James Hinchcliffe and JR Hildebrand’s days at Pocono Raceway came to an early end when the two drivers wrecked in Turn 1 on lap 125 of the ABC Supply 500.
They were battling for position in the middle of the pack when Hinchcliffe made an aggressive move to Hildebrand’s inside. They made contact, which resulted in a spinning crash into the outside wall for both drivers.
“Heading down into Turn 1, it was two-wide for a couple of rows deep… When the guys in front of us spread out and went two-wide, I started getting a big push on the outside,” Hildebrand said. “It fed wheel in, and it just hooked up, and I went down when James was there.
“I’m annoyed for both of us. It was close racing there, and it was getting towards the end of the race.”
Hinchcliffe, who was running in the top three early in the race, made a costly mistake on pit road when he overshot his stall. The error cost him a position in the top 10.
“I guess JR got a bit of a push when everybody was side-by-side and put a bunch of wheel in and pinched him loose and I was just there,” Hinchcliffe said. “At the end of the day, we really shouldn’t have been back there. We should have been running up front like we were. I made a mistake in pit lane to put us in that position.
“It’s 100 percent my fault… I had a clean (pit entry) in, and I was trying to be nice and straight in the pit box, but that means I was braking on the concrete, not the asphalt.”
Hinchcliffe said it was a “rookie error” saying if he started braking on the asphalt of pit road instead of the concrete pit boxes, he thinks the mistake would never have happened.
“It was only the second time in my career that I overshot my pit box like that,” Hinchcliffe said. “It just happened at the worst time.”
Hinchcliffe and Hildebrand were both cleared at the infield care center and finished 19th and 20th, respectively.
REPLAY: @Hinchtown and @JRHildebrand make contact in turn 1. #INDYCAR #ABCSupply500 https://t.co/1I2Xejdij6 pic.twitter.com/BfRY44MyjT
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) August 20, 2017
About the author
John Haverlin is Frontstretch's exclusive IndyCar editor and writer. He has covered American auto racing's various forms, including NASCAR Cup, Xfinity, Truck, K&N, Whelen Modified, IndyCar, Mazda Road to Indy, USAC, Modified Touring Series, World of Outlaws, ARCA and ACT Tour. He is a graduate of Arizona State University and currently resides in Long Island, New York.
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