Australian substitute driver James Davison prompted visions of a sensational Indianapolis 500 victory when he hit the front late in the race.
But a five-car wreck, which also took out seasoned countryman Will Power, put paid to those dreams as Takuma Sato went on to become the first Japanese driver to win in the 101st edition of the motorsport showpiece.
The 30-year-old Davison, a cousin of Australian Supercars driver Will Davison, had just over a week to prepare when he came in to replace French star Sebastien Bourdais, who was injured in a qualifying crash.
He made the most of the opportunity on Sunday as he worked his Dale Coyne Racing Honda from way back in 31st on the grid to lead on laps 166 and 167 of the 200-lap race.
His third appearance in the Indy 500 ended when he and Spain’s Oriol Servia made contact in Turn 1 and the incident also collected the cars of Power and Canada’s James Hinchcliffe while American Josef Newgarden hit the barrier when he spun trying to avoid it.
“In all honesty, I need to see a replay. I felt I was coming out of my steering and I got hit by Servia,” Davison said.
“I did the best I could with the limited practice I had. I made a couple of mistakes here and there so I am sorry to any of the drivers that I may have upset.”
Power, the 2014 IndyCar series champion, also led the field, hitting the front on laps 82 and 83 in his Team Penske Chevrolet.
“I’m not sure what happened out there,” Power said.
“All I know is that I was sliding backwards … We’ll move on to Detroit. The thing about this race is that we get to turn the page pretty quickly.”
In a separate incident, New Zealander Scott Dixon was lucky to walk away from a spectacular, flying crash on turn two of lap 54, where he was near the front of the field and hunting down the lead after starting on pole.
Another driver, Jay Howard, hit the wall, lost control and ran into the path of Dixon who ran over the top of him and flipped into a barrier wall before spinning down the track.
Flames momentarily spewed from the flying car as it disintegrated on impact.
The car lost three wheels and what looked like much of its rear section but the safety tub remained intact and Dixon was able to climb out, to the roar of the crowd.
Howard was also able to walk away from the crash.
