Robert Wickens leads a Hinchcliffe-less Schmidt Peterson Motorsports to quality Indy 500

INDIANAPOLIS – So much went wrong for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.

SPM came to Indianapolis Motor Speedway with stakes in four of the 35 cars set to fight for a spot in the Indy 500's 33-car field, then exited Bump Day without star James Hinchcliffe.

It entered the final day of qualifying with three confident drivers, and failed to place a car higher than standout rookie Robert Wickens’ sixth-row start. Hinchcliffe faced seemingly endless and undesired speculation about what car he might jump in to to get back in the show.

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Oh, and team owner Sam Schmidt saw Wickens crash in the second-to-last practice.

Sunday, SPM’s luck changed, and the team surged to an Indianapolis 500 performance it can be proud of.

“I feel like we never lost momentum, that’s the big thing, we’re such a strong team,” said Wickens, who finished ninth. “I think we understand what happened on (Hinchcliffe's) car, lesson learned. Things are implemented now that will never happen again. It’s a competitive championship here in the Verizon IndyCar Series.”

Wickens exited his No. 6 car as the rookie with the day’s best finish, and teammates Jack Harvey and Jay Howard finished 16th and 24th, respectively. Schmidt found Howard’s finish disappointing — describing what he saw of Howard’s handling in the in-car camera as “wicked loose” — but each driver he had that made the field finished at least four spots higher than they started and Harvey’s jump saw him rise 15 positions.

Harvey is also with Meyer Shank Racing, and Howard with AFS Racing.

The grace and poise Hinchcliffe exhibited all week drew wide praise, and none of the cars were a part of any of the crashes Sunday that claimed a number of contenders.

“All three of them have got four wheels on them,” Schmidt said. “Makes it a lot easier to go to Detroit that way.”

Wickens said his top-10 finish in his first ever Indy 500 surpassed anything he could have imagined in some ways, but in others left him hoping for more.

“It was one hell of a race,” Wickens said. “It was an emotional rollercoaster.”

Before IMS’ oval rollercoaster started, Wickens could be found picking the brain of his bumped teammate, Hinchcliffe, who watched the beginning of the race from an SPM stand on pit road. Wickens absorbed Hinchcliffe’s thoughts on the outside of the track, and got some vital do’s and don’t’s.

Wickens doesn’t know how much Hinchcliffe contributed during the race. SPM’s structure only has one person speaking to the driver during a race. But Schmidt said Hinchcliffe probably spent about a third of the race in pit road before he went to spend time with some of the team’s customers and clients.

“Having him there, I mean, he’s probably the most supportive teammate you could ever ask for,” Wickens said. “It helped me a lot, gave me that little bit of extra confidence to sail it around the outside on turn one on the start.”

Schmidt believes Wickens’ performances all season long, especially at the Indy 500, should earn him rookie of the year honors.

Reverse a couple missed strategy calls Schmidt attributed to the team, and Wickens may have finished in the top five. The rookie showed enough guts on the final green to prove that.

“That last yellow with 10 to go, we had nothing to lose,” Wickens said. “We put on new tires and restarted 19th and charged up to ninth. Honestly, it was an amazing 10 laps. If it wasn't for those 10 laps, I'd probably be pretty bummed with my first Indy 500.”

Team Penske’s Will Power may have swept both races at IMS this month, but Schmidt’s eyes are on Detroit, continued success and Hinchcliffe's return.

“It’s a shame he wasn’t in the race, we’re all extremely disappointed,” Schmidt said. “But now we can’t wait to get to Detroit.”