IndyCar 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500

Katherine Legge’s Indy 500 Double bid hit by early Ryan Hunter-Reay crash

The British driver crashed while trying to avoid Hunter-Reay, ending her Indianapolis 500 run before today's Coke 600 start for Legge

Ryan Hunter-Reay and Katherine Legge are out of the 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500.

Hunter-Reay, the 2014 Indy 500 winner, was rolling through the exit of Turn 2 on Lap 17 when the backend of his #31 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet snapped loose before hitting the outside wall. Legge attempted to avoid Hunter-Reay, but spun off the corner, with her #51 HMD Motorsports with AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet drifting across the grass on the backstretch and pounding the inside wall with the right side of her car.

Hunter-Reay was in a one-off effort with Arrow McLaren, while Legge was on the first leg of her ‘Double’ attempt that includes NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday night of Memorial Day Weekend.

“It was super tough,” Hunter-Reay said. “We were loose on Carb Day. Thought we might have made some changes to fix it, but it just... the whole time I was trying to keep it off the wall. You know, I let the team know that it was loose. You know, obviously in that position, they didn't have nothing they could do. They just told me the right rear tire pressure and temp were skyrocketing. You can't get it at that point because then you're going to be in a hole fuel-wise. Super disappointing.

“That's the busiest I've been around here. First time I've been in the wall here in like 16 years. So, it's a bummer, but I'm so grateful to this team, to Arrow McLaren, to Chevy, to PrizePicks, to everybody involved. Going out like that early is just absolutely heartbreaking. But man, I was holding my breath so much that first day, just trying to keep the thing off the wall. And finally, one of those wiggles turned into one that didn't come back in Turn 2. That's the gist of it.”

Legge, who will drive with Live Fast Motorsports in the Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, shared her perspective of the incident.

“Yeah, I'm just gutted more than anything,” Legge said. “Ryan spun in front of me, I think he was behind his car for a minute, and I was back there just chilling out, saving fuel, and he spun right down the track, then started coming back up the track, so I had to abort mission and try to go low, and I just didn't make it, basically.”

Legge went on to finish 31st in the Coca-Cola 600.