Returning to weekly NTT IndyCar Series competition during the middle of the season isn’t an easy task, but if anyone is up for the job, it’s definitely Ryan Hunter-Reay. (Photo: Logan Skidan | The Podium Finish)
ELKHART LAKE, WIS. — After an incident in Saturday’s qualifying session put the No. 20 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet in last place for the Sonsio Grand Prix, Ryan Hunter-Reay finished his Ed Carpenter Racing debut in 17th at Road America.
The NTT IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500 champion made his first road-course start since he lost his Andretti Autosport seat at the end of the 2021 season. Hunter-Reay spent 2022 competing in the six-week Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) Series and made zero IndyCar starts.
However, he entered this year’s Indy 500 with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, driving the No. 23 Chevrolet and finished 11th in the famed 500-mile race. Initially thinking this would be a one-off performance, Hunter-Reay got the call from Ed Carpenter to drive the rest of the season for ECR, after the team parted ways with Conor Daly.
As ECR tries to get back to the days of being a weekly contender when Josef Newgarden drove for the team, the 42-year-old will be asked to leave this program better than he found it.
“I was surprised when I got the call from Ed (Carpenter),” Hunter-Reay said. “He described how frustrated he was that his team has not been able to realize its potential despite their efforts, investments, as well as technical and personnel changes over the past few years and asked for my help.
“Ed and I are very close friends and have been for a long time. I’ve worked with the team in the past and they are a very talented group with high expectations and a committed partner in BITNILE.COM.”
“Captain America” is back where he belongs in the NTT IndyCar Series. (Photo: Mike Moore | The Podium Finish)
At the beginning of the Sonsio Grand Prix, Hunter-Reay got off to a strong start by picking up several positions. The No. 20 Chevrolet moved up to 23rd by the time the first full-course caution came out for Kyle Kirkwood’s stalled No. 27 Honda on Lap 2.
The No. 20 team continued its progress throughout the day, picking up a few more positions and surviving a freshly repaved 4.048-mile Road America that proved to be a handful for the drivers. Hunter-Reay was faced with the late-race challenge of trying to hit a difficult fuel number after pitting for the final time on Lap 40.
Luckily, he completed the last 15 laps to see the checkered flag, in the first step to help ECR evaluate and improve its program.
“All in all, I feel it was a pretty positive day in that we have a direction for the future,” Hunter-Reay said. “We did have some setbacks today, we had to use a set of Firestone primaries that were just off the whole way through. Unfortunately, we had to pit for tires and here at Road America, you need to be pitting for fuel on an empty tank.
“That set our race on a different path and from there, we had to save a lot of fuel. We could only do what we could do. Moving up 10 spots today was a good start and there were a lot of positives behind the scenes.”
Hunter-Reay and the No. 20 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet will return to action on Sunday, July 2, for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (1:30 p.m. ET on USA Network).
