IndyCar: J.R. Hildebrand will be confirmed at Dreyer & Reinbold Racing for Indianapolis 500

By Asher Fair | Mar 1, 2018

AVONDALE, AZ - APRIL 28: JR Hilderbrand, driver of the #21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet drives out of the pitt area during practice for the Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix at Phoenix International Raceway on April 28, 2017 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

IndyCar driver J.R. Hildebrand will be confirmed at Dreyer & Reinbold Racing for the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500 in May.

IndyCar driver J.R. Hildebrand, 30, is set to be confirmed as Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s second driver in the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500 at the end of May. Hildebrand has driven in each of the last seven Indianapolis 500 races.

The team’s other driver who Hildebrand will join in the race is 22-year-old Sage Karam, who was confirmed as one of the team’s drivers within the last few hours. He has driven in each of the last four Indianapolis 500 races.

As a result of the impending confirmation of Hildebrand as a driver for the team in this year’s Indianapolis 500, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing will operate as a two-car team in the race. In recent years, they have only operated as a one-car team. In fact, in three of the last four years, Karam has been their lone driver for the race.

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Hildebrand has driven in each of the last four Indianapolis 500 races for Ed Carpenter Racing. In the three seasons during which he did not have a full-time ride in that four-year span, which were the 2014, 2015 and 2016 seasons, Ed Carpenter Racing fielded an extra entry for him in the race, bringing the team to two cars in the 2014 Indianapolis 500 and three cars in the 2015 Indianapolis 500 and 2016 Indianapolis 500.

Last season when Hildebrand had a full-time ride with Ed Carpenter Racing, they did not field an extra entry in the race for anyone and ran as a two-car team. However, despite the fact that Hildebrand is no longer a full-time driver, the team opted to field an extra entry for Danica Patrick in the race this season as opposed to Hildebrand.

Patrick is set to be the team’s third driver in the race. Because of the fact that Ed Carpenter Racing have never fielded four cars in a race before since coming to IndyCar in the 2012 season, it was speculated that Hildebrand would not end up driving for the team in this year’s Indianapolis 500.

That speculation turned out to be correct, as Hildebrand is still set to drive in the 102nd running of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”, but he is set to be confirmed as the second driver for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing as opposed to the fourth driver for Ed Carpenter Racing.

In seven career Indianapolis 500 starts, Hildebrand has finished in the top 10 four times. He did so most recently in 2016 when he finished in 6th place. His career-high 2nd place finish in the race unfortunately came as a result of the fact that he crashed as the leader of the race in 2011 in the final turn before being passed by the late Dan Wheldon.

Here is a video of the finish of that race.

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Will J.R. Hildebrand finally be able to truly make the pain of his heartbreaking 2nd place finish in the 2011 Indianapolis 500 go away by winning the race this year? Tune in to ABC on Sunday, May 27th at 11:00 am ET to watch the race live from Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana.