[Updated] Herta Gets Airborne in Violent Indy 500 Qualifying Crash

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief

Colton Herta was able to walk away from a terrifying airborne crash during qualifying for the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500.

The 14th driver to go out among the 34 entries, Herta dove into Turn 1 just moments after taking the green flag to begin his four-lap run. As he approached the middle of the corner, the backend of his No. 26 Andretti Global Honda snapped around and hit the wall with the left-front first before the rest of the left side of his machine made contact. Upon impact, the rear of his car lifted and flipped upside down and skated through the short chute before the cockpit side of the car pounded the wall in Turn 2. 

Scary moment here with Colton Herta. He would get of the car and walk away on his own pic.twitter.com/mAVjTPZQWy

— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) May 17, 2025

Despite the car settling in the corner upside down, Herta was able to get out – with assistance from the AMR Safety Team – and walk under his own power to the safety vehicle and to the Infield Care Center. 

After being cleared and released from the Infield Care Center, Herta confirmed the team would be going to a backup car.

“Spun right from turn in,” Herta told INDYCAR Radio. “As soon I turned in, the rear went. I could feel right from the initial turn in as I got into (Turn) 1. It’s unfortunate. We’ll be going to a backup car now. And the Gainbridge Honda was fast. The car we were on was built for speed and now we have to go to a little bit of a question mark. So, we’ll have to wait and see what happens.”

Herta went on to say, “I think we were going to hit the wall no matter what. It didn’t matter what the wind was, I think we were just too loose.”

Some other looks at Colton Herta’s wreck during qualifying. pic.twitter.com/BinVfzCnFF

— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) May 17, 2025

Herta is the second driver to crash on the day, with Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong having an earlier incident during the group practice session ahead of qualifying. Armstrong’s status for the remainder of the event is not yet determined; he was seen and released from his crash but placed in concussion protocol. 

Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward holds the fastest four-lap average at 232.820mph among the 15 drivers to go out at the time of this release.