After Crash, Andretti Looks to Make 500

The first foray for Richard Petty into the world of IndyCar racing came to a nasty, grinding and gut-wrenching halt in turn one of the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

That crash -- check the video later in the post -- kept Petty's No. 43 driven by John Andretti with assistance from longtime IndyCar player Dreyer and Reinbold Racing from qualifying for the 93rd running of the Indianapolis 500.

However, don't expect the hard incident to keep Petty or Andretti from making the 33-car field this weekend at the Brickyard.

Practice resumes for the race on Thursday afternoon pending rain showers in the area stay away, and the laps will likely be a little cautious for Andretti's Window World machine in the early going.

The No. 43 got into trouble Sunday afternoon while the 2.5-mile oval was open for practice in between qualifying runs. Andretti was trying to up his speed a little bit more to be one of the 22 cars locked in by the 6 p.m. gun when the car got loose early in the first turn.

That looseness -- likely a result of the minimal downforce the teams trim the cars to have for the qualifying run in search of speed over handling -- sent the rear end of the car out from under Andretti at around 220 mph and straight towards the SAFER barrier. Andretti pounded the energy absorbing wall developed by IMS (that's a tip of the hat to Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network host Mike King's on-air push to make sure that the speedway gets credit for the life-saving invention) gearbox and engine first, showering sparks across the track.

Andretti walked away from the impact that left the metal wall with a hole in it, and was otherwise OK.

"The car was a little too loose and we were making adjustments," Andretti said. "I was going pretty hot into turn one, which is always a tough corner, and I lost the back end."

Andretti was hoping to use the coming two practice sessions and qualifying days to work on race setup.

"We didn't want to battle to get into the race next weekend," said Andretti of this weekend's activities. "We didn't get a quality run in qualifying, and we knew we would probably have to make another run [Sunday]. It was frustrating. We worked on the chassis setup [Sunday] to get a better balance."

Andretti's first chance to qualify again will come Saturday afternoon when the final 11 spots are filled. A quick enough run will allow the No. 43 to be solidly in the field to avoid dealing with Sunday's Bump Day qualifying and focus strictly on race runs.