Indianapolis 500: Scott McLaughlin crashes out of the race before it even begins

The Indianapolis 500 was over for Scott McLaughlin before it even began.

McLaughlin crashed out of the race on the pace laps as he was warming up his tires. McLaughlin’s car skidded across the frontstretch on the cold track and smashed into the inside wall before Turn 1. His car eventually came to rest in the infield with a broken front wing and suspension.

Advertisement

The Team Penske driver was distraught after climbing from the car and had to gather himself while crouched to the ground.

The former Australian Supercars driver is in his fifth full-time season in the IndyCar Series. He has scored seven wins over 72 races and was a favorite to win the race from the fourth row. McLaughlin had a chance to compete for pole but crashed violently in practice before the final round of qualifying.

That was the start of what was a bad day for Team Penske. All three of its cars had qualified in the top 12 and had a chance to race for the pole. But McLaughlin never made an attempt because of the crash and Will Power and Josef Newgarden’s cars were disqualified because of a technical infraction and forced to start the race on the last row. The infraction led to the dismissals of three Team Penske employees, including longtime executive Tim Cindric.

Advertisement

As McLaughlin crashed, Scott Dixon had a brake fire on his car that appeared to eventually dissipate. The six-time IndyCar champion is searching for his second Indianapolis 500 win.

With the race delayed by rain before McLaughlin's crash, the IndyCar Series started counting laps before the race officially went green. Once it did, Jack Harvey hit Marco Andretti as they went into Turn 1 and Andretti's race ended in the first corner as he hit the wall.