James Davison did a superb job racing in the Indianapolis 500 as the substitute for the injured Sebastien Bourdais before crashing with 17 laps remaining while running in the top five.
Despite starting last, Davison made the most of his Dale Coyne Racing Honda engineered by Craig Hampson and savvy strategy by team boss Coyne.
He led two laps and looked set to achieve his goal of a top 10 finish before tangling with IndyCar Series veterans Oriol Servia and Tony Kanaan on Lap 184 of 200.
Kanaan went on to finish fifth, while Davison was classified 20th.
“It was bittersweet,” Davison told Speedcafe.com.
“I had to learn some things due to the limited practice I got but I led the Indianapolis 500 from last
“I gave the GEICO car the best run that I could and I’m just really proud of the whole team.” Racing with Kanaan and Servia, Davison found himself in a three-wide situation. Davison and Servia made contact and spun into the outside wall, while Will Power and James Hinchcliffe collided while trying to veer low to avoid the accident. Josef Newgarden spun out of the race in the same incident.