IndyCar: J.R. Hildebrand to drive for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in Indianapolis 500

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MAY 28: JR Hildebrand, driver of the #21 Preferred Freezer Service Chevrolet (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MAY 28: JR Hildebrand, driver of the #21 Preferred Freezer Service Chevrolet (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /
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J.R. Hildebrand is set to return to IndyCar as a driver for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500.

J.R. Hildebrand, 30, is set to go back to his IndyCar roots in this year’s Indianapolis 500, as he is set to drive the #66 Chevrolet for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in the race. Hildebrand’s IndyCar career began in 2010 when he drove in two races for the team at Mid-Ohio and Sonoma.

Since then, Hildebrand has driven for Panther Racing, Barracuda Racing and Ed Carpenter Racing/CFH Racing. He drove full-time for Panther Racing in the 2011 and 2012 seasons, and he drove full-time for Ed Carpenter Racing in the 2017 season. He has not driven for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing since the 2010 season.

Hildebrand has driven in the Indianapolis 500 in each of the last seven seasons, and he has had success in doing so. He drove for Panther Racing in the race from the 2011 season to the 2013 season, and he has driven for Ed Carpenter Racing in every season since.

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Ed Carpenter Racing, however, have never fielded four cars in an IndyCar race before. So when it was announced that Danica Patrick had signed with the team to drive their third car in this year’s running of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”, Hildebrand’s odds of landing a ride with the team in the race for the fifth consecutive year plummeted.

While Hildebrand has had a good amount of success in his Indianapolis 500 career thus far, he is most well-known to the majority of IndyCar fans for his infamous 2nd place finish in the 2011 edition of the race when he was a rookie. Here is a video of that wild finish.

Aside of this crushing 2nd place finish, which ironically remains tied for his career-high IndyCar finish along with his 2nd place finish at Iowa last year, Hildebrand has finished in the top 10 on three occasions in his other six Indianapolis 500 starts.

He finished in 10th place in the race in 2014 before finished in 8th in 2015 and 6th in 2016. He looked to be in the running for a top 5 finish in the race last year before he was hit with a late penalty and forced to go to the back of the field.

He ended up finishing the 2017 edition of the race in 16th place, which is his lowest career finish in the six Indianapolis 500 races that he has actually finished. His lone DNF in the race came in 2013 when he crashed out early. He was classified as finishing in 33rd.

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How will J.R. Hildebrand perform in his eighth career Indianapolis 500 start, which is set to mark his return to Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and his first Indianapolis 500 start for the team? Tune in to ABC 11:00 am ET on Sunday, May 27th to find out, as that is when the live race broadcast is set to begin.