Twenty minutes into opening practice at Nashville Superspeedway, David Malukas lost the #12 Team Penske Chevrolet in Turn 2, half-spun, and backed into the outside wall hard enough to damage the SAFER Barrier. The impact also knocked the steering wheel clean off its column — with his knee.
Track crews spent more than 20 minutes repairing the wall while IndyCar officials extended the session by 10 minutes. The AMR Safety Team helped Malukas from the car. He walked away under his own power and was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation, missing qualifying entirely.
Medical examinations revealed no fractures and no torn ligaments — only severe bruising to his knee. Team Penske released a statement confirming Malukas had been seen, released, and cleared by IndyCar Medical staff to return to the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet for the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix on July 19 (4:30 p.m. CT, FOX).
“Everything came back clean,” Malukas said. “Nothing’s broken, nothing’s torn, which was pretty impressive because I literally took the wheel off with my knee. I couldn’t believe that. So it’s just badly bruised, but you know, we got some good people around me and massaged it a little bit. So we’re good to go.”
Malukas, a 24-year-old Chicago native, thanked the AMR safety team and hospital staff — including someone named Sam, whose last name he admitted he never caught — for working against the clock to get results back before qualifying concluded.
The crash did carry a competitive cost. Malukas was assessed a nine-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine and mechanical change, dropping him to 25th on the starting grid. Conor Daly had been standing by as a potential replacement in qualifying before the car was ruled out for repair; Daly would have taken the seat had Malukas not been cleared.
Malukas returned for Saturday evening’s high-line and final practice sessions and downplayed the adjustment period, pointing to the pace of teammates Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin. Kyle Kirkwood earned the pole position in qualifying.
“When it comes to race running, we shouldn’t be too far behind,” Malukas said. “We have the best teammates, Josef and Scott, their qualifying was good; the car is gonna be great.”
A driver who literally dismantles his own cockpit with his kneecap, walks out of the hospital with nothing worse than a bruise, and then tells you the car will be fine because his teammates laid down fast laps — that’s either supreme confidence or a dangerously high pain tolerance. At Nashville, probably both.
Yahoo Sports / Motorsport.com — David Malukas “good to go” after hospital visit
Yahoo Sports / Nashville Tennessean — David Malukas injury update entering IndyCar Nashville race