IndyCar: Could James Hinchcliffe switch to Chevrolet?

If James Hinchcliffe does end up landing a full-time ride for the 2020 IndyCar season, it may have to come via a deal with a Chevrolet-powered team.

When McLaren announced that they would form a partnership with Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports for the 2020 IndyCar season and that the team, renamed Arrow McLaren SP, would end their contract with Honda one year early to switch to Chevrolet, it did not come as much of a surprise considering McLaren’s recent poor relationship with Honda.

However, veteran Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver James Hinchcliffe had a contract to remain with the team through the 2020 season, and he was deeply tied to Honda, serving as a spokesman for the company and appearing in several Honda commercials in recent years.

So it came as somewhat of a surprise that he posted that he was excited to begin working with General Motors again, which, despite the surprise element, still seemed inevitable at the time given his contractual status with the team.

Andretti Autosport

Zach Veach, #26 Honda
Alexander Rossi, #27 Honda
Ryan Hunter-Reay, #28 Honda
Colton Herta, #88 Honda
Marco Andretti, #98 Honda

Chip Ganassi Racing

Marcus Ericsson, #8 Honda
Scott Dixon, #9 Honda
Felix Rosenqvist, #10 Honda

Dale Coyne Racing

Santino Ferrucci (still not confirmed but still very likely), #18 Honda
Alex Palou, #19 Honda

Meyer Shank Racing

Jack Harvey, #60 Honda

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Graham Rahal, #15 Honda
Takuma Sato, #30 Honda

This means that if Hinchcliffe competes full-time, it would likely have to be with Chevrolet, which seemed unlikely a few months ago given the fact that even the funding provided by Honda would not be enough and Honda surely won’t fund a ride for him with a rival manufacturer.

But let’s not forget that Hinchcliffe was more than ready to continue driving for Arrow McLaren SP despite their Chevrolet switch. He stated that he was blindsided when they cut him from his driver role, as anybody would have been when you’re supposedly “under contract”.

Let’s also not forget that the important detail that while he did lose his ride, he is technically still “under contract” with the team.

Per Toronto Star‘s Norris McDonald, Hinchcliffe will still need to earn his salary, which is roughly $500,000 per year, in 2020. He will need to carry out tasks such as going to the races, spending time in their hospitality unit, shaking hands with people, doing appearances away from the track, etc. It pretty much goes without saying that he’s going to have the Chevrolet bowtie logo on his shirt

So what is stopping him from actually switching to a Chevrolet team to compete?

Aside of the obvious need for funding, nothing; he could absolutely do it.

Carlin comes to mind as the most likely option, as nothing about their driver lineup has been confirmed for next year. A.J. Foyt Enterprises are sitting there with no confirmations having been made aside of the fact that they are set to run two cars, but there have already been several reports linking drivers to that team both in a full-time and a part-time capacity.

The other two confirmed Chevrolet teams without confirmed drivers for the 2020 season are DragonSpeed and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, but both are just part-time teams. Additionally, as the case is with A.J. Foyt’s team, here have already been several reports linking drivers to both teams.

Hinchcliffe just secured sponsorship funding from Genesys to compete in the two races of the month of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, including the GMR Grand Prix at the road course and the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 at the oval.

He is reportedly still looking for a Honda team, as would be expected given his ties to the manufacturer and given the fact Honda and Honda Canada’s funding could further increase the number of races on his schedule.

But again, that would only be a part-time ride, and if he has something else better lined up with Chevrolet in the form of a full-time ride, he could very well make the switch.

No details about teams nor engine manufacturers were revealed upon the announcement of the partnership between he and the Daly City, California-based cloud customer-experience tech company. However, that is expected to change in the very near future.

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Will we see James Hinchcliffe in a Chevrolet-powered car for the 2020 IndyCar season despite his previous ties to Honda, or will his part-time ride, however many races that might include, keep him with Honda? This late in the game, a Chevrolet switch to potentially compete full-time may very well be his best bet, even if it may not be the most likely scenario on paper with all things considered.