IndyCar: Two cars remain with unconfirmed drivers for 2019 Indianapolis 500

By Asher Fair | Apr 24, 2019

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MAY 25: Jay Howard, driver of the #7 One Cure SPM Honda, practices during Carb Day for the 102nd Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motorspeedway on May 25, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana.(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

Two of the 36 cars representing two IndyCar teams on the entry list for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 do not yet have confirmed drivers.

The confirmation of J.R. Hildebrand as Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s second driver for the sixth race on the 17-race 2019 IndyCar schedule, the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500, was the 34th driver confirmation for this race, ensuring that at least one driver who attempts to qualify for the race will be bumped from the field.

However, three drivers will likely end up being bumped from the field and thus unable to compete in the 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana, as two cars on the entry list, which contains 36 cars, still do not have confirmed drivers.

These two cars are the #32 Juncos Racing Chevrolet and a third Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Car, more than likely the #77 Honda.

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The #32 Chevrolet will likely end up being driven by Kyle Kaiser, who made the first four starts of his IndyCar career last year. He drove the #32 Chevrolet in last year’s Indy 500, and he is the only driver who has driven for the team at all this year. He made his lone start so far this season back in the season’s second race at Circuit of the Americas.

The Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports car remains somewhat of a wild card, but all signs point toward Oriol Servia returning to the team to drive it like he did for the 100th running of the race back in 2016.

That said, there are still three other potential candidates to drive this car. Mikhail Aleshin has driven for the team on a full-time basis before, and he would bring substantial financial backing from SMP Racing. However, he has not competed in IndyCar since the 2017 season, and he and the team parted ways during that season.

Stefan Wilson, who nearly won last year’s Indy 500 driving for Andretti Autosport before having to make a pit stop for fuel while leading with just over four laps remaining, is still looking to put together a deal to compete in this year’s running of the race.

Then there is Carlos Munoz, whose average finishing position of 7.50 in the last six Indy 500 races is better than the average finishing positions of any of the other 14 drivers who have competed in each of these six races.

Aside of Munoz, the only one of these 14 drivers who does not yet have a confirmed ride for this year’s Indy 500 is Servia, whose average finishing position of 16.83 in these six races ranks 13th out of 15 on this list. As a result, Munoz could end up being the only one of these 15 drivers without a ride for this race.

More than likely, Kaiser and Servia will be the 35th and 36th confirmed drivers for this year’s running of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”, at which point it will have been confirmed that three of the 36 drivers who attempt to qualify for the field will end up being bumped.

James Hinchcliffe, one of Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ two full-time drivers, was bumped from the field for last year’s Indy 500, as was Dale Coyne Racing’s Pippa Mann, a regular Indy 500 one-off.

The entry list for last year’s running of the race contained 35 drivers, which was the largest driver total on an entry list for the race since the entry list for the 2011 Indy 500 contained 41 drivers. As a result, the entry list for this year’s Indy 500 is set to contain more drivers than any Indy 500 list has contained in the last eight years.

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When will Juncos Racing and Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports confirm the 35th and 36th drivers for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500, and which two drivers will they confirm? The race is scheduled to take place in about four and a half weeks on Sunday, May 26, and qualifying for it is scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19, so expect to know the answers to these questions in the near future.