Brown explains shock Townsville practice crash

Will Brown believes he was lucky not to pick up more damage in a shock incident at the end of Practice 1 at the NTI Townsville 500.

The reigning champion stole the headlines on Friday morning after striking trouble in the closing stages of the first session of the weekend at Reid Park.

While he was a solid sixth overall, behind Walkinshaw Andretti United driver Ryan Wood, Brown had to crawl his damaged Red Bull Ampol Chevrolet back to pit lane.

While the incident largely evaded broadcast cameras, vision quickly landed on Brown facing the wrong way at the exit of Turn 2.

Upon returning to the garage, without his rear wing, Brown explained he simply tried to open the exit of the corner, only to clip the wall and fire towards the inside wall.

Luckily for Brown, the car didn't meet the inside wall heavily, with Triple Eight Race Engineering facing minor repairs before Practice 2 at 11:10am local time.

Speaking before Brown returned to the lane, team boss Jamie Whincup claimed his driver misjudged the corner, and suggested Brown's recent foray into left-hand driver NASCAR machinery could have been a factor.

However, Brown said: "I didn't find it too bad out there, to be honest.

"It's a very easy place to do it where I did, I tried to flow it out towards the wall and not get a slide going out there and hit the fence.

"Luckily, I think it's done minimal damage compared what it could've been, I thought it was going to ricochet me into the other fence.

"Sorry to our team, the car seems good... we'll be fine, it's obviously disappointing for the crew, but we'll be right."

The field returns for Practice 2 at 11:10am AEST, ahead of Boost Mobile Qualifying at 1:20am.

The 35-lap Race 20 will commence at 3:40pm.