnson to be ‘a force to be reckoned with’ in first Indy 500

Earnhardt also pointed to Johnson’s strong sixth-place finish in his first IndyCar oval race at Texas Motor Speedway in March as a possible indicator of how he could do Sunday.

Johnson — who retired from NASCAR at the end of the 2020 season and was an IndyCar rookie in 2021 — has done fairly well with fast practice speeds throughout the last couple weeks, plus a couple small mistakes in there. During the two-day qualifying last weekend, he had a solid four-lap average speed of 231.264 miles per hour and will start 12th.

“He did a tremendous job, which, honestly for me — I’ve known Jimmie for a long time and [we’re] good friends — I would expect nothing less,” said Scott Dixon, Johnson’s Ganassi teammate and the 2008 Indy 500 winner. “This is definitely more on his wheelhouse, something he feels more comfortable with, outside of the other part of the season where he’s still learning a lot.”

Even though Johnson’s IndyCar oval experience remains limited, Patrick said “he’s going to have a great chance to have a good day.”

After his 12 races last season, all on road and street courses, and five so far in 2022, he has so much more familiarity with the car now to help him in the Indy 500, she said. That includes everything from the steering wheel and tools inside the cockpit to pitting, restarts and how to pass.

“He seems to be happy and excited,” Patrick told For The Win. “My dad was just saying [Monday] night that he was watching qualifying with his dad, and his dad was like, ‘He’s just having a blast!’ So he’s really just having fun, obviously — fun at 240 miles an hour.”

“Indy cars are not stock cars,” she continued. “So there’s a lot that can go wrong. But I think the fact that he’s done Indy cars for so long now and run so many races and has so many miles, I think really does prepare him for this next step to doing ovals and being here at the Indy 500.”

MORE INDY 500: Meet the true hero of the Indy 500’s bizarre celebratory tradition: The Veteran Milk Man

Dixon, the six-time IndyCar champ and now five-time Indy 500 pole winner, set the record for fastest pole speed in the race’s history with a 234.046 miles per hour four-lap average. Dixon, teammate Alex Palou and Rinus VeeKay also combined for the fastest front row in Indy 500 history.

Jimmie Johnson with Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan during practice for the 2022 Indy 500. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

So a traditionally fast race could reach even higher speeds this year, and that has Earnhardt a little on edge, knowing how competitive and intense Johnson is.

“I’m a little bit nervous because he seems to be pushing to the max,” Johnson’s former Hendrick Motorsports teammate said. “Every time he’s on the track, it’s like he is on the edge. Nobody’s going to reach out and tell a seven-time champion, with all the success he’s had in his career, what to do, how to drive, how to approach anything.”

Earnhardt said he hopes Johnson has a great experience regardless and a finish he can be proud of, but he continued expressing his concern.

“I am full of anxiety that he’s going to push, push, push too hard, and somehow that might put him in a bad situation,” Earnhardt added. “He’s gotten so, so close a few times already this month to some bad situations. But he’s a pro. You trust that he knows what he’s out there doing, understanding the limits of the car.”

For their picks to win the 2022 Indy 500, Patrick said she’s leaning toward Dixon, Palou or four-time Indy 500 winner Hélio Castroneves, also the defending champ.

“I would probably put my money on Dixon if it was me,” Earnhardt said. “I’d have a little bit on Jimmie, as well.”

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Danica Patrick on 2022 Indy 500 predictions, her 4th race broadcast and favorite Indy moments

“Indianapolis produces historic moments,” Danica said about the Indy 500.

Danica Patrick knows the ins and outs of the Indianapolis 500 better than most.

And after eight career starts and being part of NBC’s last three Indy 500 broadcasts, she understands the mentality of a driver headed into the biggest race on the IndyCar Series schedule — and one of the biggest in the world — and how to convey that to the masses.

In those eight starts, Patrick became the first woman to lead laps in the Indy 500 on her way to becoming the race’s Rookie of the Year with a fourth-place finish in 2005. Her career-best finish was third in 2009 — also a record for a woman.

After competing in the 2018 Indy 500 — the final event of her racing career and a return to her IndyCar roots — Patrick made the jump to NBC’s broadcast team for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” She’s returning for her fourth consecutive Indy 500 broadcast, and, as an analyst, she’ll be joined by some familiar motor sports names, like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and James Hinchcliffe, along with host Mike Tirico.

