IndyCar: Jack Harvey to replace Mikhail Aleshin on road and street courses

By Asher Fair | Aug 21, 2017

FORT WORTH, TX - JUNE 10: The car of Mikhail Aleshin, driver of the #7 SMP Racing Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda, is serviced during Pit Stop Practice prior to the Verizon IndyCar Series Rainguard Water Sealers 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 10, 2017 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images) /

After announcing that Sebastian Saavedra would replace Mikhail Aleshin in the remaining oval races, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports announced that Jack Harvey will do so in the remaining road course races.

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports announced that Jack Harvey will replace Mikhail Aleshin in the two remaining road course races on the 2017 IndyCar schedule at Watkins Glen and Sonoma. The announcement comes one day after Sebastian Saavedra drove Aleshin’s #7 Honda at Pocono following the announcement that he would drive that car in the final two oval races of the season at Pocono and Gateway.

Harvey, 24, has only ever driven in one IndyCar race before, that being this season’s Indianapolis 500. He drove for Michael Shank Racing with Andretti Autosport and qualified in 27th place before crashing and finishing back in 31st.

Harvey is no stranger to driving for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. He drove for the team in the 2014 and 2015 seasons in the Indy Lights series, winning six of his 30 races there and placing 2nd in the championship standings in both seasons. The series did not race at Watkins Glen either season, but they did race at Sonoma twice in 2014. Harvey won both races.

More from IndyCar

Aleshin’s removal did not come as a surprise to many, as he was benched at Toronto last month for his poor performances. Saavedra took over for him at that street course race, but after he was announced as Aleshin’s replacement in the final two oval races of the season, that left the seat of the #7 Honda open for a road course driver to drive the final two road course races of the season. While there were a number of possible replacement candidates, Jack Harvey took the seat.

Given the fact that the #7 Honda does not yet have a confirmed driver for full-time competition in IndyCar next season, this could be a great opportunity for Harvey to show the team how well he can perform in an effort to secure himself a full-time ride in 2018.

Next: IndyCar team power rankings

Do you agree with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ decision to allow Jack Harvey to drive the #7 Honda at Watkins Glen and Sonoma? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to follow Beyond the Flag on both Instagram and Twitter. Also, don’t forget to follow along with Beyond the Flag for the latest news, opinions and analysis stemming from a number of different motorsports series. You don’t want to miss any of it.