Unless a late deal comes together, expect Ed Carpenter Racing to only run two cars in the 101st Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil.
Chevrolet is in a position where it’s expected to make up the numbers to fill the 33-car field to get to at least 15, or possibly 16 cars for the marquee race of the Verizon IndyCar Series season.
But whereas an extra car was added each of the last three years for JR Hildebrand, team owner/driver Ed Carpenter said Thursday while he’d love to have Spencer Pigot in a third car this year the same way, the clock has nearly struck midnight for it to make business sense for the team.
Additionally, with Carpenter having missed out on the available KV Racing tub from the Key Auctioneers auction held earlier this week - A.J. Foyt Enterprises is believed to have acquired that chassis - there’s also the question of having enough proper tubs available to make a third car viable for ECR this year.
“We’ve done it in the past and it made sense to do, with a good program to do it well,” Carpenter told NBC Sports. “Right now, we don’t have it where makes sense for our business, and makes us more competitive. We’re not planning on doing it.
“It’s not that we don’t want to, but if the right combination isn’t there to have it happen, it won’t happen.”
Carpenter’s team finished third and sixth in last year’s Indianapolis 500 with Josef Newgarden and Hildebrand, while Carpenter himself retired with early race electrical issues and ended 31st.
While Pigot is emerging on the road and street courses this season, he was never confirmed in a third car for the Indianapolis 500 upon his confirmation for the 11 road and street races, although it made sense on paper.
Although he’s starred at a lot of tracks on his way to IndyCar in the Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires, Pigot had a rough rookie month of May last year for the ‘500 as the first driver to hit the wall during practice and then qualifying 29th and finishing 25th in his last of three planned starts for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. He also struggled the previous year in his lone Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires start at IMS.
The Rising Star Racing-backed driver shifted to Ed Carpenter Racing starting with the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit doubleheader the following week, where he’s been since.
“One of our main goals is to win the Indianapolis 500,” Carpenter explained. “I’m concerned about car count and getting to 33 cars… but I can’t put that at a higher priority than our own goals of winning the race. If it doesn’t make us stronger, like JR has, I’m not gonna the feel pressure to do it.”
Carpenter said he would not want to hold Pigot back from seeking another opportunity at the Indianapolis 500 if a late deal can’t be struck to stay with ECR for this race. And anyway, as last year, he’d be back in the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet in Detroit to commemorate one year since his team debut.
“I’d love to see Spencer in the race,” Carpenter said. “Obviously I would have liked to have found enough to have him in one of our cars, but I can’t do it without the right funding to not make it the right thing for the team’s sake, and his sake. I’m not gonna hold him back from any opportunity.”
Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka (Carpenter) and Preferred Freezer Services (Hildebrand) will be on the team’s cars for the Indianapolis 500, PFS having been confirmed back with ECR for a fourth consecutive year earlier this week. Last year, PFS sponsored both Hildebrand and Newgarden in the Indianapolis 500.
Carpenter will be back in the car for his second test of 2017 on Saturday as part of a Chevrolet manufacturer test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Coupled with that test, the Texas Motor Speedway open test shortly after Long Beach and the Phoenix race end of April, Carpenter will have his busiest stretch of driving himself thus far in 2017 coming up within the next month.
“It’s a busy time for the team. I’m personally excited to be back in the car,” he said.
“I think (we) will be closer (to our teammates) this year. It was just one of those things last May, where we didn’t have the speed. I can’t say we totally had the answer as to why.
“But the team’s got a lot of work getting ready for the season. It’ll be fun to be on track Saturday. It’ll give us a sneak peek of where we are, and we’ll have a short window to make adjustments.”