Ed Carpenter Racing made the swap from Conor Daly to Ryan Hunter-Reay for the No. 20 Dallara-Chevrolet for one reason and one reason only – to find results. While the team didn’t necessarily expect them to come quickly, they did want Hunter-Reay’s veteran experience in the ride in order to help this organization get back to where they at least were a few years ago. Then, once there, they’re hopeful Hunter-Reay can help propel them further by time we get to the 2024 season.

Hence the change.

In Race 1, Hunter-Reay started last (27th) but gained 10 spot to finish 17th in the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America.

Rinus VeeKay qualified 15th and finished 12th. It was VeeKay’s best non oval finish of the season while Hunter-Reay equaled the average finishing position of this ride (17.71) in the eight races prior.

“All in all, I feel it was a pretty positive day in that we have a direction for the future, Hunter-Reay said after his first road course event in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES since 2021. “We did have some setbacks today, we had to use a set of Firestone primaries that were just off the whole way through. Unfortunately, we had to pit for tires and here at Road America, you need to be pitting for fuel on an empty tank. That set our race on a different path and from there, we had to save a lot of fuel. We could only do what we could do. Moving up 10 spots today was a good start and there were a lot of positives behind the scenes.”

Now, can they take those positives and turn them into even more success this weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course?

You never want to go backwards and with a week off to take their notes from Road America and to turn them around into Mid-Ohio, a similar all terrain road course, one could expect ECR to potentially have arguably their best weekend of the season thus far.

Hunter-Reay will be one of the most experienced drivers in the field this weekend with 17 Indy car starts on the 2.258-mile road course to date. In 14 of those races, he earned a Top 10 finish. He has been on the podium four times, most recently in 2020. He has started inside the Top 5 on eight occasions, including one pole position. 

“We certainly have plenty of positives to build on following the Road America race weekend and the Iowa test,” said the Floridian. “Road America was essentially a multi-day test session for us and the team did a great job considering the circumstances. Mid-Ohio is one of my favorite tracks on the calendar. I’m looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of the No. 20 BITNILE.COM Chevy on a track I know well and have plenty of experience on.”

Hunter-Reay, recognized as one of the most successful American open wheel racing drivers, has brought a wealth of experience to the team with an INDYCAR career that spans two decades. 

The Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based driver is an NTT INDYCAR SERIES Champion (2012) with 18 career wins, including a victory in the 2014 Indianapolis 500. Hunter-Reay also has multiple overall IMSA sportscar wins, the 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans among them, has been invited to the Race of Champions five times and has won two ESPY ‘Driver of the Year’ awards (2013 and 2014). Last month, he competed in the 2023 Indianapolis 500 with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, leading eight laps in the closing stages of the race and ultimately finishing 11th.

So he knows what it takes to go fast here.

It’s also a place this weekend to where VeeKay has shined too. The Dutch driver has competed at Mid-Ohio four times in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, achieving his best result to date just last year.

He easily advanced to the second round of qualifying in 2022, but had to settle for the 11th starting position after heavy traffic impacted his run. After the first round of pit stops, he had moved up to 7th and continued to charge forward. Near the midway point of the race, he passed two cars in one corner and one the next lap to climb to 4th. He held off hard-charging competitors in the final laps to hold onto the position.

“I am very excited for Mid-Ohio,” said VeeKay. “I was P4 there last year which gives me a lot of confidence, we need a result like that again. Since I am coming back with even more experience, hopefully we can do even better. I can’t wait to drive there. I think we can do well. Being fast is always fun so I am looking forward to having a lot of fun this weekend!”

VeeKay also scored a pair of top 11 results at the track in 2020 and was 16th in 2021. In the Road to Indy, he was third and second respectively in the USF2000 Series. He swept the weekend a year later in Indy Pro 2000 while scoring a pair of third place results a year after that in Indy Lights. He’s not made the Fast 6 yet here in INDYCAR but did at least make it out of the 1st round (9th, 11th, 11th, 11th) in 4 tries though too.

VeeKay has spent his entire NTT INDYCAR SERIES career with Ed Carpenter Racing and is the team’s longest-tenured full-time driver, now in his fourth season behind the wheel the No. 21 Chevrolet. The 22-year-old recently made his 50th career start and qualified on the front row of last month’s Indianapolis 500.

Born in Hoofddorp, Netherlands, Rinus van Kalmthout began karting in 2009 at the age of 8. With sights set firmly on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, he transitioned to the Road to Indy in 2017 and launched his U.S. career driving as Rinus VeeKay. Just four years into his time in the United States, he not only reached the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, but earned 2020 Rookie of the Year honors. He became an NTT INDYCAR SERIES race winner in May of 2021 with a victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.