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More bad luck for Schmidt

INDIANAPOLIS — Sam Schmidt’s week just got even more complicated.

Two days after top driver James Hinchcliffe failed to make the Indianapolis 500 starting grid, the team’s other full-time driver, Robert Wickens, crashed Monday during the second-to-last practice for Sunday’s race. So in addition to finding a way to get one of the team’s two Canadian drivers into the 33-car starting field, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports now must repair Wickens’ car, too.

“It’s all relative for the Indianapolis 500 because you want to contend,” Schmidt said a few minutes before Wickens hit the wall exiting the second turn.

Wickens hit the wall again in the back straightaway when the No. 6 car made an abrupt right turn because of a broken suspension and rolled to a stop in the third turn. The next practice is not until Friday.

“It’s a bummer, obviously, no one wants it, especially this close to the race,” he said. “Lesson learned, I guess. It just happened out of nowhere. I am fine, I mean these cars are super safe. First crash in an Indy car, so I guess it had to happen eventually.”

As the drivers rolled out to pit lane for practice, Hinchcliffe walked around in street clothes promoting a blood drive in the Gasoline Alley suites. A life-threatening leg injury he sustained at Indy in 2015 gave him the idea.

The popular 2016 Indy pole winner and the face of a national Honda advertising campaign did not answer questions about finding a ride. He is fifth in the points standings and missing Indy, a double points race, could take him out of championship contention. He said Sunday he didn’t expect to have a car in the race and Schmidt didn’t sound any more optimistic a day later. IndyCar has said it will not expand the field, meaning his only option would be to take the ride of a driver already in the lineup, perhaps teammate Jay Howard in the No. 7 that qualified 19th.

“There’s been a lot of talk, obviously,” Schmidt said. “But our only option is with a Honda team. It’s not a completely dead deal.”

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