Hunter-Reay, Hinchcliffe, Sato, and Fittipaldi were unharmed, but Wickens sustained severe injuries and was paralyzed from the chest down as a result.

[4] In 2018, IndyCar introduced new aero kits, which produced an Indianapolis 500 that was considered generally less-competitive than in previous years.

With a record 42 lead changes at Pocono in 2017, drivers and teams entered the race expecting passing to be significantly harder.

Rookies Robert Wickens, Pietro Fittipaldi, Zach Veach, Matheus Leist, and veteran Tony Kanaan completed several hours of laps at the track.

As teams worked on their qualifying preparation, rookie Zach Veach posted the fastest speed with a lap of 217.393 mph.

As the field was approaching the green flag, the rows of cars were stacked too closely together and a crash occurred before the race began.

Starting 18th, Graham Rahal accelerated and ran into the back of 16th place starter, Spencer Pigot.

When the green flag was first shown on lap seven, Alexander Rossi passed Will Power entering turn one to take the lead.

Robert Wickens passed Simon Pagenaud and Josef Newgarden on the outside in turn one to move into fourth place.

Carrying a lot of speed, Wickens moved to the inside of Hunter-Reay and attempted a pass entering turn two.

Wickens' front wheels climbed over the nose of Hunter-Reay's car and impacted the outside wall roughly three feet off the ground.

45 minutes after the accident, IndyCar VP of Communications, Curt Cavin, announced that Wickens was "awake and alert" and transported by helicopter to Lehigh Valley Hospital.

Following the resumption of the race from the Wickens crash, the event was very clean with the final 189 laps run without cautions.

With 34 laps remaining, Conor Daly lightly hit the turn two wall with his right-side wheels.

The first practice session was streamed live on IndyCar's YouTube channel with audio from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network.