INDIANAPOLIS — James Hinchcliffe has been confirmed as the driver of the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda for Andretti Autosport during the final three events on the NTT IndyCar Series calendar.
Hinchcliffe replaces Zach Veach, who announced earlier this week he would be stepping out of the No. 26 for the remainder of the season.
“I know, probably better than most, what Zach is feeling right now, and I have to say that he has handled everything about as class act as you can,” Hinchcliffe said. “I’ve known Zach as a teammate, before that as a colleague and even before that as a friend, and he is a guy that I respect in every way. I know he is a fighter and will fight back to where he wants to be.
“For me now, my focus is 100 percent on racing the Harvest GP and getting the best possible results for Gainbridge, for Honda, for Michael and for the team. I obviously haven’t been on a road course in a while, but at least the last time I was, it was here at IMS. Hopefully that puts us in a good position to go out there and have a strong weekend.”
Hinchcliffe has competed in three prior events this season with Andretti Autosport in the No. 29 Genesys Honda. He competed in in the Genesys 600 at Texas Motor Speedway, as well as the GMR IndyCar Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“It’s always unfortunate to have to change drivers this far into a season, but we have to look at finishing the year the best we can for the 26 team and start evaluating and looking at options for 2021,” said team owner Michael Andretti. “James has an existing relationship with our team that we’d love to build on and it makes the most sense for him to step in for these last three races. We are looking forward to seeing what he can do.”