Colton Herta crashes heavily in Indy 500 qualifying, hours after Marcus Armstrong’s practice wreck

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Colton Herta crashed heavily in qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 on Saturday, hours after Marcus Armstrong was taken away on a stretcher after a scary crash of his own at nearly the same spot at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Both wrecks occurred in Turn 1, where winds gusting up to 30 mph that are largely blocked by the grandstands down the front stretch suddenly switch to behind the drivers. Herta’s car hit the outside wall and then landed on its side and slid into the short chute before coming to rest, and safety crews had to work together to flip it back on its tires.

Herta was able to climb out, but he needed help walking to a waiting vehicle for a trip to the infield care center. He was released a short while later and IndyCar said that Herta had been cleared to drive should his backup car be ready.

Andretti Autosport was busy working on it, but the crash an hour into the nearly 7-hour qualifying session left little time. If they were unable to get back out Saturday, the best Herta could do would be the final row in last-chance qualifying Sunday.

“Luckily these days these crashes look a lot scarier than they feel — not to say that one felt good,” Herta said. “There were no real signs leading to it. We were super happy with the car this morning. Went out loose and couldn’t even get Lap 1 in.”

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Armstrong also was able to climb from his wrecked car but was immediately helped onto a stretcher. He gave a thumbs up as he was loaded into an ambulance and taken to the care center, where he was released about 90 minutes later.

“He is awake. He is alert. He’s doing well,” said Dr. Julia Vaizer, the medical director for IndyCar and the speedway.

Meyer Shank Racing also began working on Armstrong’s backup car, even though it was unclear who would attempt to qualify it. The team was getting help from Chip Ganassi Racing, a fellow Honda-powered program with a close relationship.

If Armstrong is unable to qualify the No. 66 — it was pulled from the lineup for its guaranteed qualifying attempt — there are few options available. Tony Kanaan, the 2013 Indy 500 winner, is the only driver to have completed the refresher course, but he is the team principal for Arrow McLaren, and completed it so that his team would have a backup should NASCAR star Kyle Larson have to abandon the May 25 race to make it to the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte.

There is also a conflict of interest between the Chevrolet-powered Arrow McLaren team and the Honda teams.

Other backup drivers could conceivably complete the refresher Sunday, allowing them to get into Armstrong’s car. But without making a run Saturday, the best they could do would be to nail down one of the final three spots on the 33-car grid.

“It looked a bit weird, to be honest,” Armstrong’s teammate, Felix Rosenqvist, said of the crash. “I haven’t seen any updates or anything. I just tried to look at the screen while I was sitting in the car. Hopefully they can bounce back quickly.”

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing