Big crash for Armstrong at Indy

Marcus Armstrong spun and smashed into the Turn 1 wall during Saturday morning’s final practice session before the start of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500. The Meyer Shank Racing driver was placed on a gurney and boarded an ambulance while sitting upright; he gave the crowd a thumbs-up before he was taken away.

The New Zealander’s No. 66 Honda was slightly high in Turn 1, rotated, and hit with the left-rear corner and left side before continuing down the track and making a second hard impact with the wall before coming to a stop.

The severity of the vehicular damage was enough to require a complete rebuild of the car, if the tub was not damaged beyond repair, or the building of a backup car. In both instances, the MSR team would be hard pressed to get the No. 66 on track before qualifying ends at 5:50pm ET.

The misfortune for MSR follows Kyffin Simpson's crash Friday afternoon that necessitated a switch to a spare car and the crash of Kyle Larson, who was able to return to the track a little over an hour later.

"He is awake. He's alert. He's doing well," IndyCar medical director Dr. Julia Vaizer said of Armstrong in a statement almost an hour after the crash. "You know, these hits at the IMS oval can be really hard, and we just want to make sure we don't rush things. We take our time and make the right decisions."

However, IndyCar Medical affirmed shortly before 2pm ET that Armstrong has been cleared to drive.

RACER has learned that there are four drivers cleared by IndyCar to go straight in without needing to do a refresher course: Linus Lundqvist, Romain Grosjean, Katherine Legge and Pietro Fittipaldi, all of whom were either full-time last year or did most or all of the oval races.

Lundqvist is understood to be en route to the track to be available if needed.