Ahead of the 106th running of the Indy 500 on Sunday (12:45 p.m. ET green flag), For The Win spoke with Patrick, who’s in Indianapolis and staying with her parents — “nobody in their late 30s into their 40s stays with their parents as much as I do,” she joked — about being an experienced broadcaster, Hinchcliffe and her predictions for the 2022 race.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Matt Kenseth is the latest NASCAR driver to finish the Boston Marathon, and he did it at an incredible pace

Retired NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth had an incredible Boston Marathon time — one that beat Jimmie Johnson’s.

Matt Kenseth hasn’t been behind the wheel during a NASCAR Cup Series race since the 2020 season, but it’s no surprise he’s staying active, including racing in some non-NASCAR events.

Outside of motor sports, Kenseth has had some unbelievable athletic feats, including, a few years ago with a couple other NASCAR drivers, tackling what’s known as The Assault on Mt. Mitchell — a 102.7-mile bike ride with an ascension of more than 10,000 feet.

But Monday, Kenseth finished the Boston Marathon, which is an incredible 26.2-mile accomplishment by itself.

But the 50-year-old retired NASCAR driver and 2003 Cup Series champ did it at an amazing pace too, finishing with a time of three hours, one minute and 40 seconds, per the Boston Athletic Association. That averages out to less than a seven-minute mile — or six minutes, 56 seconds per mile to be exact.

Kenseth finished overall in 3,576th place and was 141st in his division, men ages 50-54.

In a post-race interview with CBS Boston, Kenseth was asked about the most challenging part of this marathon after he said he completed the Chicago Marathon in October. Describing Monday’s feat as “one of the better experiences in my life,” Kenseth said:

“I think just pacing yourself in the beginning. There are such big crowds, and you couldn’t really pass people, which was kind of good. It kind of held me back. I think the biggest challenge is just not to kill your quads in all those downhills. It was so different than any other marathon I’ve ran and saving something for the end, so once I got over the top of Heartbreak Hill, I actually felt really great and turned it on. And I finished really strong, so I was happy with that.”

So how does that compare with other NASCAR drivers who have recently completed the Boston Marathon?

In 2019, then-43-year-old Jimmie Johnson — who has since retired from NASCAR and is now competing in the IndyCar Series — finished Boston’s 26.2-miler in three hours, nine minutes and seven seconds for a 7:13-minute mile average.

In the 2021 Boston Marathon — which was held in October as the result of COVID-19 complications — retired driver then-39-year-old Danica Patrick finished her 26.2 miles in four hours, one minute and 21 seconds for a 9:13-minute mile pace.

When CBS Boston told Kenseth he beat Johnson’s time, Kenseth joked: “Yeah, he was way younger.”

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What Danica Patrick learned about fitness and herself while training for her first Boston Marathon

Danica Patrick will cross off a bucket-list item with her first 26.2-mile race, the Boston Marathon.

Among the 20,000 Boston Marathon runners in this year’s race, Danica Patrick probably won’t stand out right away. But the number adorning her bib during Monday’s race might catch people’s attention, if they’re looking closely.

For her first 26.2-miler, Patrick will wear bib No. 500 in the prestigious marathon. Referencing her 14-year career at the highest levels of motor sports, the number is a nod to her achievements in the Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500 from the Boston Athletic Association, the event organizer.

And when she crosses the finish line — she hopes near the four-hour mark — she’ll check off a lifelong goal.

“The only bucket list item I have is to run a marathon,” Patrick told For The Win recently.

“And I hope that it will be fun because the focuses have been train, be prepared, feel good, have fun.”

Since retiring from racing in NASCAR and IndyCar in 2018, Patrick has only slowed down in the literal sense. She’s been part of NBC’s Indy 500 broadcasts; last year, she launched Danica Rosé, sourced from Provence, France, and still has her Napa Valley-based wine brand, Somnium; and she hosts a weekly podcast called, Pretty Intense. And, of course, she’s still a fitness expert who regularly posts her workouts and motivational messages to her hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers.

But marathon training is totally different from something like CrossFit or a tough workout Patrick writes for herself. Luckily, she’s not doing it alone.

