Late crash knocks Nolan Siegel out of Indianapolis 500, keeps Ericsson and Rahal in starting field

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Graham Rahal sat in his car on pit row, sweating out yet another Bump Day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Marcus Ericsson, the 2022 Indianapolis 500 winner and 2023 runner-up, waited nearly 45 minutes for a chance to redeem an inexplicable mistake.

Then, in a cruel twist of fate, the angst of these two veterans IndyCar regulars vanished in a matter of minutes.

Nolan Siegel, a 19-year-old rookie, crashed on the final qualifying attempt to make the 33-car field Sunday, knocking him out of the next weekend’s race — and assuring Ericsson and Rahal of claiming the final two starting spots in the series’ biggest race.

“It’s just all on me, I messed that up,” Ericsson said after mistakenly taking his foot off the accelerator on the final lap of his first qualifying run. “I shouldn’t be doing that with my experience. We’re going to change the procedure, for sure.”

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