James Hinchcliffe Andretti Autosport driver James Hinchcliffe says the late-race restarts at the Indianapolis 500 were "nuts" and he lost out because he was "trying to drive with dignity."

The race's post-caution restarts all featured wild side by side racing, particularly in the closing stages.

"With so few laps heading down to the end of the Indy 500, everybody gets a bit nuts," said the Canadian, who qualified second – missing out on pole by the smallest margin in Indianapolis history – but finished a frustrated sixth.

"The restarts were the big issue. Guys were falling back and doing these big running restarts. It's really not in the spirit of the rules. It's not what we're supposed to do. It created some massive closing rates, and it really made it a mess on those first couple of laps after a restart.

"I was trying to drive with some dignity out there, and I guess some other people decided not to do that when there were only 30 to go in the 500."

Although he felt he "had the pace for third or fourth place" had the restarts been different, Hinchcliffe also admitted that he had also cost himself ground by missing his marks at his final pit stop.

"On that last stop, I overshot the box by a mile and really put us back there, and I feel terrible for it," he said.