IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske has described the flying wheel incident in the Indy 500 as “very concerning”.
Kirkwood flipped, but was protected by the aeroscreen structure, with the bigger concern being the wheel which flew off his car, over the catch fence which lines the outside of the track.
As it turned out, it landed in a car park, damaging a road vehicle, but not causing any harm to persons.
“I saw what had happened; saw it bounced on top of a building and went and hit a car over there, which obviously is very concerning,” said Penske, post-race.
“We have tethers on the wheels, and it was a rear wheel that came off, and I’m sure the guys at IndyCar will look at it, will determine what really happened.
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“We haven’t seen a wheel come off in a long time. We have high fences here, but we were very fortunate we didn’t have a bad accident.”
Penske was speaking in a post-race media conference which he attended as the winning team owner.
Josef Newgarden’s victory in Car #2 was the first for Team Penske since ‘The Captain’ bought the series and its namesake circuit in 2019, but its 19th in total.
Newgarden beat 2022 race winner Marcus Ericsson to the chequered flag by 0.0974s after a controversial restart from the third red flag period, which left time enough only for a single lap out of the pits before the field took both the white and green flags.
The Chip Ganassi Racing driver had to defend in a two-lap dash to the finish last year but, on that occasion, there was more time to warm up before the restart.
The 2023 IndyCar Series continues next weekend (June 2-4, local time) on a new street circuit in Detroit, with that event streamed live and ad-free on Stan Sport.
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