IndyCar Veteran Set to Make NASCAR Debut

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - AUGUST 14: James Hinchcliffe of Canada, driver of the #29 Genesys Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport Honda, waits on the grid prior to the NTT IndyCar Series Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on August 14, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images

What’s Happening?

Former IndyCar Rookie of the Year turned broadcaster James Hinchcliffe is set to get back behind the wheel to make his NASCAR debut in the Craftsman Truck Series race on the streets of St. Petersburg on February 28.

  • Hinchcliffe, a six-time race winner in IndyCar, will make his NASCAR debut with Spire Motorsports in their No. 77 truck. That truck is one of Spire’s two full-time entries that rotate drivers, and will be driven by Carson Hocevar this week at Daytona.
  • The 39-year-old last raced in IndyCar in 2021, racing full-time for Andretti Autosport, before moving into the broadcast booth. While he has yet to race in a truck or NASCAR at all, he could have an advantage during the series race weekend in St. Petersburg.
  • While this will be the Truck Series’ first race on the streets of St. Petersburg and the series’ first-ever street race, Hinchcliffe has ten career starts at the circuit. Of his ten starts, the Canadian driver has one win and an average finish of 11th in St. Pete.
  • Hinchcliffe might be a wildcard, but his former IndyCar rival Dario Franchitti, who will start his first professional race on American soil since 2013 that weekend, is the other question mark that weekend. Like Hinchcliffe, Franchitti has won at St. Pete in open wheel.

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