Herta crew chief Allen heads heroic backup car build

The most impressive performance by Andretti Global on Saturday took place in Gasoline Alley. Led by Colton Herta’s crew chief Nick Allen, his pit crew on the No. 26 Honda and a deep group of helpers from the other Andretti entries performed one of the fastest spare-car builds seen at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the modern era of IndyCar.

With the series’ rules preventing teams from having backup cars fully prepared and ready to go at a moment’s notice, Herta’s giant crash at 12:05pm should have ended any chances of the Californian making a return to the track before the 5:50pm close to the first day of qualifying.

But that’s where Allen, who was beaming with pride over all his Andretti teammates achieved, paid no attention to the vast workload ahead as a spare car had to be built from the ground up.

Hours were shaved from the expected timeline amid the flurry of expert hands moving to create a new No. 26 Honda, and thanks to the all-hands approach, Herta went from flying, crashing upside down and being showered by sparks, to driving the backup No. 26 onto the oval at 4:45pm after spending almost an hour going through technical inspection and being prepared to lap the daunting 2.5-mile oval.

A crew fit for a herculean effort. Chris Jones/Penske Entertainment

“I don't know what the official clock was, but it's got to be four hours,” Herta told RACER. “That's from a bare chassis, right? How we run everything through the car is completely different for the Speedway, so it really was like a bare chassis. And not only for it to be done, but it to be done correct, and me to be able to run flat for four laps... I think that shows the trust that I have in these guys. What they're able to do, it's incredible. You've never seen something like that before.

“These cars are so hard to put together meticulously and perfectly, and they did it in four hours. Like, it's insane, and, yeah, sure, the car is slower than our Speedway car, right? But we didn't have the four months to prep, like we did on the other car. So to still be able to run in the 230mph [range] was a big surprise for me.”

Herta’s crew chief Allen isn’t prone to big shows of emotion. Like many of his predecessors over the decades at Indy, he stands in front of his car with an air of confidence and command. Those workman-like traits certainly helped the Andretti team to rebound in record time and get Herta into the show.

With qualifying over for the day, it was time to take the new No. 26 back to the garage, and it’s here where, with all of his teammates surrounding the car, Allen looked across at his tribe and said, “I’d go to war with these people.”