The #26 driver crashed into the Turn 1 wall on his first qualifying attempt after he spun.
Facing backwards, the car suddenly lifted into the air and put him upside down in a shower of sparks from the titanium aeroscreen.
Herta was uninjured, but his car was mangled and ruled out for the event, forcing the team to prepare a backup.
Despite not having tested the car, Herta was able to qualify 29th and avoid the dreaded Bump Day.
“Today really isn’t about me,” said Herta.
“I’ve tried all I could to probably ruin our day and the guys did all they could to make it.
“I’m amazed that they were able to get a car put together in this amount of time.
“It’s not like we had chassis preloomed, ready to go. There was a lot of work – not just from my guys, but from the sister cars as well.
“Anybody who was willing and able to help out hopped on and built a safe race car.
“For me, it’s less about me and what I just did to get out there.
“It’s more about the crew guys and what they’ve done to put us in the position to even be in this race and right now be in the position where we don’t have to come back tomorrow.
“There’s a lot of eyeballs on that.”
Marcus Ericsson was the fastest Andretti entry on day one of qualifying, making the Fast 12 with his 11th place four-lap average qualifying effort.
Kyle Kirkwood was a surprisingly low 27th having been among the quickest cars all week, while Marco Andretti failed to qualify for the race.
Qualifying continues on Monday (AEST) with the Fast 12 and Fast 6 as well as Last Chance Qualifying.
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