At his last scheduled stop in Sunday’s race Kellett slid into his pitbox and squeezed McFadden and fellow crew-member Shelby Tracey against the wall. While the latter escaped injury, McFadden sustained what an AJ Foyt Racing press release described as a deep laceration to his left thigh and significant bruising.
McFadden, who is also the team’s trainer, was able to leave hospital Sunday night and stayed in a Des Moines area hotel overnight. Another crewman Mark Stewart is set to bring McFadden back to Indianapolis today, although his return to action has not yet been determined.
A contrite Kellett, who had been running 18th, was of course penalized with a 30sec stop and hold for hitting crew members.
He said: “On the last pitstop, I came in a little hot and just didn't get it down into neutral quick enough and had an issue grabbing the clutch given the angle going into the box and tagged a couple of the crewmen, just went long.
“So you know, really feel bad for those guys. It's part of the job but it's never easy when someone else has to pay for your mistake. So feel really bad for Chris and Shelby. Chris has got an injury to his leg…He'll be sidelined for bit but I know he's a strong and fit guy. He'll bounce back and be ready to go in no time.
“But like I said, really sorry to the #4 K-Line pit crew. You never want to have a racecar pinching you [against] the wall.”
It was bad race for the team altogether, since Kyle Kirkwood crashed out in the #14 car. He was being passed by Team Penske’s then-leader Josef Newgarden and the Ed Carpenter Racing car of Rinus VeeKay who was fighting with Newgarden in order to stay on the lead lap. That left Kirkwood three-wide and on the high line, and the car pushed up the track and into the SAFER barrier at Turn 2.
Kirkwood and Kellett finished Saturday’s 250-lap race in 15th and 20th respectively.
Foyt’s #11 car, which Tatiana Calderon has run on road and street courses and JR Hildebrand raced at Texas and Indy, is currently still on hiatus as the team works to resolve the sponsorship payment issue with ROKiT.
