Everything was new to Mike Tirico when he walked past the famed pagoda that dominates the front stretch at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, assumed his broadcast perch high above pit lane and proceeded to host his first Indy 500.

Now, all that was new has given way to unprecedented.

One year after NBC assumed the rights from longtime broadcaster ABC, the network is preparing to bring one of the iconic events in sports to a potentially record-setting television audience Sunday. The reasons are many, but the biggest are these: There remain far fewer live events than normal because of the COVID-19 pandemic, none of the 300,000 fans that turn out each year will be there in person, and the event itself still stirs a certain sense of Americana among race fans.

“We’re all taking different stock of the things we do professionally and personally,” Tirico said Wednesday, “and the chance to sit right there on the track with Danica Patrick and have the 33 cars behind us and the 300,00 people behind us is one of the coolest experiences I’ve had. We’ll miss those fans incredibly.

“But the Indy 500 is the Indy 500,” Tirico continued, “and there’s never been one like this year. So I’m looking forward to documenting that history and sharing it with the fans at home.”

The anthem will be performed by Dr. Elvis Francois and Dr. William Robinson, a popular duo who have become known as the “Singing Surgeons.” Jim Cornelison will be back for the fourth time to perform “Back Home Again in Indiana,” and the famous Air Force Thunderbirds — who are always booked elsewhere for Memorial Day — will be doing the flyover.

“The elements that you would expect that are really important are back,” Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Doug Boles said. “Jim is back again and he’s so excited about the way he can interact with the fans. Part of Memorial Day weekend is to celebrate the men and women who serve. We’re in August this year, but a flyover with the Thunderbirds is a fitting tribute to those men and women. And they have a little twist up their sleeve this year.”