Jack Harvey suffered a massive crash halfway through the final practice session of the weekend, his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda absorbing a hard hit on the back stretch of Texas Motor Speedway.
Harvey drifted just a few inches wide on the exit of turn 2, and touched the outside wall. The impact broke his rear toe link, and sent the car into the inside wall out of control.
Harvey was uninjured in the crash, but was in a poor mood as he watched his crew scramble to determine how bad the damage to his car was.
The hour-long practice session was immediately red-flagged, and the heavily damaged #45 was brought back to the garage area.
Dallara, Honda, and Firestone technicians descended on the wreckage as soon as it was delivered to the garage area, assessing the damage and determining if a backup car will be needed.
The RLL crew themselves assumed the backup would be needed, and began unloading the spare car from the hauler before the assessment was complete.
Harvey will start 24th regardless of whether he uses his backup car or not, with his qualifying position being unaffected by a swap to a spare chassis.
Aside from the heavy crash, it was Josef Newgarden who lapped the fastest as the field of 27 drivers tested out their race setups under the afternoon sun.
Multiple drivers also tried to follow closely and execute mock passes in an effort to prepare for tomorrow’s race, which starts just before noon local time.
More exclusive images of Harvey’s damaged RLL Honda follow:
