“ No doubt, no doubt,” he said.“ If you wipe the Detroit weekend off the map, you give us back the points from Texas and we finish the race at Watkins Glen, we’ re fighting for a top three in the championship,” he said.“ It shouldn’ t be that surprising. This team has done that before.”
Reigning champion Simon Pagenaud of Team Penske finished fifth, third and fifth in points while driving for team owner Sam Schmidt from 2012 to 2014. When Pagenaud joined Penske for 2015, Schmidt hired Hinchcliffe.
“ That’ s what’ s so impressive about SPM, they are kind of the little team that could,” Hinchcliffe said.“ When you think there’ s the three powerhouse teams( Penske, Ganassi and Andretti) that combine to make 12 cars or half the grid, if you’ re anywhere in the top 12 in points, you’ re
doing a good job if you’ re not one of those( powerhouse team) guys.”
Too many times this season, Hinchcliffe was in position to do better but didn’ t. He was running second and ran out of fuel on the last lap in the INDYCAR Grand Prix at The Glen. He finished 18th. He also laments finishing 18th and 21st at the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit doubleheader, the first race particularly disappointing after he qualified fourth.
His best race was the Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway, where Hinchcliffe dominated