LONG POND, P.A. – After leading the ABC Supply 500, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver James Hinchcliffe was classified as 20th after an incident involving J.R. Hildebrand took him out of the race at Pocono Raceway. Hinchcliffe’s new teammate, Sebastian Saavedra, also had to retire from the 500-mile race after contact with the wall.

“We were two-wide racing there shortly after the re-start and I was on the inside. The guys in front of us started racing and I guess J.R. (Hildebrand) got a bit of push when everybody was side-by-side and put a bunch of wheel in it, it pitched him loose and I was just there,” said Hinchcliffe. “If I had been a bit back, he probably would have spun down in front of me. I might have gotten into him either way - you don’t really know. It’s unfortunate and at the end of the day we really shouldn’t have been back there. We should have been running up front like we were. I made a mistake in pit lane and put us in that position so I’m gutted for the Arrow boys; they deserve better than that. We’re going to regroup and try to do well at Gateway.”

Hinchcliffe was running in the top-five for half of the 500-mile event, dueling against championship contenders and taking the lead on Lap 84. His incident with Hildebrand came out on Lap 125.

Saavedra’s made his first oval appearance with the Petro-Canada Lubricants partnered team and showed great progression during the weekend. In final practice the talented Columbian placed seventh, and was progressing nicely towards a potential Top-10 finish before running wide at the exit of turn one and tagging the wall.

On Sunday, August 27th, the IndyCar field will be competing under the lights at Gateway Motorsports Park, just outside of St. Louis, Missouri – the last oval race of the 2017 season.

Photo courtesy of IndyCar Media