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***

Patrick, 39, expects this to be her only marathon. And she’ll be joined by her “ride or die fitness crew” and two training partners: her sister, Brooke Selman, 37, and their friend, Erin Buntin, 43. They’re all fitness buffs who do CrossFit and push each other, and Monday, they’ll all run their first 26.2-miler together in the 125th Boston Marathon.

Typically, runners have to qualify for the Boston Marathon, so they’ve completed at least one 26.2-mile race before. But Patrick, Selman and Buntin are able to run Boston without qualifying because they’re running to support a charity, the Light Foundation, started by former New England Patriot Matt Light. Patrick is the honorary captain for Team Speed of Light. The three have collectively raised about $48,000, Buntin said.

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“When you’re like, ‘I’m running Boston,’ [people are] like, ‘Oh, where do you qualify?’ And they almost discredit you a little bit,” Selman said. “And I’m like, screw that. … What we’re doing is really neat because we’re running with a purpose.”

The trio have been training for the Boston Marathon since about Memorial Day, but most of the time, they’re not physically together with Patrick based in Scottsdale, Selman in Indianapolis and Buntin in Green Bay.

All three agreed Patrick is the most natural runner among them, and the retired race car driver said that goes back to when she was growing up and would run with her mom early in the mornings — even in the winters. She said while running long distances isn’t part of her typical workout routines, it always feels comfortable and familiar.

In part because of that, Patrick said she went into her marathon training confident. Perhaps too confident, as she focused more on the longer runs than the shorter ones in between. So “as the mileage got cranking,” there was a bit of a reality check.

“[Arizona] has been so nuclear hot,” Patrick said about her training this summer. “And so I think my 16- and 18-mile runs really made me realize, ‘Holy crap, I better dial this in because I feel terrible right now.'”

So she adjusted her training and focus. But she said because “the nature of the sport is really hard on the body” — and in very different way than NASCAR and IndyCar were — she’s gained a greater perspective about the importance of recovery, like dry needling, and refueling. From electrolytes and sodium to energy gel products recommended by Selman, Patrick said she’s learned how to sustain her body properly for a feat like the marathon.

And as she ran from wherever her schedule allowed — like desert training at home in Arizona and “punishing” altitude runs in Telluride, Colorado — hydration has been everything.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CRwqzzPnF3T/

Patrick noted she’s also learned to play the “mental game” of distance running. Thinking about what hurts and what feels good during a long run, the mind games she plays with herself help her push past the pain — or, as she recently wrote on Instagram, when “[expletive] gets real after about 12” miles.

“‘I’m gonna take a UCAN Edge [energy gel] at mile 14, I just gotta get to mile 14,'” Patrick said she tells herself.

“‘OK, I know every mile, I’m going to take a big drink of my electrolytes. That’s gonna feel really good.’ And so you just start making mini goals. But the body is really giving you the big middle finger, saying, ‘This hurts. This is hard. I’m dehydrated.'”

And if Patrick, Selman or Buntin need help or an extra push, there’s a group chat for that. Patrick said she and Buntin — who met at a CrossFit gym in Green Bay a few years ago — have built a “strong foundation” for their friendship rooted in working out, which quickly included Selman.

“We talk every single day about either how your runs are going or fueling,” Selman said. “What are you doing and drinking and hydration and all that stuff. We are constantly talking, and it is a topic that we talk about literally every day.”

***

Although the three soon-to-be marathoners live in different cities across the country, they’ve still found a handful of times to run together, like they will in Boston. Buntin said she and Selman ran together in Madison this summer, and more recently, Patrick and Buntin completed their final long training run, a 16-miler, in Chicago early last week and have since been in taper mode.

But as a group, the only time the three of them have trained for the marathon together was their longest training run, a 20-miler in Napa in September. And they treated it — like they have been with several of their longer runs — as a dress rehearsal for Boston, wearing the same clothes they intend to wear on race day down to the socks and coming prepared with supplies to limit chafing or blisters.

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“This whole thing has really proven to be a growth for us mentally, physically, emotionally [and], I would say, even spiritually,” Buntin said. “And so those are the motivations, right? So if somebody is in a mental block or has a [expletive] run, you have two people going, ‘We’ll break it down,’ and, ‘What were your shining moments in it?’ Or ‘[Where] physically you’re having a hard time?'”

