Indianapolis 500 Practice Day 7

The seventh and final practice prior to Carburetion Day is in the books and it was a busy one. The entire 33-car field hit the track, totalling 2,329 laps in less than 4 hours of green flag action.

Some of the biggest news of the day came early in the session when at 1:34 Andretti Autosport's Kurt Busch made hard contact with the right side of his No. 26 Honda in Turn 2.

 

“I was starting to feel comfortable," explained Busch. "That’s when I made the mistake of just letting my guard down or settling into that long run type mentality whereas with an Indy car you have to be on edge. You have to keep track of where you are at all times and the adjustments in the car. Maybe I just didn’t keep up with keeping the car underneath me. Trying to get into that rhythm and feel other things around you and I got behind on my adjustments in the car."

Busch's car appeared to lose it's rear end while exiting the apex of Turn 2 when the full-time NASCAR driver attempted to correct but was too late. Luckily for Busch and his team, the right side of his DW-12 made contact with the tapering off SAFER Barrier. Busch climbed from the car and was taken to the infield care center where he was evaluated, released and cleared to drive.

Kurt Busch's car was transported to the Andretti Autosport shop where it was to be re-built for the '500'. Unfortunately for the team, the car is not repairable in time for the race so he'll use Marco Andretti's backup entry. Per INDYCAR Rules, Busch will keep his 12th place starting position.

The day was kicked off at 7am in Turn 1, where the annual Front Row Photo Shoot took place (Photos below). Just minutes after the shoot, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway sent a press release announcing a Stadium Super Truck race Carb Day afternoon. The Menards at the Brickyard Formula Off-Road by TRAXXAS race will utilize the frontstraight and portions of road course. The green flag will drop on the Robby Gordon founded series at 4:30, following the Pit Stop Competition.

Later in the morning, IMS announced that Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, will wave the green flag for the 98th Running of the Indianapolis 500. Cuban is an Indiana University graduate and Shark Investor on ABC's Shark Tank.

"I am excited to come back to Indiana, not just to attend, but actually participate in this historic race," said Cuban.

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