Weaving his tyres to generate temperature, the Team Penske driver spun into the inside wall on the approach to Turn 1.

McLaughlin banged his steering wheel in anger as his car lay wrecked on the infield.

The New Zealander was set to start 10th in the #3 Pennzoil Chevy.

Palou went on to win the race in a shootout with Andretti Global driver Marcus Ericsson.

“I didn’t really see what happened, but obviously that was one of the favourite cars, one of the fastest cars that I knew was going to be up front at the end,” said Palou.

“Obviously you want to be fighting with one of the best drivers out there, but yeah, it’s sad that it wasn’t his day.”

The beginning of the race was punctuated by a series of cautions for various incidents.

The conditions were considerably cooler than expected, which was not helped by intermittent drizzle.

“It’s the 500. The conditions were tricky,” said Palou.

“You had to be very aggressive to make passes, and I guess on the restarts and starts, people were just going very aggressive.

“I think the level of the field, as well, is super close. In order to pass, you need to risk a lot.

“I was expecting cautions. Maybe we had some back-to-back that obviously didn’t allow you to get into a rhythm, but yeah, you’re always ready for that.”

None of the Team Penske trio featured in the fight for the win.

After McLaughlin’s pre-race trauma, Josef Newgarden stormed his way from last to be comfortably inside the top 10.

That was until he suffered a fuel pressure issue and was forced to pit before retiring the #2 Shell Chevy.

Will Power, driver of the #12 Verizon Chevy, was only 19th having started 32nd. Despite the horror run, there was one positive the Australian took out of the race.

“Not the best day for us, obviously,” said Power.

“Certainly wanted to finish in the top 10 for the $1 million prize that we were going to donate to the debt relief veterans, but they’re going to do it anyway.

“I finished 19th. It wasn’t the best day for us. Super excited that Verizon is going to donate $1 million to veteran debt relief. It’s such a big deal.”