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IndyCar: 5 possible landing spots for James Hinchcliffe in 2020

By Asher Fair

MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 20: James Hinchcliffe #5 of United States and Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda prepares to drive during practice for the NTT IndyCar Series Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on September 20, 2019 in Monterey, California. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 20: James Hinchcliffe #5 of United States and Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda prepares to drive during practice for the NTT IndyCar Series Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on September 20, 2019 in Monterey, California. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /
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MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 20: James Hinchcliffe #5 of United States and Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 20: James Hinchcliffe #5 of United States and Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /

Arrow McLaren Racing SP (non-driver)

Suffice it to say that James Hinchcliffe driving for a Chevrolet team next year at this point is less likely than Rick Mears coming out of retirement to drive a fifth Team Penske Chevrolet in the 2020 Indianapolis 500, barring a major and abrupt shift in a positive direction in his sponsorship situation.

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Hinchcliffe had a contract with Arrow McLaren Racing SP, and that’s the only reason he was set to drive a Chevrolet-powered machine in 2020.

Even the money he would get from Honda and Honda Canada wouldn’t be enough to land him a full-time ride with a Honda-powered team in the 2020 season, and the fact that he still doesn’t have a ride lined up for next year shows that he likely doesn’t have enough additional funding to cover a full-time ride even with Honda’s backing, at least not at this point with the offseason between the 2019 and 2020 seasons quickly nearing its halfway point.

The problem for him is the fact that he still has a “contract with Arrow McLaren Racing SP” for the 2020 season, just not as a driver, and if he doesn’t land elsewhere, he is stuck in this contract if he wants to get paid; it’s not a simple matter of him sitting around and collecting money.

According to a report by Toronto Star, Hinchcliffe must earn his salary, which is reportedly around $500,000, by going to the races, spending time in Arrow McLaren Racing SP’s hospitality unit, shaking hands with people, doing appearances away from the track and more.

This report also states that the team could claim a breach of contract and stop paying Hinchcliffe if he refuses to carry out these duties, and the team have threatened to withhold his pay in response to Hinchcliffe’s lawyers threatening to sue them.

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Where will James Hinchcliffe end up, if anywhere, in the 2020 IndyCar season? Will he compete full-time, part-time, or remain “under contract” with Arrow McLaren Racing SP as a non-driver?