2014 Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay will join Arrow McLaren Racing the 110th running of the 500. Hunter-Reay will drive car number 31.
The signing is a great one for the team, adding experience and expertise to a group just on the verge of Indy success that just a little extra boost.
The news release frorm Arrow McLaren:
“I am beyond primed and ready to make the absolute most of this partnership”- Ryan Hunter-Reay
Ryan Hunter-Reay, 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner and 2012 INDYCAR SERIES Champion, will join the Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team for the 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500, completing the team’s four-car lineup for the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”
Ryan joins the team with a wealth of experience and a proven championship pedigree, having made 395 INDYCAR SERIES starts over 21 seasons, earning 18 victories and 47 podium finishes. His storied open-wheel career is highlighted by success at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where he will attempt to qualify for his 18th Indy 500 in May. The veteran will be one of five active drivers competing who boast an INDYCAR SERIES Championship and an Indy 500 victory alongside Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Alex Palou and Will Power.
Arrow McLaren continues its tradition of running an additional distinguished driver in the iconic 500-mile race. In past years, two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso (2017, 2020), two-time Indy 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya (2021, 2022), 2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan (2023) and two-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion Kyle Larson (2024, 2025) have all raced in papaya in the Indy 500 as one-off entries for the team. Ryan will join Arrow McLaren’s full-time lineup of Pato O’Ward, Nolan Siegel and Christian Lundgaard at the IMS during the Month of May in 2026.
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing with Cusick Motorsports announced this morning that Ryan Hunter-Reay, winner of the 2014 Indianapolis 500 and 2012 series champion, will return in one of their two entries for the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500. Jack Harvey will drive the second car.
Harvey is a veteran of seven Indianapolis 500s, with a best finish of ninth in 2020. His last 500, in 2023, is known for Harvey’s bumping teammate Graham Rahal out of the field on the day’s final run.
Harvey ran a partial season for Dale Coyne Racing in 2024. In 2023 he began the year with Rahal Letterman racing, but was let go midseason.
Hunter-Reay will drive for DRR for the third consecutive year. He started the race 12th last year and dropped out after 107 laps due to contact, finishing 26th.
Dreyer and Reinbold will again team with Don Cusick for the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500. Conor Daly will team with 2014 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay in the two car effort.
In 2023 Stefan Wilson qualified one of the cars which was entered by Cusick. In the Monday practice after qualifying, Wilson broke his back in a crash. Many were expecting Wilson to return for 2024.
Cusick decided to distribute his money to both DRR cars, which I believe led to Wilson not having enough funding. \About Wilson, Cusick said in a video call yesterday:
“As far as Stefan goes, unfortunately he had the injury, I think it set him back a little bit. I’m not sure that he’s done trying to be a part of the Indy 500. Look, we’ll always support him. He’s a good guy and a good friend. He is the reason that we ended up in the Indy 500. That said, he’s given us his full support and blessing. Depending on what happens this year, hopefully he’s around in May and able to say hi to everybody.”
Hunter=Reay and Daly are both eager to work together, and they appear to be on the same page about race strategy. Hunter_r reay talked about the craziness which occurred near the end of last year’s race, which ended in a red flag fiasco.
“There needs to be a higher level of respect amongst the drivers in superspeedway racing. We are out there doing 230, 240, whatever you want to call it,” Hunter-Reay said. “There was a lot of moves last year that were very road course like, street course like. Especially on restarts, things like that. I think as a group, it needs to be brought up and we need to be conscious of it. Yeah, then you have the unknowns, some new drivers coming in again. We’ve always had that. We’ve always had an influx of some new drivers to the Speedway, the 500. You kind of deal with that as it goes. Definitely there were some questionable points in the race that we need to address that as a group.”
Daly believes that there will be changes coming based on a drivers’ meeting in December.
“After attending the drivers meeting in December, there’s definitely going to be some, I think, adjustments to how things are called, right? Josef Newgarden snaking down the straight below the pit lane entry, I think that’s probably going to go away. I think the drivers are always pretty unified in what we want to see on how many moves you can make down the back straight if you’re trying to snake down the back straight, stuff like that.”
I have heard that the dreaded dragon move will be pretty much banned.
The DRR/Cusick situation reflects the best and the worst of the racing business. Three capable drivers, all good guys, and only two seats available. I feel for Stefan Wilson. On the other hand, DRR has its strongest driver lineup in several years, and the team always has competitive cars at the 500.
