IndyCar: 5 possible landing spots for James Hinchcliffe in 2020

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 (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

James Hinchcliffe will not drive for Arrow McLaren Racing SP in the 2020 IndyCar season. Where will he end up, if anywhere?

Back in August, James Hinchcliffe supposedly had a contract to drive for Arrow McLaren Racing SP in the 2020 IndyCar season.

Hinchcliffe had driven for Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports since the 2015 season, and he was under contract with the team through next year. This remained the case even when they formed a partnership with McLaren to form Arrow McLaren Racing SP.

Most notably, it remained the case when the team announced that they had ended their contract with Honda one year early and switched to Chevrolet engines.

The 32-year-old Canadian has served as a spokesman for Honda and has deep ties to the company and to counterpart Honda Canada, and this switch would naturally upset those ties, so there was still speculation that this wouldn’t happen.

But he stated that he was excited to work with General Motors again, and both Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team co-owner Sam Schmidt and McLaren CEO Zak Brown stated that he had a contract to remain with the team on multiple occasions despite speculation otherwise. At one point, Schmidt even stated that he wasn’t sure what all the speculation was about.

Now we know; 2018 and 2019 Indy Lights champions Patricio O’Ward and Oliver Askew are set to drive for Arrow McLaren Racing SP in the 2020 season.

Hinchcliffe is not.

Even though many people saw this coming, especially after the whole debacle with Arrow, Hinchcliffe and ESPN, Hinchcliffe and his team were blindsided by the move, and the fan-favorite is now looking for a ride.

Where might he end up in the 2020 season?

MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 19: Sebastien Bourdais #18 of France and SealMaster Honda (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Dale Coyne Racing

As it usual does, the weight has shifted onto several teams over the course of Silly Season. It struck Dale Coyne Racing in a way that was very much unexpected about a week and a half ago when they cut ties with Sebastien Bourdais, who had previously been under contract to drive the #18 Honda for a fourth consecutive season.

Now instead of having one confirmed driver and a likely soon-to-be-confirmed driver, the two-car Honda team have zero confirmed drivers for the 2020 season.

Santino Ferrucci is still expected to return for a second season behind the wheel of the #19 Honda following in impressive rookie year, but this has not yet been confirmed. Now, however, even if it is, Dale Coyne Racing will still have a seat to fill.

James Hinchcliffe had been mentioned as a possible third driver for Dale Coyne Racing even before the unexpected departure of Bourdais, but team owner Dale Coyne was unwilling to commit to running a third car.

Now he wouldn’t have to.

Upon the confirmation of Bourdais’ release, Coyne stated that this decision had nothing to do with his interest in other possible free agents, including Hinchcliffe, despite the fact that he had previously shown interest in the 32-year-old Canadian.

Make no mistake about it; Coyne is telling the truth.

But that does not mean he has ruled out signing Hinchcliffe, nor that he is no longer interested in him, and the fact that his team is a Honda team makes them one of the few teams at which Hinchcliffe could land and receive significant backing from Honda.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing are another Honda team at which James Hinchcliffe could end up in a full-time capacity next year.

They had previously been mentioned in the same discussion as Dale Coyne Racing as far as needing to add a third car. As mentioned in the previous slide, Dale Coyne Racing are no longer in that particular discussion, but Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing are.

Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato are both under contract to drive for the Honda team next year after spending both of the last two seasons together behind the wheel of the #15 Honda and #30 Honda, respectively. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing have previously stated that they want to add a third full-time car, but they are not sure whether or not it will happen.

Hinchcliffe would still need additional funding from sponsors other than Honda to make it happen, but team co-owner Bobby Rahal has confirmed that he would love to have him come on board as their third driver if it makes sense as far as funding is concerned.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing have operated as a three-car full-time team before, but not since the 2006 season. If it does happen again in 2020, and it is still a big “if”, it would likely be with Hinchcliffe after Bobby Rahal admitted that the odds of adding a third car for next year weren’t what they once were.

Chip Ganassi Racing

Chip Ganassi Racing threw themselves into this discussion when they unexpectedly added a third car for Marcus Ericsson and team owner Chip Ganassi stated that he would sign James Hinchcliffe in a second if he had the necessary sponsorship.

After fielding four cars on a full-time basis in six out of seven seasons from 2011 to 2017, Chip Ganassi Racing scaled back to a two-car team ahead of the 2018 season.

They continued to operate as a two-car team in the 2019 season and were expected to do so once again in the 2020 season with Scott Dixon, who signed a multi-year contract extension in August of 2018, and Felix Rosenqvist, the 2019 Rookie of the Year who the team stated multiple times would be back in 2020 before that news was officially confirmed.

Then they went ahead and brought back the #8 Honda for Ericsson alongside Dixon’s #9 Honda and Rosenqvist’s #10 Honda, and the door is officially open for the rebirth of a four-car operation.

Chip Ganassi Racing most recently fielded four full-time cars in the 2017 season with Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Max Chilton and Charlie Kimball. The #8 Honda and #83 Honda of Chilton and Kimball, respectively, were cut after the season, and both drivers ended up at Carlin. Kanaan was replaced by Ed Jones behind the wheel of the #10 Honda ahead of the 2018 season before Rosenqvist replaced Jones ahead of the 2019 season.

Adding Hinchcliffe into the mix is not out of the question.

BIRMINGHAM, AL – APRIL 27: James Hinchcliffe of Canada, drives the #27 Andretti Autosport Dallara Honda (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)

Andretti Autosport (part-time)

One option for James Hinchcliffe that really hasn’t garnered much attention speculation-wise is a part-time driver role for Andretti Autosport, the team for which he drove from the 2012 season through the 2014 season before leaving for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.

Andretti Autosport COO Rob Edwards notably refused to rule out signing both Colton Herta and James Hinchcliffe for the 2020 season at Pocono Raceway back in August. At this time, Hinchcliffe was still “under contract” to drive for Arrow McLaren Racing SP next year.

The team did end up signing Herta as their fifth driver via an effort with Harding Steinbrenner Racing, and Hinchcliffe is now and has been officially without a ride.

Could a return for Hinchcliffe to Michael Andretti’s team be in the cards?

Andretti Autosport will not field six cars on a full-time basis. It’s not happening. But they could field a part-time entry for Hinchcliffe. Hinchcliffe experienced his most successful years at Andretti Autosport, and the two parties never wanted to part ways but ultimately did so due to a lack of sponsorship.

It has been made public knowledge that the money Hinchcliffe brings to the table from Honda and Honda Canada is not enough for him to land a full-time effort without additional sponsorship, so a part-time effort in itself makes sense, regardless of what team we’re discussing.

But let’s also not forget what Andretti Autosport nearly did this last season. They fielded four full-time cars for Zach Veach, Alexander Rossi, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti. Herta’s entry with the Andretti-affiliated Harding Steinbrenner Racing was effectively a fifth in the Andretti fold.

Patricio O’Ward was slated to drive for Harding Steinbrenner Racing last season as well, but he was released less than a month before the season started due to a lack of funding.

Andretti Autosport offered him a deal to compete in eight of the season’s 17 races, a deal he ultimately turned down, and he presumably had less money than Hinchcliffe does from Honda considering the fact that he ended up at Carlin for a few races before joining the Red Bull Junior Team and going to compete in Japanese Super Formula.

Could a similar deal for Hinchcliffe come to fruition with the Honda-powered team if nothing else does?

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.