Photo Credit: Forrest Mellott/IndyCar
Following Josef Newgarden’s crash at Texas Motor Speedway, Ed Carpenter Racing announced JR Hildebrand will fill-in at the Road America test later on this week on June 15.
On Lap 21 of Sunday’s Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway, Josef Newgarden fractured his right clavicle along with his right hand in a 200 mph crash that also included Conor Daly. It hasn’t been determined yet how long Newgarden will be out of the car for, but he most certainly will not be able to get back behind the wheel of his IndyCar at Road America. As a result, his team owner Ed Carpenter asked Hildebrand to sub for him.
Hildebrand is no stranger to Ed Carpenter Racing. He has driven their third car in the last three Indianapolis 500s at Indianapolis Motor Speedway where he got his best finish of sixth a few weeks ago, while also driving their second car at the last two Grand Prix of Indianapolis on the Road Course at IMS.
“We’re testing with JR at Road America on Wednesday and he’ll fill in for Josef until he’s ready to return,” Carpenter told Motorsports.com. “As of now, we’re uncertain how many races Josef will have to miss – if any at all. We’ve not had those conversations with his doctors just yet.”
Hildebrand will be the only driver for Ed Carpenter Racing at Road America for the test. Since it is a Firestone tire test, only one car per team is allowed and the same applied to the Watkins Glen test as well next Monday.
“For sure my expectation is that Josef will be back and ready for action before we know it,” Hildebrand told Motorsports.com. “For him and the team this is an important stretch, so my role is going to be to bridge the gap as seamlessly as possible while hopefully building on what they’ve already started this year.
“For me, I think it helps that I know Josef and the team quite well…. Plus Road America will be an awesome place to drive the car! So whether it’s just the Wednesday test or it turns out to be more than that, I’ll continue to be prepared and work closely with everyone – including Josef – to be dialed in.”
Hilderbrand also joked on Twitter about his and Newgardens friendship.
Obviously not ideal circumstances, helps to know JN & team. Now we see how good of friends we are when I start calling to review his data. 🤔
— JR Hildebrand (@JRHildebrand) June 13, 2016
Road America on June-24-26 is the next race for the IndyCar Series and will be followed three days later by a test at Iowa Speedway prior to the race at Iowa on July 10. Newgarden sits fourth in the championship standings as of right now.
