Newgarden wrecks during 500 practice

Team Penske's Josef Newgarden became the second driver to hit the wall during practice for the 101st Indy 500. The Tennessean lost the back end of the No. 2 Chevy in Turn 1, spun and clouted the wall with the left-front suspension before sliding to a stop. The recent Barber Motorsports Park race winner was unhurt in the accident.

.@JosefNewgardenhas been checked, cleared and released from the infield care center.#INDYCAR#Indy500Replay of his incident here:pic.twitter.com/sOkE8wyPvp— IndyCar Series (@IndyCar)May 18, 2017

"I'm fine. Tough break for us in the [No.] 2 car with Team Penske," he said. "It's obviously not something you want to do, especially on a day like today – a pretty nice day out, no big issues. I'm disappointed that we ran into a problem. I just got called into the pits, so I was coming in and I didn't want to check up too much for the guys behind me and cause a problem. It just seemed to get away from me."

Newgarden wasn't clear on the reason for the spin.

"Until I get to look at everything, I'm not 100 percent sure what caused it," he said. "We were having a really good day. We had a good run up until that, so again I'm not sure what went on. It was probably my mistake, but until I get to look at everything it's hard to tell. I feel bad for our guys that we've got extra work."

With the crash taking place just prior to 2 p.m., the Penske team should have time to get the car repaired and out before the close of practice at 6 p.m.