Marcus Armstrong crashes at Indianapolis, not yet cleared to race

INDIANAPOLIS — Meyer Shank Racing driver Marcus Armstrong and Andretti Global driver Colton Herta both had big scares in brutal crashes on Saturday but have been cleared to attempt to make the Indianapolis 500 field.

Herta’s car got upside-down after spinning and getting airborne after hitting the wall during his qualifying attempt. He was cleared shortly after his accident. Armstrong had a crushing blow earlier in the day in practice and had to wait nearly five hours before clearing concussion protocols.

Herta’s was the crash that looked scarier, as sparks flew from the halo that covers the driver’s head as the car skidded on its roof.

“It happened so fast, you know, you don’t realize it,” Herta said about the car being upside-down and on its side. “It just sucks because it just makes the second impact so much bigger.”

Armstrong, a 24-year-old driver from New Zealand, said he cleared all x-rays and concussion checks.

“I feel good,” Armstrong said before quipping, “I feel a bit hungry. I could do a coffee.”

The car was destroyed and Armstrong will have to drive a converted road-course car. The team would likely want him to get some practice time on Saturday before attempting to qualify.

“I expect to be flat in Turn 1 and 2 on my first lap,” Armstrong said. “I’m confident we can make the field.”

Herta was confident as well. The four drivers with the slowest qualifying speeds on Saturday (and neither Herta nor Armstrong have posted a qualifying time yet as their backup cars are being prepared) battle for the final three spots in the field on Sunday.

“This place doesn’t scare me at all,” Herta said. “If they have a car ready for me, I’d go flat out right now. I guess the nervousness would come from what is this car going to be like compared to the other one? We have no clue.”

While drivers battled significant wind Saturday, neither driver blamed the wind.

Armstrong: “I was expecting clearly a lot more grip when I arrived in Turn 1 than what there was. However, I feel like we didn’t quite get everything right. So it is what it is. My first reaction was like, I hope I’m OK because I thought that maybe it was a little worse than it was and I was hoping that I wasn’t badly injured.”

Herta: “It was sudden. How the wind was, it shouldn’t have been up [on the side] because of a wind gust. I think we’re just too [riding the car] on the nose to begin with. As soon as I turned into [Turn] 1, it was just gone.”

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.

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