It was an eventful morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway as Kyle Larson experienced his first NTT IndyCar Series crash. The good news, as he explained, is that it didn't feel much different than what he expected.
The incident occurred during the second day of the Open Test at the 2.5-mile track. Larson slammed into the wall exiting Turn 1, which crumpled the right side of his No. 17 Arrow McLaren entry. The race car then slid across the track before slamming into the Turn 2 wall.
As the broadcast crew explained, the No. 17 got away from Larson exiting Turn 1, which led to the initial wreck. He then hit the wall again due to the broken steering system. The crew also noted that Larson was able to slow the No. 17 down and collide at an angle that "wasn't too destructive."
IN THE WALL 😬@KyleLarsonRacin makes contact with the wall exiting Turn 1 and in Turn 2.
📺: INDYCAR YouTube pic.twitter.com/5TE5c1BXDs
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) April 24, 2025
"(I) just was starting my qualifying laps there and just got really tight," Larson said after exiting the care center. " Just a bunch of understeer through (Turn) 1 and ran out of space off of Turn 1. I kind of fought the understeer feeling (on Wednesday), and carried over to today.
"Honestly, I'm happy to crash my first IndyCar and live through it. We'll work on it and try to get the balance more comfortable."
The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion continued and explained that it wasn't a "big hit," but it also didn't feel any different than what he was expecting. Larson called this encouraging.
Larson did not experience any crashes during last season's attempt at The Double, which requires a driver to complete both the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same day. His main setbacks were the weather and a pit road penalty.
This changed Wednesday and Thursday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway as Larson worked to get back to a point of comfort with the No. 17 entry. As he explained during his post-practice press conference, it has been a process.
"I haven't talked to any of the teammates yet, but I feel like it feels a little different handling-wise this year," Larson said.
"I don't know if that's the hybrid stuff and the weight of that or what I'm feeling, but it feels a little different, so not quite the same balance that I had last year, so just got to kind of think through that and how you want to adjust to it, if you want to get it to a point like we were last year or not."