Zach Veach To Make Verizon IndyCar Series Debut Filling In For JR Hildebrand

LEEDS, Ala. (April 22, 2017) – Qualifying Notes

– The starting grid has been set for tomorrow’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama and Ed Carpenter Racing drivers Spencer Pigot and Zach Veach have qualified for their first Indy car race at Barber Motorsports Park. Pigot’s limited 2016 rookie schedule did not include Barber Motorsports Park and Veach will be making his Verizon IndyCar Series debut. Pigot will roll off 17th for the 90-lap race, while Veach will be one row behind in 19th.

– Veach, 22, is filling in for the No. 21 Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet’s full-time driver JR Hildebrand, who is recovering from a broken bone in his left hand. The break occurred on Sunday, April 9 in a final-lap incident during the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The break in the 29-year-old’s hand required surgery, performed on Tuesday, April 11 at the Indiana Hand to Shoulder Center in Indianapolis.

– Both Pigot and Veach elected to begin qualifications on the alternate red Firestone Firehawks, pitting for a new set of reds after three laps. Veach’s quick lap of 120.932 miles per hour was his best of the weekend. Pigot was nearly two miles an hour faster than where he started the weekend in his No. 20 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Chevrolet, putting together a lap of 121.906 miles per hour.

– Though neither of the Mazda Road to Indy graduates have competed in a Verizon IndyCar Series race at Barber Motorsports Park, both are familiar with success at the track. Veach won the 2014 Indy Lights race at the 17-turn, 2.38-mile permanent road course, while Pigot swept both Pro Mazda races the same year. In 2015, Pigot repeated his performance by scoring back-to-back victories in the two Indy Lights races.

– Also in 2015, Josef Newgarden won the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama for Ed Carpenter Racing, his first career Indy car victory. Newgarden followed up his win with a podium last year as he finished third in the No. 21. ECR will be seeking their third-straight podium at Barber Motorsports Park.

– A live broadcast of tomorrow’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama will begin at 3 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.