Scott McLaughlin crashes ahead of Indy 500 qualifying

Team Penske racer, Scott McLaughlin, crashed his car in Sunday afternoon practice. That ruined any chance of repeating last year’s Indianapolis 500 pole-winning run.

McLaughlin qualified Saturday inside the top 12 and was eligible to run for the pole later Sunday. But he spun at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and hit the Turn 2 wall.

The Kiwi’s car was destroyed and Team Penske said they’d slot him at 12th and would not even attempt a qualifying run Sunday. The car the team was working on for McLaughlin is Penske’s back-up speedway car. It had been earmarked for teammate Josef Newgarden to use in next week’s pit crew competition.

McLaughlin was clearly deflated after he was released from the medical center.

“I’m OK, I’m just really, really, really, really, really sorry for everyone at Team Penske,” McLaughlin said. 

“It was talking to me and I sort of felt it, and I probably should have backed out but you’re trying to complete a run to see what it feels like and was it worth the risk? Probably wasn’t. I’m incredibly sad.”

He said he felt fortunate that the car did not go too airborne or smash into the catchfence. However, the crash did cause damage to the track surface that IMS workers were fixing during a stoppage created by the crash.

“They can build a new car for me but I’m just really gutted more than anything,” McLaughlin said. 

“It’s hard to take, like you wish it was for something but it was for nothing, right? In practice.”

McLaughlin was also concerned to see his wife in tears after the crash.

“They’re nervous about me,” he said. “I wanted to get out of the car straight away just so she knew I was OK.”

There have been three major crashes in the past couple of days. Marcus Armstrong and Colton Herta both hit the wall Saturday.

Armstrong has to qualify Sunday for the field of 33 using a road and street course back-up car. Herta qualified inside the top 30 to lock himself into the field once his car was ready for qualifying.