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IndyCar: Top 5 replacement candidates for Mikhail Aleshin

By Asher Fair

FORT WORTH, TX - JUNE 09: Mikhail Aleshin, driver of the #7 SMP Racing Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda, practices for the Verizon IndyCar Series Rainguard Water Sealers 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 9, 2017 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
FORT WORTH, TX - JUNE 09: Mikhail Aleshin, driver of the #7 SMP Racing Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda, practices for the Verizon IndyCar Series Rainguard Water Sealers 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 9, 2017 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /
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Spencer Pigot

Assuming Ed Carpenter would allow it like he did for the Indianapolis 500 this season, Spencer Pigot, 23, would be a great option to replace Mikhail Aleshin in the #7 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda for the oval races.

Pigot would only be able to drive the oval races due to the fact that he drives the #20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, the car that team owner Ed Carpenter drives on ovals, in all of the road and street course races. Pigot drove for Juncos Racing in the Indianapolis 500 earlier this season and finished in 18th place after starting way back in 29th.

If given the opportunity, Pigot would be wise to take it, and quite frankly, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports would be wise to put it out there for him. Pigot is a driver who will likely be seeking an opportunity for a full-time ride next season, so he should do whatever he can now to show teams that he is capable of racing on ovals.

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As the road and street course driver for Ed Carpenter Racing, he has never really had the chance to drive a decent car in an oval race. His only two career oval races at this point are Indianapolis 500 races in 2016 and 2017.

In last year’s Indy 500, he drove for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and finished in 25th place, as the team had awful speed all month. This season, as mentioned above, he drove for Juncos Racing, which was arguably the slowest team at the track all month.

Driving the #7 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda in one or both of the remaining oval races this season would certainly give Pigot the opportunity to show teams what he has never had the opportunity to show them before, and that is how good of an oval driver he is.