David Malukas, Sting Ray Robb out of Freedom 250 after huge crash as Palou penalized

David Malukas and Sting Ray Robb were involved in the first major crash of the Freedom 250 in Washington, D.C., with the resulting caution leading to a pitlane incident involving championship leader Alex Palou.
 
On lap 35 of 147, Malukas, who had surrendered seventh place by pitting under an earlier caution, crashed heavily into the wall at Turn 7. Robb was following closely and had nowhere to go, hitting Malukas’s stranded car.

Both drivers have been taken to the medical center and released.

"Obviously, first I want to apologize to Sting Ray, I don't think he could really do anything there. He just went into me. And I just want to apologize to the team, the sponsors, everybody," Malukas said on FOX.

DAVID MALUKAS IS OUT 😬

Sting Ray Robb was also collected in the incident on Lap 36. pic.twitter.com/6NV8PJp7uZ

"It's a big race here, but I don't really know what's been going on with me. Just in a bad run of form here in the past few races. So, yeah, I just need to get back."

"I need to work and figure out what's going on. If it's mentally, if it's physically, I don't really know. But I've got to work on myself here. We've got a few more races to finish off the season. And I've got to make sure I can put myself back on form."

The incident triggered the first mass pit stop sequence of the race, It was the third caution, following two earlier yellows for debris.

During this sequence, Alex Palou hit a tire from Mick Schumacher’s pit crew leaving his pit box. The subsequent drive-through penalty put the championship leader to the rear of the field, only ahead of Santino Ferrucci who had lost seven laps due to an early electrical glitch on his Foyt Chevrolet.

The restart triggered another caution when Marcus Armstrong dived down the inside in Turn 5 on both Christian Rasmussen and Rinus VeeKay, ending the race for the Dutchman.

The race had been led by Kyle Kirkwood who dived around the outside of pole setter Alex Palou in Turn 1. He lost the lead when Graham Rahal, Kyffin Simpson, Romain Grosjean and VeeKay circled to the lead in the caution caused by Malukas, but took it back from Rahal on the restart on lap 51.

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