Shortly after noon Eastern at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Colton Herta was inverted on the track, after a hard crash early in the Full-Field Qualifying session left his No. 26 Andretti Global Honda upside down and leaning against the wall.
A few hours later, Herta was in the field for the 109th Indianapolis 500.
Hours after a scary crash saw Herta visit the medical center for evaluation, the Andretti driver was back on the track, pushing himself and the No. 26 Honda to the limit. Just before 5:00 p.m. local time, Herta was making his four laps around the 2.5-mile oval.
And he did enough to book a spot in the show:
When time expired at the end of the session, Herta’s run was good enough for P29, just inside the Top 30.
As noted by James Hinchcliffe in the FOX Sports booth, telemetry data indicated that Herta did not lift off the throttle once during those four laps, despite the heavy shunt earlier in the day.
For those who have not seen Herta’s crash, here is how that incident unfolded:
Herta is not the only driver aiming for a spot in the field after a scary Saturday crash. Marcus Armstrong, driver of the No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda, endured a heavy crash of his own during practice Saturday morning. After an extended stint in the care center, Armstrong was cleared to return to the track:
Armstrong did make one qualifying attempt, but his four-lap average speed was not good enough to book a spot in the Indianapolis 500. He’ll need to clinch one of the final three spots in Sunday’s Last Chance Qualifying session.