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IndyCar: Jay Howard Indianapolis 500 deal confirmed by Schmidt Peterson Motorsports

By Asher Fair

FORT WORTH, TX - JUNE 10: Jay Howard of England, driver of the #88 Service Central Dallara Honda, practices for the IZOD IndyCar Series Firestone Twin 275's at Texas Motor Speedway on June 10, 2011 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)
FORT WORTH, TX - JUNE 10: Jay Howard of England, driver of the #88 Service Central Dallara Honda, practices for the IZOD IndyCar Series Firestone Twin 275's at Texas Motor Speedway on June 10, 2011 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images) /
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Jay Howard’s deal to drive in this year’s Indianapolis 500 for IndyCar team Schmidt Peterson Motorsports has been confirmed by the team.

It was recently revealed that Jay Howard had landed a deal with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports to drive for the IndyCar team in the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500 this May. However, the team had not officially confirmed this news at that time.

Now, the team have confirmed that Howard, 37, will indeed drive for them in this year’s Indianapolis 500. Howard is set to pilot the team’s #7 Honda as a teammate to the team’s two full-time drivers, who are James Hinchcliffe, 31, and Robert Wickens, 29.

Hinchcliffe is the full-time driver of the #5 Honda for the team, while Wickens is the full-time driver of the #6 Honda for the team.

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In each of the last two seasons, the #7 Honda was a full-time entry for the team, and it was driven primarily by Mikhail Aleshin before he and the team parted ways prior to the conclusion of last season.

Therefore, the #77 Honda was used as the team’s third entry in both the 2016 and the 2017 Indianapolis 500. In the 2016 edition of the race, it was driven by Oriol Servia. Last year, it was driven by Howard in the race.

However, with Wickens piloting the #6 Honda full-time as opposed to the #7 Honda, the #7 Honda is the car that Howard will drive in this year’s edition of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” as opposed to the #77 Honda that he drove in the race last season.

In two career Indianapolis 500 starts, which took place in 2011 and in 2017, Howard has started in 20th place but failed to finish. He was classified as finished in 30th place in the 2011 race and 33rd last year after being involved in a colossal wreck with race contender Scott Dixon.

Here is a video of that nasty wreck.

In both of those Indianapolis 500 starts, Howard drove for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. In 2011, the team, which was named Sam Schmidt Motorsports at the time, partnered with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing to field an entry for him in the race.

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Will Jay Howard finish the Indianapolis 500 for the first time in his career this year in his third attempt driving for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports? The race is scheduled to be broadcast live from Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 27th on ABC at 11:00 am ET. Tune in at that time on that date to find out.