IndyCar championship contender Kyle Kirkwood smacks the wall in practice

In the first IndyCar session of the weekend thanks to tornado warnings that cancelled Friday running, Kyle Kirkwood quickly found the wall after a snap on the wheel saw him lose control.

Taking a tight inside line, Kirkwood tried to control the snap but once on the high line he couldn't find any grip to correct the mistake.

Kirkwood's car ended up in the infield before a Caution was brought out during Group One with his car then cleaned up and taken back to the pits.

Speaking to FS1, Kirkwood seemed confused by the incident and explained that the car felt fine running on the high line but that it might have possibly been caused by running close to Rinus Veekay in his Dale Coyne Racing.

He said: "I don't really know what happened there. We were running fine up top and I was nearly flat out on the top and then I got into the wake of Rinus [Veekay] right in front of me.

"I went down low which is the place that should have more grip and it just did not.

"I think maybe the track was just green down there. It just got loose and it was like 'see you later' down low. Just not much grip down there. Just a mistake on my part, sorry to the team."

Kirkwood is unlikely to run within practice and if so this will hinder his qualifying later today with no good running time on track.

This comes off one of his weaker weekends this season in Mid-Ohio where Kirkwood finished eighth after qualifying seventh.

Only one of three drivers to win a race this season, Kirkwood is now over 100 points behind championship leader Alex Palou who has begun to look untouchable in the lead.