IndyCar Driver Nolan Siegel Has Scary Crash In Indy 500 Practice

It's Fast Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which means the engines are getting cranked up and drivers are doing qualifying simulations ahead of the real-deal qualifying that happens this weekend for the Indianapolis 500.

Drivers are hitting speeds over 240 mph, and things can go wrong in the blink of an eye. 

Unfortunately, that's what happened to Indy rookie Nolan Siegel.

The 19-year-old drives the No. 18 Honda for Dale Coyne Racing part-time while competing full-time in the IndyCar feeder series, IndyNXT.

On Friday, Siegel got a qualifying simulation underway, and toward the exit of Turn 2, Siegel lost the rear of the car and if you've watched any racing at Indianapolis over the years, you know what happens next.

That crash happened at well over 200 mph, and after impacting the wall, air got underneath Siegel's car causing it to flip. It then made pretty hard contact with the track surface on the backstretch. Crews could even be seen repairing the track afterward.

As scary as that crash was, Siegel was thankfully — and most importantly —alright. However, his car wasn't so lucky and that could be a problem.

Safety crews arrive to assist IndyCar driver Nolan Siegel after a scary crash during Fast Friday practice. (© Joe Timmerman/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK)

Siegel was running toward the bottom of the speed charts and considering 34 cars are vying for 33 spots on the Indy 500 starting grid, someone is going to be severely disappointed this Sunday.

That crash could mean that Siegel winds up in a backup car and it's happened many times over the years that a driver who crashes early in the week and winds up in a backup car winds up having trouble.

We're seeing that play out right now with Andretti Global's Marcus Ericsson. He's fantastic at IMS. He won the Indianapolis 500 in 2022 and came in second last year.

However, he had a big crash on Thursday exiting Turn 4.

The team got the backup car, but Ericsson seemed to be having some trouble with it in the early going on Friday and was seemingly building back up to running at full speed.

Siegel and Dale Coyne Racing could find themselves in a similar situation, but they don't have the benefit of a full day of practice to get the backup car dialed in.