Ryan Hunter-Reay wanted to make one thing clear in today’s media availability. He is not joining Ed Carpenter Racing to produce immediate results. Hunter-Reay emphasized that his job is to help the team find long term solutions.
“Right now we’re not talking about results. This is not a silver bullet. This is not a situation where they have brought me in to, okay, let’s put another driver in the car and you driver, the new driver, you go out and go faster than the old driver. That’s not what’s happening here. This is a scenario where we are going to approach this from a technically disciplined approach, and it’s going to be methodical, it’s going to be a process,” Hunter-Reay said.
“It’s not going to be short. We’re going to have to work through it every day.”
Hunter-Reay said he feels for Conor, as he was in a similar situation early in his career.
“Bottom line is tough situation, especially mid-season. I feel for Conor. I’ve been on either end of that deal, and in some cases numerous times. Big fan of his, and hopefully he’ll be back in the INDYCAR Series soon where he belongs no doubt.”
Hunter-Reay looks at this weekend’s race at Road America as the team’s first test session with him.
“We’re looking to take away a good understanding of what the team wants and needs and what I want and need out of this partnership, and kind of trying to get a better understanding of some of the nuances and how I operate, how they operate, and then how we can go and talk about it during the break between Road America and Mid-Ohio and implement potential changes moving forward that I may need. “Like anybody’s driving style, one driver is going to ask for and want different things from their race team and race car than another driver. That’s just how it is. I think that would be the big thing. This weekend is almost a test session for us. It’s a getting-to-know-you session for us. As long as I go about it that way, and the team does, as well, I think that we’ll put our best foot forward for Mid-Ohio.”
The tone I got is that while Mid Ohio may show improvement, it will be incremental. Let’s see where they are at Laguna Seca.
“Yeah, it’s not, hey, get in there, go get the result now, go do better than last weekend. That is the one, I think, misconception that people have. That’s not what’s going on here. This is something that is a much bigger picture approach. That’s where we’re at,” Hunter-Reay said.
Hunter-Reay noted that he has worked with three different teams in the pas18 months. He hopes to put the different approaches he has seen to good use in helping ECR improve.
“It’s kind of a different situation for me, as well in some ways. It’s a new scenario with a new team that work” differently than other teams I’ve been with. I haven’t actually gone racing with Ed Carpenter Racing, even though I’ve raced with Vision back in 2009, which is, as you know, over a decade ago,” he said.
Hunter-Reay summed up the plan.
“This is a matter of us looking at how we can approach things differently. How do you approach a qualifying session differently, a race weekend differently? How can we tweak some things? Maybe some of the things I used to do in the past weren’t right. Maybe some of the things they’re doing now aren’t right. Maybe we could come together and maybe take a path that way.”
ECR and Hunter-Reay have a huge challenge the rest of the season. progress will come in baby steps, and may not bear fruit until 2024. Yjeu will be a team to keep an eye on in the final 10 races.
This didn’t take long. Disappointed Linus Lundqvist wasn’t named.
From Ed Carpenter Racing
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Champion Joins Ed Carpenter Racing
About Ed Carpenter RacingEd Carpenter Racing (ECR) first entered the NTT INDYCAR SERIES in 2012. The Indianapolis-based race team has proven its versatility by collecting eight wins across each type of track the series competes on – street and road courses, short ovals and speedways. ECR is led by IndyCar’s only team owner/driver, Ed Carpenter, three-time pole winner for the Indianapolis 500 (2013, 2014 and 2018). The 2023 season will see the team continue to compete with two full-time entries: the No. 20 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet of Ryan Hunter-Reay and the No. 21 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet, driven by Rinus VeeKay. Carpenter will round out the team’s three-car effort on the ovals, campaigning the No. 33 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet. More information may be found at http://www.edcarpenterracing.com/.
Dreyer and Reinbold Racing announced this afternoon that 014 Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay will return to the Indianapolis 500, driving the team’s car 23. Hunter=Reay, the 2012 series champion, returns after not driving in the race in 2022.
There are now 33 confirmed entries with drivers.
The team announcement from rom Ryan Hunter-Reay via Twitter:
Will Power and Ryan Hunter-Reay are beginning contract years in the NTT Indycar Series. Simon Pagenaud may be in a contract year, but he side-stepped the question last week. All three drivers plan to keep driving the way they always have and not worry about 2022. The consensus is that there is always pressure to perform, regardless of their contract status.
