Kyle Larson quick on 2nd Indy 500 qualifying run; VeeKay crashes - ESPN

NASCAR star Kyle Larson aborted his first qualifying attempt for the Indianapolis 500 on Saturday but found the speed on his second try, averaging 232.563 mph on his four-lap run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Meanwhile, Rinus VeeKay's already challenging season took another twist when a hard crash left him limping down the front straightaway, hopeful he could get back on the 2.5-mile oval before the first round of qualifying ends.

Larson was the sixth of 34 cars to qualify and was on pace to set a time that would have put him near the front of the 33-car grid when he heard what sounded like a miss in the engine of his Arrow McLaren. Larson played it safe, shut the car down and headed in to have everything checked out.

«There was some alarm that popped up on the dash, and it just cut power,» said Larson, who is trying to qualify for the May 26 race and become the first driver since Tony Stewart in 2001 to complete the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day.

Brian Campe, the technical director for Hendrick Motorsports who is working with Arrow McLaren to field the No. 17 car, said an examination of Larson's engine found no serious problems.

When Larson went back out, he posted the sixth-fastest qualifying run of the day, giving himself a chance to make the top 12 and advance to the pole shootout Sunday.

«I'll definitely take that,» Larson said. «Hopefully it's enough to make it to the fast 12 tomorrow; that'd be pretty cool.»

Larson wasn't the only Arrow McLaren driver to have some problems on the first day of qualifying. Callum Ilott, whose 231.995 mph run had put him in the top 10, had his time thrown out when a postrun technical inspection discovered a problem with the left rear wheel offset. Pato O'Ward had a