Event Coverage: 2017 Indianapolis 500 Presented by PennGrade Oil, Part 2

Event Coverage: 2017 Indianapolis 500 Presented by PennGrade Oil, Part 2

by Dave Zipf

 

We follow up after Dixon's mindblowing crash from Part 1 and continue to break down each wild scenario during the Indy 500.

 

With the mess cleaned up and the fence patched, the race was restarted under yellow.  The red flag lasted just under 20 minutes.  The pits were opened after a lap of yellow to allow the field to pit under caution.

 

Alonso brought the field down to the green on Lap 60.  Rossi was all over his gearbox and a lap later retook the lead.  Rossi would only hold the lead for four laps before he was passed by a different Andretti Autosport teammate, Takuma Sato.  In fact at this point in the race, Ryan Hunter-Reay had made his way into 4th, giving Andretti Autosport a 1-2-3-4!
 
As the field streamed down the backstretch on Lap 66, a 6-way battle for 14th broke out between Montoya, Simon Pagenaud, Conor Daly, Oriol Servia, Charlie Kimball, and James Davison.  A wild Conor Daly appeared with a great draft and attempted to pass Kimball on the outside heading into Turn 3.  He got loose, caught it, got loose again, caught it again, but by the third wiggle, he was out of the groove and heading for the wall.  His AJ Foyt car ended up against the SAFER barrier and brought out the yellow again.
 
As Daly’s car slowed along the wall, a piece of his bodywork landed in the middle of the track.  Rookie Jack Harvey, driving for a collaboration of Michael Shank Racing and Andretti Autosport, spun trying to avoid the bodywork.  He slapped the inside retaining wall in the North end short chute, nearly hitting one of the safety trucks trying to respond to Daly!  Both drivers were able to climb out and walk away.

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