Image : NBC

Much of the action in this year’s Indianapolis 500 has been on pit road, with drivers spinning at the entrance, sliding through their pit boxes, hitting each other and, in Jordan King’s particularly bad case, striking a crew member. The crew member was carried off pit lane, and later taken to a local hospital.


The incident occurred when King, an Indy 500 rookie wrapped in the livery of sponsorship enigma Rich Energy, came for a pit stop around lap 70 of 200. King cut left into his box late, appearing to strike his tire changer as they waited to the driver’s right of where the car would have stopped in the box.

The changer, identified to Jalopnik by IndyCar as Chris Minot, grabbed his knee and fell over as tires bounced around him—only to be carried off of pit lane as the crew finished the stop and the race stayed green. (NBC showed multiple replays of the incident, but Jalopnik won’t include any here since the extent of Minot’s injuries aren’t public. The hit can be seen here.)


An IndyCar spokesperson told Jalopnik that after Minot was carried off of pit lane, he was taken to the infield care center for an initial evaluation and to be stabilized. He was then taken to a local hospital and trauma center for “further evaluation and definitive care of non-life threatening injuries,” but the IndyCar representative said there were currently no further details on specific injuries.

King was later penalized for hitting a crew member, receiving a drive-through penalty around 10 laps later. There was confusion on the NBC broadcast as to whether Minot was struck by King’s race car or one of the tires lined up beside him before the hit, and the rep said due to unclear replays, IndyCar doesn’t have a definitive answer either. The series trying to learn more, they said.

King continued on in the race after the hit and the penalty, and ran three laps down in 29th as of lap 175.

Update: Tuesday, May 28, 2019 at 8:24 a.m. ET: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, the team King ran the Indy 500 and finished 24th for, tweeted on Monday that Minot had been released from the hospital. The team didn’t give any details on his condition or injuries , but said in the tweet that its “ team members are [ its] most important asset.”