After starting a disappointing 26th, the Team Penske-Chevrolet sophomore – and his pitcrew – had done a fine job to climb through the ranks to enter the top dozen.
However, on Lap 151 his car twitched as he entered Turn 3, he caught it, then it snapped on him again, and after making contact with the wall, he slid along the short chute to have a second impact against the Turn 4 wall. He was fortunate that the Pennzoil machine wasn’t collected by Indy veteran Ed Carpenter.
“The wind’s tricky, it’s getting higher and higher and it just caught me out there,” said the gutted New Zealander, a three-time Supercars champion who won the opening race of the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season.
“It snapped on me, and I was a passenger from there. It is what it is. First shunt at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“I’m really gutted. We were in a good spot there.”
Asked if he was physically OK after the hard hit, he replied, “Oh yeah, all good, ready to turn the page and get on with it. Bruised ego – that’s the only thing.”
