2014 Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay will return to perennial Indianapolis 500 one-off staff and Cusick Motorsports for a 3rd consecutive yr, because the 43-year-old targets his second Borg-Warner Trophy. And for the third yr, Hunter-Reay may have a brand new teammate for the Biggest Spectacle in Racing.
Jack Harvey, who final yr ran a large part-time schedule with Dale Coyne Racing — however not the five hundred — joins DRR and Cusick Motorsports alongside Hunter-Reay as one of the vital skilled free brokers on the foolish season market, as each 500-only and full-time alternatives proceed to shrink.
For Hunter-Reay, the acquainted journey stands as a chance to proceed constructing off of the progress he and the 500-only staff have made since teaming up in 2023, the place he labored his means as much as eleventh after beginning 18th on his debut. A yr in the past, the driving force of the No. 23 Chevy was one among three one-off drivers (and the one driver for an entirely 500-only staff) to make the Quick 12. Hunter-Reay would qualify twelfth and ran solidly mid-pack for the primary half of the race earlier than buying and selling contact with Scott Dixon on the backstretch despatched the No. 23 Chevy right into a spin Hunter-Reay could not rescue. He completed twenty sixth.
2025 Indy 500:
Since his closing stretch battle and eventual victory over Helio Castroneves in 2014, Hunter-Reay has logged three top-10s within the 500, all coming with Andretti (2018-20).
Harvey returns to the five hundred after a yr away with seven earlier runs on the IMS oval, together with a single top-15 end: a run to ninth in his first full-time season with Meyer Shank Racing in 2020.
The place the Indy 500 discipline stands
Hunter-Reay and Harvey give subsequent yr’s 500 discipline 28 confirmed individuals for a discipline that once more is predicted to function bumping on qualifying weekend with as many as 35 entries. 4 full-season seats — one every at Juncos Hollinger Racing and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and each rides at Dale Coyne Racing — stay open, with at the very least two, and presumably three, extra one-off 500 entries anticipated.
Andretti World, Chip Ganassi Racing and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing have all run additional automobiles lately, and the three Honda-powered groups stay the most certainly targets for these nonetheless available on the market to acquire one-off rides, with Chevy at 18 500 entries, which has traditionally been each OEMs’ restrict.
Insider:
Harvey and Hunter-Reay be part of a bunch of 500-only drivers for subsequent Might’s potential discipline that at present contains Kyle Larson (Arrow McLaren), Ed Carpenter (Ed Carpenter Racing) and Helio Castroneves (Meyer Shank Racing). These nonetheless trying or but to be confirmed for both a part-time or full-season alternative embrace Conor Daly, Romain Grosjean, Rinus VeeKay, Linus Lundqvist, Devlin DeFrancesco, Marco Andretti, Katherine Legge, Hunter McElrea, Toby Sowery, Pietro Fittipaldi, Enzo Fittipaldi, Jacob Abel and Jamie Chadwick, amongst others.
Andretti, specifically, has run a one-off Indy 500 program along with his household’s namesake Andretti World staff for the final 4 years, preceded by a 15-year full-time IndyCar profession. The latest management adjustments at Andretti World — sparked by his father Michael Andretti stepping down from his chairman and CEO function in September — depart the prospect of his son’s return presently unclear.
Wednesday’s information additionally hints on the rising chance that Daly might return to an expanded IndyCar schedule after spending the final two seasons operating for six completely different groups following his midseason cut up with Ed Carpenter Racing weeks after the 2023 Indy 500. Regardless of beginning twenty ninth a yr in the past in his debut with DRR and Cusick Motorsports, the native Hoosier logged a Tenth-place end — his third-straight and fourth in his final six begins on the IMS oval. Given his robust debut, he would’ve appeared an odds-on goal for the staff for 2025.
Daly completed this previous season filling in for the ousted Agustin Canapino in Juncos Hollinger Racing’s No. 78 Chevy, the place he managed three top-15 finishes in six begins, together with a pair of top-10s and . Along with his funding from Polkadot, which beforehand helped safe Daly a handful of runs in NASCAR in 2024, together with final yr’s 500, Daly at present appears a probable goal alongside Sting Ray Robb at JHR.
