Dreyer & Reinbold Racing announced on Tuesday that veteran J.R. Hildebrand will be the team’s second entry into the Indianapolis 500 this year, piloting the No. 67 DRR Salesforce Chevrolet.
The 32 year old Hildebrand has started the Indy 500 nine times in his career, with four top tens to his name. This will be his third consecutive entry into the event with DRR, finishing eleventh in 2018 and twentieth in 2019.
The team will also be entering 25-year-old Sage Karam into the event, putting the Nazareth, Pennsylvania native behind the wheel of the No. 24 WIX Filters Chevrolet.
Hildebrand, who got his start in IndyCar with DRR in 2010, is excited to work with the team again.
“This will be the third straight Indy 500 having a great relationship with Dennis Reinbold and the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing team,” Hildebrand said in a press release.
“Of course, I started my IndyCar career with Dennis back in 2010 when he brought me up to the big leagues into the NTT IndyCar Series. We have always had a great connection over the years.
“I’m so bummed that the extenuating circumstances we’re all faced with have prevailed. It won’t be the same without the fan’s energy, but we’ll promise to bring the noise as if it was a packed house anyway this one year.”
Team owner Reinbold, whose family has been involved in Indianapolis 500 events dating all the way back to 1927, echoed the same sentiment as Hildebrand.
“I’m very excited to have J.R. return to the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing team for this year’s Indy 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” Reinbold said.
“Our team has experienced an excellent combination with J.R. and Sage working together in recent years at Indy. J.R. brings our team a lot of background at Indy and helps develop our race cars quickly in practice and prepare for qualifying. We have two very talented young drivers again this year. We believe we have a strong two-car lineup ready to race hard for the victory on 23 August.”
The 2009 Indy Lights champion will take to the track August 12th when practice begins. Qualifying will take place Saturday, 15 August, and Sunday, 16 August. The race itself will take place on 23 August.
