The NTT IndyCar Series held its first session at Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday morning, but it was interrupted for a lengthy cleanup process.
Just 20 minutes into the hour-long practice session, David Malukas lost control of his #12 Team Penske Chevy in Turn 2.
He spun 180 degrees and smacked the SAFER barriers hard with the left side of the car before coming to a stop on the back stretch.
Malukas removed his hands from the wheel, but the impact was hard enough to dislodge the steering column and the wheel bounded around inside the cockpit.
The 24-year-old was slow to climb from his car, but was able to get the medical car under his own power.
Malukas had already taken a new engine at the start of the weekend, and it is likely his crew will need to fit another new Chevy power plant after the early incident. A costly crash indeed.
IndyCar medical confirmed that Malukas was “awake and alert and in good spirits and still undergoing evaluation.”
Cleanup took nearly 25 minutes as the track crews welded a piece of steel over an area where the car punched a hole in the wall.
When the abbreviated session was complete, it was Kyle Kirkwood that was quickest.
He completed a lap of the 1.33-mile oval in 23.7447 seconds at an average speed of 197.097 MPH.
Alex Palou was second quick, with Malukas’ early time landing him third on the time sheets even though he only complete four laps total.
The next session on the schedule is qualifying, which consists of a single, two-lap attempt at setting the best speeds.
Qualifying takes place at 2:00 PM central time.
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