Scott McLaughlin forced out of Indy 500 qualifying after major wreck

Scott McLaughlin, the Team Penske IndyCar driver, found himself in the barriers in practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. During Practice 7 ahead of Qualifying 2, McLaughlin lost the rear of his car while going into Turn 2 and heavily shunted his car; he will not compete in the upcoming qualifying (2).

The #3 Team Penske car even went flying with the debris falling over the track. Seeing the huge crash, the commentators were also concerned and added the following:

"Let's take a look at what happened, through Turn 2 just got loose, stayed off the power for a while as he got backwards, to try to do what he could to turn the car around and ideally, keep it off the wall," one of the commentators said via IndyCar on FOX (0:00 - 0:14).

Quite a few drivers have so far rammed their cars into the barriers at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in the build-up to next week's Indy 500. The most notable mentions are of Marcus Armstrong and Colton Herta (alongside Scott McLaughlin). Both shunted their respective cars during Saturday's running.

Nathan Brown, IndyCar court reporter, gave an update on X, that "Team Penske's Kyle Moyer has told Fox they will not be attempting to get McLaughlin out for the Fast 12."

Notably, McLaughlin made his IndyCar debut at the 2020 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on October 25, 2020.

Scott McLaughlin's take after Saturday's Indy 500 qualifying

While Scott McLaughlin will not be seen competing in the upcoming qualifying for next week's Indy 500, the 31-year-old touched upon quite a few things via his post-session interview following his qualifying run (P2) on Saturday.

In line with this, he had the following to add:

"It just was pretty quick there towards the line. I started to build a little loose at the end, so maybe just in a little bit of balance, but yeah it's close. I own that one too, I hit the limiter, going into the turn one, so I lost the chunk of speed," McLaughlin said via Team Penske.

He further added:

"I think we can easily stay in the 33's. I'm really proud of the guys, the Pennzoil "yellow submarine" and Team Chevy. This car's good and we can definitely run for pole tomorrow. It's good in race trim. But I tell you, it is my fifth one of these, and it just does not get any easier."

Scott McLaughlin has yet to triumph in the iconic 200-lap Indianapolis Motor Speedway race. Interestingly, his Penske teammate, Josef Newgarden, has done it twice, winning the 2023 and 2024 editions.

With McLaughlin out of the upcoming top 12 qualifying session, he will, at best, start from P12 in next week's Indy 500. He managed a P6 finish last year in the race.