For some people attempting a marathon for the first time, the goal can simply be to finish. As a self-described “non-runner,” Buntin’s goals for Boston were more focused on having a strong training program and enjoying it and being injury-free on race day. Selman is aiming to have the kind of race where she feels good — or as good as one could expect — by the end.

For Patrick, as she was building up her mileage early on in training, she was running about 8:15-minute miles and initially thought an 8:40 pace for Boston would be attainable. But after learning more about her body through training, plus weather potentially playing a role, she and her group have a more realistic goal of a four-hour marathon – or a little higher than a nine-minute mile pace.

But Patrick outlined tiers of goals for her first marathon, ranging from breaking four hours to a 9:30-minute mile pace to finishing the race. And running and staying together through all 26.2 miles will “make a really big difference,” she said.

“It will help be really distracting to just be running with your friends and being able to run together,” Patrick said. “It’s like, y’all just kind of pull each other along.

“And it’s supposed to be fun! I’m not going to set some world record. I’m not going to go win the race; that’s not going to happen. And so the point is that it’s something that I wanted to do.”

Still, the Boston Marathon course is a daunting one that includes the infamous Heartbreak Hill — the final in a series of hills with a steep half-mile incline at mile 20 when runners’ legs are anything but fresh. But Patrick renamed it, Buntin said, to something more positive because once the hill is completed, there are only about six miles left.

“We felt like the name Heartbreak Hill had such a fearful word tied to it that we’ve actually referred to as Home Free Hill,” Buntin said. “Because once we get beyond that, we are literally home free.”

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Did Danica Patrick pick against your team? See her ‘College GameDay’ picks from Soldier Field

“I think you’ve got a winner right there,” Lee Corso said to Danica Patrick.

Danica Patrick was the latest professional athlete to serve as the celebrity guest picker on ESPN’s College GameDay, which was in Chicago on Saturday for the Notre Dame-Wisconsin game at Soldier Field.

Patrick was born in Wisconsin and grew up in Roscoe, Illinois, which is about two hours outside of Chicago and right on the Illinois-Wisconsin border. And the retired NASCAR and IndyCar driver made some interesting picks on GameDay — especially since she admitted her football fandom lies more with the NFL than college football.

For GameDay‘s marquee game between No. 12 Notre Dame and No. 18 Wisconsin — which kicked off at noon ET — Patrick went with the Fighting Irish.

“I feel like the Fighting Irish are gonna come through with it today,” Patrick said to the surprise of the GameDay crew.

“I think you’ve got a winner right there, nice going,” Lee Corso said to her before picking Notre Dame himself.

Patrick also picked No. 9 Clemson over N.C. State, Texas over Texas Tech, No. 19 Michigan over Rutgers, No. 20 Michigan State over Nebraska, Stanford over No. 24 UCLA, LSU over Mississippi State and Oklahoma State over No. 25 Kansas State.

She also went with Boston College over Missouri because she’s running the Boston Marathon on Oct. 11 and joked that she needs people from Boston to like her.

“You’re doing a terrific job,” Corso said to Patrick in the middle of her picks.

And here’s a look at Corso’s famous headgear pick as he went with Notre Dame.

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NASCAR drivers share their favorite Jimmie Johnson stories before his sendoff race

We asked NASCAR drivers to tell us their favorite Jimmie Johnson stories from over the years, and they didn’t disappoint.

After more than 20 years in NASCAR, Jimmie Johnson has made a lot of friends. And those friends were only too happy to share some of their best memories of the seven-time champion, who will retire from full-time racing after Sunday’s season finale at Phoenix Raceway. After that, he’s off to compete in the IndyCar Series for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Throughout the 2020 season, For The Win has been talking to drivers, active and retired, and asking them to tell their favorite Jimmie Johnson stories ahead of the seven-time champ’s NASCAR retirement. They opened up about memorable days and quintessential moments that quickly come to mind when they think of him and their friendships.

From Tony Stewart to Dale Earnhardt Jr. to Alex Bowman — Johnson’s teammate who will replace him in the No. 48 Chevrolet in 2021 — 15 drivers shared funny, ridiculous and touching stories from Johnson’s two decades in NASCAR.