For the first time in its existence, Meyer Shank Racing announced in a statement on Tuesday it will field a second, part-time NTT IndyCar Series entry as a teammate to mainstay Jack Harvey in 2021.
Helio Castroneves, a 24-time IndyCar race winner and 20-year veteran of the series, will join Harvey for six races next year. The team reversed Harvey’s number (No. 60) for Castroneves, who will drive the No. 06 Honda at Barber Motorsports Park, Long Beach, the Indianapolis 500, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, Portland and Laguna Seca.
Up through the 2020 Indy 500, Castroneves had driven for Team Penske in each of his 270 IndyCar starts; he followed that race with two appearances for Arrow McLaren SP at the Indianapolis GP races on the road course.
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We're here to ????????? announce our expanded @IndyCar lineup for 2021 and welcome @h3lio for 6 races w. @jack_harvey42 running the full-season.
Official Release: https://t.co/iLPuVXEGoO pic.twitter.com/GW1AQP2zqt
— Meyer Shank Racing (@MeyerShankRac) November 10, 2020
The Brazilian driver has won the Indy 500 three times in his career, appearing on the podium there nine times.
“I’m super excited to be joining Meyer Shank Racing for six IndyCar races next year,” Castroneves said in a release. “Mike (Shank) and I know each other from a long time ago and I raced with the team at Daytona. Now, with Jim [Meyer], Mike and Jack [Harvey], all three of us I feel like we have great potential. I can’t thank enough Team Penske for all of these years with them, but now it’s a new chapter in my life and I’m excited to join MSR and an incredible group of friends.”
MSR announced in October it would be pairing with Liberty Media Corporation, with the latter making an investment in the team.
“We’re really excited to have Helio come onboard with us next year,” team owner Mike Shank said. “The idea to start off with six races for the second IndyCar was another strategic plan. As I’ve always said in the past, we will never bite off more than we can chew. It’s always been one of our goals to expand the IndyCar program, and this is the best way that we can start that.
“Having a guy like Helio on the team will be a big asset for us. He’s a proven race winner and brings a ton of knowledge to the team. He’s someone that we will be able to learn from. This past season was definitely a tough one for us, but Jack (Harvey) proved that he has the pace to be running up front, and going into 2021 we [are] certainly aiming to get back up on the podium.”
Adam Cheek joined Frontstretch as a contributing writer in January 2019. A 2020 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, he covered sports there and later spent a year and a half as a sports host on 910 the Fan in Richmond, VA. He's freelanced for Richmond Magazine and the Richmond Times-Dispatch and also hosts the Adam Cheek's Sports Week podcast. Adam has followed racing since the age of three, inheriting the passion from his grandfather, who raced in amateur events up and down the East Coast in the 1950s.