Jack Harvey was named by Andretti Autosport to drive its No. 50 Honda in the 2017 Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a partnership with longtime team sponsor AutoNation.
Harvey, winner of 2015 Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires races on both the IMS road course and oval, will make his Verizon IndyCar Series debut as the fifth Andretti Autosport Indy 500 entry alongside full-season drivers Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Alexander Rossi and Takuma Sato.
“To get my first opportunity to drive with Andretti Autosport is a dream come true because everybody knows what a great team they are,” he added. “There’s nobody that has a better opportunity than what I’ve got. I think a lot of the regular-season drivers would like to have this also.”
Harvey, who turns 24 on April 15, finished second in the Indy Lights championship in both 2014 and ’15, winning a total of six races. Michael Andretti, CEO of Andretti Autosport, recognized Harvey’s talent and believes he’ll be competitive in the fifth team entry. Andretti also pointed out that it was his rookie driver, Rossi, who won last year’s historic 100th Indy 500.
“We feel very confident that Jack’s going to be able to do a good job for us, contribute to the effort of the other four cars. … I think he has a shot at winning at least rookie of the year, outside chance at winning the race. We saw a rookie won there last year, right? You never know.”
SOURCE: INDYCAR