28 drivers being evaluated for 2018, Schmidt says

The list of potential teammates to place alongside James Hinchcliffe at Schmidt Peterson Motorsports would almost fill 10 rows of drivers at the Indy 500. Hinchcliffe has been in negotiations with SPM for a contract extension that would bring the Canadian back for his fourth season and more, and before he puts ink to paper, identifying a proper teammate will be required.

The 30-year-old, who won at Long Beach in April driving the No. 5 SPM Honda, has been pushing hard for his pal and countryman Robert Wickens to get the nod in the sister No. 7 entry. Others, including Honda favorite Brendon Hartley, are also keen to land one of the few prime seats that remain open.

"We're seeing more interest from Europe, with manufacturers shutting down programs in the DTM and WEC, and we put together a list of 28 drivers for the evaluation process about two weeks ago," team co-owner Sam Schmidt told RACER. "And now that we have decent resources for one and a half cars. We don't have full funding for the second car at this point, but we'll look to get the rest of the way there."

Other than adding a third car for Indy, Schmidt (pictured above, with Hinchcliffe) says sticking with two full-time entries is best for the IndyCar team he owns with Ric Peterson. Interest from drivers wanting SPM to field a third car for the season will, at least for now, have to wait.

"We're focusing on two, totally," he said. "We haven't even remotely come close to being really good with two, so why expand to three? That's my mentality. We were pretty decent on the street courses, OK on the ovals, and sucked on the long road courses. A third car would only confuse that. We need to find two drivers who really complement each other and really push each other."

Schmidt is also using what's coming with IndyCar's 2018 universal bodywork to refine his driver selection process. Thanks to a drop in maximum downforce on road and street courses with the 2018 kit, Schmidt anticipates needing a new driver with the type of talent that doesn't need obscene aerodynamic assistance to run up front.

"If they keep the [2018] car in the current configuration, it's going to take a different skillset for that," he surmised. "It should separate the men from the boys. At a place like Mid-Ohio we had 21 cars separated by nine or 10 tenths. I don't think it will be like that next year. I think we'll see two seconds, potentially. It's going to be interesting. It's changed our whole strategy for looking for a driver.

"There's good momentum from a series standpoint, from an energy standpoint, and I think looking at the landscape next year, everybody looks at the new kit as a fresh start. It's going to put it more back on the drivers to make the difference."