INDY 500: Bell - 'no idea' Castroneves was there

Townsend Bell came into the pits on lap 117 in the lead with one of the fastest cars in the 100th Indianapolis 500. But by the time he re-entered the race, he was out of contention.

In a chain-reaction incident, Bell blasted out of his pit stall just behind teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay, who was also exiting. But Bell's right front made contact with Helio Castroneves, who was in the outside lane, knocking Bell into Hunter-Reay's right-front as both cars careened toward the inside pit wall (the aftermath is seen above). Bell made slight contact with the wall while Hunter-Reay stopped with his nose against his teammate's left sidepod.

"I was told to go, go, go so I dumped the clutch and hit launch," the 41-year-old veteran said on Tuesday as he was preparing to fly back to Los Angeles. "I didn't want to hit my teammate so I swung out wide and my information was that it was all clear on the outside.

"I had no idea Castroneves was there."

The IndyCar analyst for NBCSN lost a lap and finished 21st while Hunter-Reay, who led a race-high 52 laps, wound up 24th.

"It's a shame; my car was a dream to drive and Ryan was really strong too," the 2001 Indy Lights champ lamented.

In his 10th "Indy only" appearance but first with Andretti Autosport, Bell was among the quickest drivers all month and qualified his California Pizza Kitchen Honda in the fourth slot. He led 12 laps on Sunday and was never out of the top five under green-flag conditions.

"We had a great month and it was a blast," he said. "But I think we could have won this thing."