IndyCar: Marco Andretti to drive #98 Andretti Herta Autosport Honda in 2018
By Asher Fair
After driving the #27 Andretti Autosport Honda in the last three IndyCar season, Marco Andretti is making the switch to the #98 Andretti Herta Autosport Honda in 2018.
It was confirmed only a few weeks ago that Marco Andretti, 30, would not be returning to the seat of the #27 Andretti Autosport Honda in the 2018 IndyCar season after spending each of the last three seasons driving that car.
Now we know he will be behind the wheel of the #98 Andretti Herta Autosport Honda, the car driven by Alexander Rossi, 26, in each of his first two seasons in the sport. The partnership between Andretti Autosport and Bryan Herta Autosport is set to continue for a third straight season next year, and this will be the first season with Andretti behind the wheel of the #98 car.
This move is essentially just a driver switch within the team, as Andretti is replacing Rossi in the #98 Honda and Rossi is replacing Andretti in the #27 Honda.
Here is how Andretti Autosport broke the news on Twitter.
BREAKING NEWS: We will have a number switch for 2018 as @MarcoAndretti will take over the No. 98 Andretti Herta Autosport Honda and @AlexanderRossi gets behind the wheel of the No. 27 NAPA AUTO PARTS Honda! #TradingPlaces #IndyCar #Indy500 #NAPAKnowHow https://t.co/5G5W2JHYED pic.twitter.com/A3nM2bVEDP
— Andretti IndyCar & Indy NXT (@AndrettiIndy) December 7, 2017
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In his 12 IndyCar seasons so far in which he has driven in 200 races and racked up 93 top 10 finishes, 40 top 5 finishes and two victories, which came in the 2006 race at Sonoma and the 2011 race at Iowa, Andretti drove the #27 Honda in three of them. He drove the car in the 2015, 2016, and 2017 seasons. In the 49 races in those three seasons, he racked up 19 top 10 finishes, five top 5 finishes and a top finish of 2nd place in the first 2015 Belle Isle race. His career-high finish in the championship standings is 5th place in 2013, and his best finish in the standings as the driver of the #27 car was 9th in 2015.
Andretti Autosport will still have Ryan Hunter-Reay behind the wheel of the #28 Honda, and this move confirms that Zach Veach, Takuma Sato’s replacement, will indeed drive the #26 Honda as opposed to a car with a different number.
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Will Marco Andretti see success as the driver of the #98 Andretti Herta Autosport Honda in the 2018 IndyCar season after failing to win a race in each of the last six seasons, three of which as the driver of the #27 Andretti Autosport Honda? The season is set to begin with the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in St. Petersburg, Florida on Sunday, March 11th.