Kyle Larson hits wall, crashes during Indy 500 open test

The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion is attempting to run his second consecutive Indianapolis 500 while also striving to finally complete the rare ‘Double’ in May. On Wednesday, he clocked in 11th on the time sheets and ran 67 laps without issue.

However, Thursday’s practice has not gone nearly as smooth. Kyle Larson was making his first mock qualifying run of the day with boost turned up when the incident occurred. Larson missed the bottom in Turn 1, pushing high as his No. 17 Arrow McLaren-Hendrick Chevrolet got tight. He then pancaked the outside wall along the SAFER Barrier, breaking the right front suspension. Unable to control the car, he became a passenger as he slammed the Turn 2 wall as well.

Thankfully, Larson was okay. He was checked and released from the infield care center, offering some insight regarding the crash:

“I was starting my qualifying laps there and just got really tight,” explained Larson. “Just a bunch of understeer through (Turn) 1 and ran out of space off of Turn 1. So yeah, I kind of fought the understeer feeling yesterday and it carried over to today. Honestly, though I’m happy to crash my first IndyCar and live through it.

“But we’ll just work on it and try and get the balance more comfortable. Just didn’t quite feel like I had the feeling I needed yesterday, and then it really carried over today. I think when you’re going faster, you know, it really stood out. So yeah, just a bummer. But also encouraging that it didn’t feel — I know it wasn’t like a big hit or anything — but it didn’t feel anything different than what I was expecting.”

Larson started fifth in last year’s Indianapolis 500 and finished 18th after a late-race speeding penalty put him deeper in the pack.