Indy 500: J.R. Hildebrand working in harmony with pole sitter Ed Carpenter’s team

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J.R. Hildebrand would be excused if he looked upon racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a sense of dread.

In 2011, Hildebrand was on the verge of winning the Indianapolis 500 as a rookie when he crashed in Turn 4 of the final lap, giving the win to the late Dan Wheldon. And last year, the former Indy Lights champion was the first out of the race when he crashed on Lap 3. A few days later, he was out of a ride at Panther Racing.

But Hildebrand, who starts ninth in Sunday’s ‘500,’ looked every bit at ease yesterday when he spoke about working with polesitter Ed Carpenter this month.

“Right from the outset, we had similar styles and similar wants from the car, and very similar feedback about what was happening and maybe some different ways to go about attacking that,” Hildebrand said.

“…It really has been a team effort and I think qualifying was a good example of that – you wouldn’t be able to make a radio call up to your guy that’s gonna go out in ten minutes and have them make a change to the car based on something that we did unless the cars were that close together, and for us, fortunately, it happened.

“It’s been great. I’ve really enjoyed working with the team and I think Ed would probably tell you the same thing. Working together I think has put us in a situation where the cars are as good as they are, so it’s been a lot of fun.”

Considering Carpenter’s prowess on the ovals, you had to figure Hildebrand would stand a puncher’s chance for Indy when he signed on with ECR for the ‘500.’

But the California native brings lots of talent himself, and it bears noting that he was threatening to pull the upset for Bryan Herta Autosport at last year’s season finale on the two-mile Fontana oval until a late engine failure knocked him out.

Going into Sunday’s race, Hildebrand believes he is much more prepared for the race that he has been in previous years.

“It’s a long race, obviously,” he said. “You’ve got to stick it out and have a shot at it at the end but I feel like this team and the environment that we’ve sort of created has been a really good one for being in a position to do that.”

And should Hildebrand be able to capitalize, he’ll be able to completely put his heartbreaking finish in 2011 to rest. He touched on the incident yesterday, noting that while he quickly came to terms with it, his own confidence needed a little more time to recover.

“In terms of understanding what went on and being at peace with it, that happened quickly,” he said. “To get to the point where I am now, where I’m like, ‘Hell yeah, I want to get back in the car and show these guys what’s up.’  That definitely took a little longer to come around.”

But it has come around. And it’s looking more and more like he’ll be a dark horse on Sunday in the No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet.

Ford Mustang GT3 test has Austin Cindric dreaming of Daytona: ‘I want to drive that car’

Cindric Ford GT3 test
Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
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Austin Cindric wasn’t the “mystery” test driver behind the wheel of the new Ford Mustang GT3 at Sebring International Raceway, but the Team Penske driver desperately wanted to be.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, an amateur sports car driver himself, made the big reveal via a Tuesday tweet that provided the first video evidence of the GT3 Mustang on track.

“I’ve watched the video in question about a million times,” Cindric said Wednesday during a Ford Performance Zoom news conference to promote NASCAR’s first road course weekend of the season at Circuit of the Americas. “Definitely exciting times for sure. I want to drive that car. It suits my experience level and also the relationships that I have.”

Ford will enter the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next season with its GT3 Mustang, entering a two-car factory effort (that will be managed by Multimatic) in GTD Pro and making customer cars available in the GT Daytona category.

That increases the likelihood of seeing more NASCAR drivers crossing over to IMSA. Cindric has been the only full-time Cup driver in the Rolex 24 at Daytona the past two years, but Ford Performance global director Mark Rushbrook has said the GT3 Mustang will provide more opportunities.

Ford has used its GT4 Mustang as a NASCAR driver development tool in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with Harrison Burton and Zane Smith combining to win the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in January.

“We’re excited about the Next Gen car and the new architecture there and the similarities between that car and GT3 and even GT4 cars,” Rushbrook said at the announcement of the Ford GT3 program in January 2022 at Daytona. “We think it’s a great opportunity and to do be able to do that in a 24-hour race and get NASCAR drivers even more time is something we need to consider taking advantage of that opportunity.”

Given his sports car background, Cindric probably still would be in the Rolex 24 regardless. He has eight IMSA starts since the 2017 season opener at Daytona, racing a Lexus RCF GT3 and Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the GT category. The 2022 Daytona 500 winner made his second LMP2 start this year with Rick Ware Racing.

But Cindric’s preference naturally would be in a Ford, particularly with sports car racing enjoying convergence and crossovers in both GT and prototype racing.

“It’s an exciting time in GT racing, just as it is now for prototype racing with a lot of new regulations and manufacturers building new GT3 cars,” he said. “And also the opportunity with WEC (the World Endurance Championship) and Le Mans and how that all lines up for that category of car. It’s definitely an exciting time. I want to be as much of a part of that as possible.”

Though those odds seemingly will increase with multiple Ford entries in the Rolex 24 field next year, Cindric said NASCAR drivers still have to put in the networking to land rides as he has in recent years.

“Now how (the GT3 Mustang) relates to specifically NASCAR drivers and how often they want to be in the Rolex, could it be an influence? Absolutely, as far as the tie-in with the manufacturer,” Cindric said. “But the challenge and the drive and the logistics of getting an opportunity for a race like the Rolex 24 will be just as challenging as it always is to find your one-off ride for the race. At least from my experience, that’s what I still anticipate.”

It turned out the “mystery” test driver wasn’t from NASCAR (Farley revealed the driver to be 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Joey Hand after a fan asked whether it was Joey Logano).

But Cindric believes there could be more Cup drivers — and perhaps himself — behind the wheel of Mustang GT3s in the future.

“There’s definitely more of a pathway than I think there would be before as far as Ford drivers are concerned,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll get the opportunity to drive that thing. It’s obviously a great looking car. That’s the first box you’ve got to check. And it’s cool (to have) a guy like Jim Farley, no doubt he’s a racer just as much as he is steering the ship for Ford. It’s cool to see he’s just as excited as the rest of us about it.”