AJ Foyt Racing Signs JR Hildebrand For Oval Races

One remaining piece of the puzzle for the 2022 season was solved today when AJ Foyt Racing announced that JR Hildebrand will drive the No. 11 Chevrolet on ovals. The veteran driver rejoins the team after driving for them in the Indianapolis 500 last year. Hildebrand will try to improve upon that 15th place finish as he makes his 12th attempt to race in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

Rookie Tatiana Calderon is driving the car on the 12 road and street courses, in what is a third full-time entry for the team. With Dalton Kellett and rookie sensation Kyle Kirkwood in the other two cars, Hildebrand provides a much-needed veteran presence for the team. His vast oval experience will be vital to their success going forward, beginning next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.

“I’m excited to have this opportunity to get back in the car, do a little more racing, and work with the A.J. Foyt Racing squad again,” said Hildebrand. “Although the results may not have looked special on paper, I was really impressed by what we accomplished last year at the 500 and look forward to attacking these other ovals on the IndyCar schedule alongside Kyle and Dalton.”

In addition to the Indy 500, Hildebrand will run at Texas, Iowa (doubleheader) and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

“We had a great experience working with J.R. last year, and there is no doubt he is very competitive at Indianapolis,” said team president Larry Foyt. “He is still very motivated to drive Indy cars and is a setup-savvy, technical driver who will be a strong addition to our oval races this year.”

The American nearly made history in his first Indy 500 outing. Driving for Panther Racing, Hildebrand was leading on the final lap of the race when he made a mistake in the final turn. If he had not tried to go around the lapped car of Charlie Kimball on that final lap, his career would be completely different. Still, the part-time driver has no regrets about what happened.

Hildebrand has gone on to record three other top-11 finishes with different teams. He finished 8th in 2015 with Carpenter Fisher Hartman Racing, 6th with Ed Carpenter Racing in 2016, and 11th in 2018 with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.

This will be the first time that Hildebrand has competed in more than one race since the 2017 season. The 34-year old believes that he can help the three-car team continue their improvement this season. "Since 2018 with the universal kit and then with the aeroscreen in 2020, that the cars have just gotten – and not in a bad way – harder to drive. They've got less downforce. The tracks have lost grip over time and haven't had repaves, any of the ovals that we're going to in particular."

“I feel like one of the things that I've kind of prided myself on road courses, street courses, oval racing, whatever, is just when it comes down to it, being willing to commit at that sort of maximum level. If there's a corner that we think is possible to do flat-out, like I will definitely be the guy that at least gives it a try! That's sort of served me well over my career and definitely matters at this point because there's a lot more oval corners that are more on that borderline than there used to be.”

The team has an incredible young talent in Kirkwood, and Hildebrand will prove to be a valuable mentor for the young driver. “I think Kyle is in a place right now where he just seems to have that natural knack for knowing what he's looking for and knowing what he's got when he's got it. I'm hopeful that I can be helpful to him over the course of this year and particularly these first couple of races to help him feel comfy getting up to speed.”

Hildebrand knows the focus is Indianapolis, but also realizes he has a great opportunity later in the year. “I'm sort of cautiously optimistic with those events later in the year. I like short track racing, short ovals. Those are both places that are very driver- and engineering-dependent. It doesn't really matter how much development you've done or how much prep goes into the car at those kinds of tracks. The handling of the car and being aligned with that in terms of what you're doing in the seat are the things that matter the most.”

The work begins next weekend as the team prepares to race in their home state for possibly the last time, as Texas is not expected to be back on the schedule next season.