Kyle Larson Suffers Second Crash of 109th Indianapolis 500 Bid

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Seemingly the only mistake Kyle Larson made throughout his entire attempt at competing in the Indianapolis 500 a season ago was a late-race pit road speeding penalty, which relegated the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion to an 18th-place finish. On Friday, Larson suffered his second crash in preparation of next Sunday's 109th Indianapolis 500.

In Turn 3, Larson seemingly bottomed out or hit a bump, which sent him out of control. The driver was unable to wrangle his No. 17 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, and he would go nose-first into the SAFER Barrier on the exit of Turn 3. He would then back his car into the outside wall in Turn 4.

Oh my, Kyle Larson spun, and collided with the wall in #Indy500 practice... Yikes. pic.twitter.com/w1BYKHs8rG

— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) May 16, 2025

The crash came in Larson's first mock qualifying run of the practice. In all, Larson only completed three laps in Friday's Indianapolis 500 practice session as the crash came on his fourth timed lap. Larson says the spin was a result of having too much front-end grip.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just had a lot of front grip there in [Turn] 3," Larson explained. "Just kind of bit, and felt it come around, and it comes around quick when it does that. So, bummer, but I don't know. It is what it is. At least we found both ends of the spectrum. In the Open Test I hit it with the right front, and today, I backed it in."

Larson doesn't feel the incident is a major worry as track conditions at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday were tricky for rookies and veterans alike. Larson feels his No. 17 car has a chance to still be very good on Saturday.

"I'm not too worried about it. I think we'll be fine," Larson said. "We'll adjust on it a little bit. Track conditions will be a little better tomorrow, and we'll still be fast."

In addition to Friday's crash in Indianapolis 500 practice, Larson crashed in an Indianapolis 500 Open Test on April 24. In that crash, Larson pounded the outside wall with the right front of his race car.

Prior to Larson's crash, Chip Ganassi Racing driver Kyffin Simpson went for a flip in Turn 4 during the practice session, but was able to walk away from the scary crash.