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 on Saturday hours after Marcus Armstrong was taken away on a stretcher after a scary practice crash of his own at nearly the same spot at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Both wrecks occurred in Turn where winds gusting up to 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 diagnostic automobile for the trip to the infield care center Just glad that everybody has been getting out OK Those are specific big hits explained champion Scott Dixon who had one of the fastest four-lap qualifying times early in the day It s a bit sketchy Herta s wreck occurred just over an hour into the nearly -hour qualifying session leaving Andretti Global little time to assess the damage and determine its next policies Herta also would need to be cleared to drive to get back on the track If they are unable to get back out Saturday the best Herta could do would be the final row in last-chance qualifying Sunday Armstrong also was able to climb from his wrecked car but was directly helped onto a stretcher He gave a thumbs up as he was loaded into an ambulance and taken to the infield care center where he was circulated about minutes later He is awake He is alert He s doing well explained Dr Julia Vaizer the diagnostic director for IndyCar and the speedway Meyer Shank Racing this instant began working on Armstrong s backup car even though it was unclear who would attempt to qualify it The group was getting help from Chip Ganassi Racing a fellow Honda-powered undertaking with a close relationship If Armstrong is unable to qualify the No it was pulled from the lineup for its guaranteed qualifying attempt there are insufficient options available Tony Kanaan the Indy winner is the only driver to have completed the refresher syllabus but he is the squad principal for Arrow McLaren and completed it so that his crew would have a backup should NASCAR star Kyle Larson have to abandon the May race to make it to the Coca-Cola in Charlotte There is also a conflict of interest between the Chevrolet-powered Arrow McLaren gang 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 -car grid It looked a bit weird to be honest Armstrong s teammate Felix Rosenqvist explained 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 fast AP auto racing https apnews com hub auto-racing Source