Townsend Bell and Ryan Hunter-Reay collide on pit road in Indy 500
Townsend Bell and Ryan Hunter-Reay were mainstays at the front of the field during the first half of the Indianapolis 500.
Their time at the front came to an end thanks to a wreck on pit road.
Bell, pitted behind Hunter-Reay, exited his pit stall and bounced off Helio Castroneves, who was in the outside lane of Indianapolis' narrow pit lane. As he hit Castroneves' car, Hunter-Reay pulled out of his pit and the two Andretti Autosport teammates collided and went towards the inside pit wall.
REPLAY: @RyanHunterReay and @TownsendBell make contact in pit lane. #Indy500 #INDYCAR #INDYRIVALS https://t.co/5WTxp5GMsT
— IndyCar Series (@IndyCar) May 29, 2016
Castroneves was able to carry on without any damage, though he had a tire mark on the left side of his car. The damage to both Bell and Hunter-Reay's cars was minimal, though they both lost a lap making repairs. Pit road was so crowded because the race was under caution for an accident involving Mikhail Aleshin and Conor Daly.
The crash could have been a lot worse had polesitter James Hinchcliffe not been ahead of both Bell and Hunter-Reay. Hinchcliffe had already accelerated out of his pit and a crew member was able to scramble out of the way as the two cars came to rest in Hinchcliffe's stall.
Bell (12) and Hunter-Reay (52) combined to lead 64 of the race's first 115 laps.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!