AJ Foyt Racing signs Hildebrand for all oval races

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The ROKiT-backed entry is raced on road and street courses by series rookie Tatiana Calderon, but Hildebrand will take the wheel of the #11 AJ Foyt Racing-Chevrolet in the five oval races – Texas Motor Speedway, Indianapolis 500, the double-header at Iowa Speedway and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

Hildebrand made one start for Foyt last year, competing in his 11^th Indy 500, and qualified 22nd out of 35 entries before racing to 15^th.

His experience will prove useful to his teammates, since Dalton Kellett is in only his third year at this level, while reigning Indy Lights champion Kyle Kirkwood is a rookie.

"I’m excited to have this opportunity to get back in the car, do a little more racing, and work with the AJ 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."

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

Hildebrand scored his career-best Indy 500 finish of runner-up as a rookie in 2011, when he looked set to win for Panther Racing but got on the marbles at Turn 4 on the final lap, made contact with the wall, and thus allowed the late Dan Wheldon to pass him and score his second Indy win.

At Indy, Hildebrand has qualified in the top-10 four times and posted four top-10 finishes. He posted two more top-three finishes racing for Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevy in his last full-time season in IndyCar, 2017, both on ovals.

Hildebrand’s first race of the season for the legendary seven-time Indy car champion A.J. Foyt will be next week in in the XPEL 375 in Foyt’s home state at Texas Motor Speedway.