IndyCar: Colton Herta rumored as fifth Andretti Autosport driver in 2020

Andretti Autosport are poised to field five full-time cars in the 2020 IndyCar season, and their potential fifth driver is rumored as Colton Herta.

As speculated several weeks ago, Andretti Autosport are set to add a fifth full-time car to their lineup for the 2020 IndyCar season.

Zach Veach, Alexander Rossi, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti are all set to return to the team for the third consecutive season as teammates, but they are now set to have a common teammate assuming that this rumored addition does not fall through.

This common teammate is poised to be Colton Herta.

Herta is currently in his rookie season driving for Harding Steinbrenner Racing, but he admitted that his future with the team beyond the conclusion of the 2019 season was in doubt last week, at which point the rumors that he would end up driving for Andretti Autosport intensified.

There were rumors that Harding Steinbrenner Racing may fold before the season ended due to a lack of funding, but they ultimately secured the necessary sponsorship to continue operating.

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However, due to this financial instability and the fact that this sponsorship funding only runs through the end of the season, Herta’s announcement did not come as a surprise to anybody, especially since the possibility of the team folding after the 2019 season seems to get stronger by the day.

Herta spent two seasons competing for Andretti Steinbrenner Racing in Indy Lights before team co-owner George Michael Steinbrenner IV formed a partnership with Harding Racing to create Harding Steinbrenner Racing ahead of the 2019 season.

Through this partnership, Herta was promoted to IndyCar. Harding Steinbrenner Racing then formed a technical alliance with Andretti Autosport after confirming Honda engines for the 2019 season. In fact, Herta’s contract binds him to Andretti Technologies, so he is already effectively a pseudo teammate to Veach, Rossi, Hunter-Reay and Andretti.

As a result, assuming Andretti Autosport have a spot for him, he is practically a lock to remain within the organization, and that is exactly the scenario that a fifth team car would present.

Such a scenario would also provide the opportunity for Steinbrenner to continue serving as a co-entrant on Herta’s car to effectively recreate Andretti Steinbrenner Racing assuming Harding Steinbrenner Racing do, in fact, shut down.

Additionally, at Pocono Raceway last Saturday, Andretti Autosport COO Rob Edwards refused to rule out the possibility of adding Herta to the team as their fifth driver.

McLaren revealed that they were targeting Herta for the 2020 season even before they formed a partnership with Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports to join IndyCar and create Arrow McLaren Racing SP, but those efforts look like they will not end up paying off.

There had been additional rumors that James Hinchcliffe, who currently drives for Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and has done so since leaving Andretti Autosport after the 2014 season, could reunite with the Michael Andretti-owned team since Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ partnership with McLaren resulted in Arrow McLaren Racing SP confirming Chevrolet engines, ending Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ contract with Honda one year early.

Hinchcliffe has deep ties to Honda.

He did post that he was excited to work with Chevrolet again, and both Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports co-owner Sam Schmidt and McLaren CEO Zak Brown would like him to return to the team considering his contract doesn’t expire until the end of the 2020 season. That in itself would hint that he will be one of Arrow McLaren Racing SP’s two drivers next year.

But nobody from Honda has commented about the matter, and there is still the possibility that the manufacturer will retain him so he will drive for one of their teams next year. Edwards also refused to rule out the possibility of adding Hinchcliffe to the team for next year.

However, with all things considered, Herta appears to be the one in line to land the team’s fifth full-time ride.

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Will Andretti Autosport expand to five full-time cars for the 2020 IndyCar season like they are expected to? If so, will Colton Herta drive their fifth car, and will that car be fielded by both the team and George Michael Steinbrenner IV? As it has been for quite some time, that remains the most likely option assuming the addition of this fifth car goes down as planned.