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IndyCar: Harding Steinbrenner Racing likely won’t field second Indy 500 car

By Asher Fair

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MAY 25: Gabby Chaves, driver of the #88 Salesforce DDR Chevrolet (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MAY 25: Gabby Chaves, driver of the #88 Salesforce DDR Chevrolet (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /
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Harding Steinbrenner Racing, a full-time one-car IndyCar team, likely won’t field a second car for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500.

After Harding Racing and Steinbrenner Racing formed a partnership at the end of the 2018 IndyCar season to become Harding Steinbrenner Racing, they confirmed that they would operate as a two-car full-time team in the 2019 season.

They confirmed the two drivers who finished in the top two in the 2018 Indy Lights standings, champion Patricio O’Ward and runner-up Colton Herta, would be the driver of the #8 Chevrolet-turned-Honda and the #88 Chevrolet-turned-Honda, respectively.

But under one month before the season began, they had to release O’Ward from his contract due to financial issues. That said, speculation remained that they may still field the #8 Honda for another driver in the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 this May.

Apparently there is now only a 0.2% chance of Herta having a teammate for this 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana.

Here is what Harding Steinbrenner Racing team manager Brian Barnhart had to say about the matter, according to RACER.

"“It’d put it at about 99.8 percent not happening. Unless someone walked up and gave us a million-and-a-half dollars, it’s not expected to happen, and nobody I know is looking to spend that kind of money. Honda has said they would make a second engine [lease] available to us if we had someone to run, even though the deadline has gone by; but we told them we don’t expect to be two cars for the Speedway.“We need to focus on the 88 car. We’ve had some great success already, but we’ve also had some difficulties, so we’re in a position where it’s smarter to make Colton the only focus for us next month.”"

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A total of 34 drivers have been confirmed on the entry list for this year’s running of the Indy 500, and two additional entries, the #32 Juncos Racing Chevrolet and a third Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports car, have also been confirmed. The drivers for these two cars have not yet been named, but it is speculated that they will be Kyle Kaiser and Oriol Servia, respectively.

With Harding Steinbrenner Racing set to field only one car and with the possibility of Andretti Autosport, the team with which Harding Steinbrenner Racing formed a technical alliance ahead of the 2019 season, fielding a sixth car seemingly out the window, the entry list for this year’s Indy 500 will likely contain 36 drivers.

Next. Top 10 Indianapolis 500 drivers of all-time. dark

The total of 36 IndyCar drivers on the entry list for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 would be the highest driver total on an entry list for the race since 41 drivers were on the entry list for the 95th running of the race back in 2011. The highest driver total on an entry list for the race since 2011 was 35, which was set last year.