For the seventh consecutive year, J.R. Hildebrand will look for redemption from his last-lap crash in the 2011 Indy 500. Is this the year in which he will get it?
After crashing heading into the first turn on the final lap of the 2012 Indianapolis 500 going for the lead, Takuma Sato got redemption by winning last year’s Indy 500. Can J.R. Hildebrand, who crashed with the lead with in the fourth turn on the final lap of the 2011 Indy 500, get redemption of his own this year?
Hildebrand, 30, is set to drive for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in the #66 Chevrolet in this year’s Indy 500. He has not driven for the team since he drove in just two races, his first two career IndyCar races, in the 2010 season at Mid-Ohio and Sonoma.
From Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, he got his first full-time ride in IndyCar with Panther Racing in the 2011 season. After a decent but not spectacular start to the season in the first four races, Hildebrand looked like he was going to become the first rookie winner of the Indy 500 since Helio Castroneves won the race in 2001. However, it was not meant to be.
Here is a video of the exciting yet heartbreaking finish of the 2011 Indy 500.
It took Hildebrand nearly six years after this devastating second place finish to finish on the podium in IndyCar again, in part because he only drove full-time in the 2011 season and the 2012 season for Panther Racing before making a return as a full-time driver in the 2017 season for Ed Carpenter Racing.
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He finished in third place at Phoenix last season for his first podium finish that did not come after he wrecked. It took him over six years since his accident at the end of the 2011 Indy 500 to finish in second place again. He pulled that off last season at Iowa.
While he was unable to secure a full-time ride this season, Hildebrand, who has not yet won an IndyCar race, certainly hasn’t lost his touch in the Indy 500. Including his second place finish in 2011, he has finished the race in the top 10 four times in seven attempts, and he would have finished in the top 10 last season, which would have been his fourth consecutive top 10 finish in the race, had it not been for a late penalty that sent him to the back of the field in 16th.
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing have shown speed so far this week in practice leading up to qualifying for the race, and Hildebrand always seems to have good pace in the Indy 500. Will he finally put his 2011 heartbreak completely aside by getting to victory lane this year?
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Tune in to ABC at 11:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, May 27 for the live broadcast of the 102nd Indy 500 to see whether or not J.R. Hildebrand can make his last-lap crash in the 2011 Indy 500 a distant memory with his first trip to victory lane in the Indy 500 and in an IndyCar race in general.