Charlie Kimball is returning to Carlin in 2019, only in a more limited capacity. Kimball and Carlin announced on Thursday that the California native will run in five races for the NTT IndyCar Series season.

Kimball, 33, will run the No. 23 Chevrolet in all three superspeedway events to go along with two road courses. He will race in the season opener at St. Pete, Indianapolis 500 in May, Texas in June, Pocono in August and the season finale at Laguna Seca.

Kimball, joined Carlin last year to team with Max Chilton. His previous seven years were spent with Chip Ganassi Racing. In 134 career starts, he has 55 top 10’s to his credit including a win at Mid-Ohio in 2013.

Last year, Kimball finished 17th in the final standings but shined at the end of the year. Over the final 10 races, Kimball had five top 10 finishes including a fifth place run in Toronto. In fact, he had three top 10’s in the final six races.

It was a successful season in my mind as Carlin had never had any IndyCar experience before and were learning on the fly. Without much testing time, it’s difficult to find speed against a stacked field on a weekly basis.