Ryan Hunter-Reay Photo by Chris Owens, Indycar
Hunter-Reay had a frustrating year in 2020. It began with a car that wouldn’t fire on the grid at the opening race in Texas. The Andretti Autosport driver did manage a 10th place finish in the season standings, however. Hunter-Reay usually finds a way into the top 10 despite problems during a race. Last year was a bit more of a struggle than most years.
Looking ahead to 2021 Hunter-Reay said, “Yeah, definitely I’m looking forward to that kind of makeup,what feels like a makeup season almost. Hopefully we can do that, barring any variants of COVID that might derail that.”
As for extra pressure coming from a one year deal, Hunter-Reay said that he approaches every race as if it could be his last in the car.
“My whole career has been that way. It’s been, Hey, here is your opportunity. Get in the car, we’ll let you know if you’re going to be in the car the next race. That’s how it always has been for me. That’s why I’ve always had that grab-it-by-the-neck mentality. Even when I had a three-year deal, if I had a bad weekend, it was the end of the year. I have to make sure I’m performing next weekend, otherwise somebody with a big smile is getting ready to jump into my seat. It’s just part of my mentality, part of my makeup. No, that’s how I’ve been operating for 20 years, man. Right at home for me.”
Hunter-Reay has stiff competition from his own team. Alexander Rossi and Colton Herta should be fighting for the championship and possibly a win at the Indianapolis 500.
Power Hopes for Better Start
Will Power feels the need to have a better start to the season. 2019 and 2020 both began with a series of issues that hampered his run for the title. He has still managed to win twice in each of the past two years and add to his career pole mark. He is inching closer to Mario Andretti’s career pole total. Power goes into 2021 with same attitude he does every year.
“…same effort that I put in because I had put so much effort in every time. I so badly want to win. Yep, same fire, internal fire burning. Just do as I do, do obviously my best.”
Any extra pressure seems to come from the poor starts of the last two years.
“It actually does feel a little bit that way, youknow, considering we’ve started the last four seasons in a really bad way. It certainly isn’t speed that’s the issue. It’s our bad days are just too bad. Our bad days are DNFs and multiple laps down. They’re not like a 10th place or a seventh place, and that’s our problem. The speed is certainly not. Winning is certainly not. Consistently,whether it’s mistakes on pit lane or mistakes by me, you just — we have to have a solid beginning to the season.”
Like Hunter-Reay, Power will compete with Team Penske teammates-Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin, and Simon Pagenaud for points and podiums.
Pagenaud Looks for Better Qualifying, Race Results
Simon Pagenaud Photo by Chris Owens, Indycar
Simon Pagenaud had a frustrating season in 2020. Poor qualifying forced him to play catch up during races. he did get a victory in Iowa race 1 after starting last, and his eighth place final standing seems like a decent year. It was not good enough for Pagenaud. What went wrong?
“…a combination of things that didn’t work out the way I wanted. Obviously the car change made a big difference. The lack of testing made a big impact on my season.”
Team Penske has been able to test this pre-season and that should make a big difference in Pagenaud’s year. As for pressure to keep his job in 2022?
“…my personal opinion is just go out there and do the best you can, race hard and be in the moment. The contracts will take care of themselves when they do.It’s too early to tell anyway. But yeah, I always race as hard as I can. My motto is having no regrets ever, so I work hard, and I want to have no regrets. So if I have no regrets, there’s no reason it shouldn’t continue.”
Ryan Hunter-Reay confirmed this morning that he will return to Andretti Autosport in the 28 car, continuing with DHL and Auto Nation sponsorship. 2021 will be Hunter-Reay’s 12th year with Andretti. The 2012 Series champion and 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner finished 10th in the 500 last season and 10th in the season standings.
Hunter-Reay is the third confirmed driver for Andretti, joining Alexander Rossi and Colton Herta. James Hinchcliffe and Marco Andretti are expected to have rides confirmed soon.
The full time grid is nearly full. In addition to the two expected to be claimed Andretti seats, there are two openings at Coyne, and confirmation of at least one car at Carlin.
Notes
Per Curt Cavin on Trackside Tuesday and a report from another highly reliable source, it appears former F1 driver Romain Grosjean will be in one of Dale Coyne’s cars for 2021. No driver is set for Coyne’s second car, but I hear Ed Jones might be the leading candidate.
Aldo’s Last Lap
Aldo Andretti, who died December 31, was taken for a lap around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Wednesday before his celebration of Life service. Mario’s twin brother had done just a few laps in a tire test at IMS, but never got to drive an Indycar in a race.
Back later this afternoon with a report on the Chili Bowl.
The Pit Window by Mike Silver 