Race car driver Marcus Armstrong is a vegan who loves planking for hours. So will he drink milk if he wins the Indy 500?

If you were trying to get hold of racer Marcus Armstrong to check in after Saturday's crash, there's a good chance he hasn't gotten back to you. For the record, he is, fortunately, fine. But he's also "really bad on my phone" — which is something that helps him stay mentally prepared for the 2025 Indianapolis 500.

The 24-year-old from New Zealand was involved in a brutal-looking crash during his final practice before the first of two days of qualifying rounds this past weekend. Armstrong was taken away on a stretcher but was back on the track on Sunday. He ended up earning the 32nd of 33 spots for the big race on May 25.

Speaking to Yahoo Life's OT Diaries a few days before all this went down, Armstrong told me he was prepping for all scenarios. "You really need to be on top of your own thoughts and emotions," he shared. "So over the next week, we're just going to be cycling through every single possible scenario before race days, because it throws so many challenges at us."

After a weekend full of adrenaline, Armstrong typically takes 24 hours to disconnect from technology. "I usually switch my phone off," he told me of his postrace ritual. "People close to me know that I don't often answer my phone, but on the Monday after a race, it will almost certainly be on 'do not disturb.' If you can get ahold of me, I'd be massively impressed."

Physically, Armstrong is in top shape; the exercise junkie planks for several hours a day just to relax. But what's become instrumental to maintaining his cool on the track is meditation practices he's adopted over the past several years.

"It's something that's not so popular here in the motorsport paddock, you know, it's quite a toxic masculinity vibe," he laughed. "But we're slowly moving towards the meditation route. I feel like it helped me to make better decisions, especially in the heat of the moment when you're driving a race car at 240 miles an hour."

Here, Armstrong talks about how he plans to avoid distraction as the "emotional roller coaster" to the Indy 500 rolls on.

I've been to the Indy 500 several times. There's nothing like it. How would you describe the environment and atmosphere for people who can only watch on TV?

Watching from home and watching from the track are two very different things. Nothing compares to the atmosphere with the hundreds of thousands of people that walk through the gates on race day. Everyone's there for a party. It's almost like a festival. That was my first impression.

It's a family-oriented place, but there's also a lot of young people partying and just having fun. It's got everything you could ask for, this race. And then obviously to compete here, there's a lot of distraction, but it's part of the fun, isn't it? I mean, without the distraction, there is no fun.

You mentioned distraction. How are you staying focused?

It's obviously a long couple of weeks and it's an emotional roller coaster. These cars are so finely tuned that if your car feels amazing at 10 a.m., it might feel really not good at 3 p.m. So staying calm and making the best of every situation you have is a true challenge here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Do you meditate or use any of those apps like Calm to stay focused?

I use a lot of meditation practices, actually. I do use the app Calm occasionally. I also use Brainwaves, which is kind of similar. I actually have a meditation coach here in Indianapolis. I think I might be the only one on the grid that has a meditation coach.

Let's talk about your physical routine. I hear you're also training to break the planking world record. Are you really planking for three hours a day?

I am training to break the world planking record. Funnily enough, that's my rest day exercise. I'll come back from a race, and typically on Monday, I will do a long planking session for an hour or two because, frankly, it's relaxing to me. I don't really need to engage my mind. I can just sort of switch my mind off, listen to a podcast, listen to music and just stay in that position. Some people would say that I'm absolutely crazy...

I might be one of those people.

A plank is typically not so comfortable, but if you just lock in and you get used to it, it's very relaxing.

It's been a tradition for more than 80 years at the Indy 500 for the winner to drink milk. I believe you're vegan. What will you do in that moment if you find yourself on the winner's podium?

When I'm in New Zealand, occasionally I'll eat some salmon or cheese of some sort. But here in the States, I'm pretty much 100% vegan. That's honestly not intentional. I do what feels right for my body and that's just the sort of diet I've gravitated towards.

So, the milk scenario, I don't know. I think I'm contractually obliged to say that I love drinking milk. So I love drinking milk! They didn't allow me to choose almond milk, I think that was a joke that was quite frowned upon when I made it earlier this month. If I win, I'll be more than happy to pour milk over me.

There's a lot of adrenaline that goes into your sport. How do you wind down from a race?

I like to be MIA for a day and not to think about anything motorsport for 24 hours. It's not exactly a conscious decision to do that. It's just something that I've become accustomed to doing. And I'm addicted to doing exercise. So that clears my mind and I'm able to focus on the next weekend.

Let's get into a few rapid-fire questions...

What's your guilty pleasure activity?

I'm going to say partying. I'm not going to get fired, right?

Who's your No. 1 call when you have good news?

Nobody — I never call anyone. And I typically don't answer the phone. So I bustle it up inside like an unhealthy teenager.

What's your comfort watch?

Californication is my favorite show of all time.

Biggest fear?

Besides the usual spiders, snakes, I would say getting eliminated in the first round of the qualifying at IndyCar weekend.

What's something you eat every day?

Peanut butter.

What's your treat meal?

I love an acai bowl. It's like a massive calorie bomb. And Whittaker's chocolate.

What's your Roman Empire?

UFOs, or just questioning our existence. Are we in a simulation or not? That's a big one.

You're good at sports. What are you not good at?

I'm horrendous at cooking. I'm horrendous at cleaning. Even though I've been living alone for the better part of 13 years, I've never managed to successfully do my washing. I'm horrendous at rugby, which is why I started motorsport. Loads of things. I'm bad at a lot more things than I'm good at.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.