No fourth Indy 500 entry for Andretti Global

Andretti Global will not enter a fourth car for the Indianapolis 500. The decision comes as a result of Colton Herta being newly unavailable due to the rescheduling of two Formula 2 races to May, including the Canadian Grand Prix, which holds an F2 event on the same day as the Indianapolis 500.

Although Herta was never formally confirmed to drive the fourth car, he was meant to have made his Indy 500 return until the F2 date clash became a reality.

“As a lot of people deduced, we were trying to put something together for a fourth car, and our primary focus would have been Colton,” Andretti team principal Ron Ruzewski told RACER. “And we're committed to Colton’s F2 program.”

Faced with the possibility of placing other drivers in the Honda-powered car, Ruzewski says the team preferred to stick with its full-time roster of championship leader Kyle Kirkwood, 2018 Indy 500 winner Will Power, and 2022 Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson.

As RACER outlined in its most recent Indy 500 entry list update, the lack of a proven and available front-running driver to replace Herta – if necessary – was expected to temper the team’s interest in fielding the fourth car, which has proven to be the case in its decision to stick with three.

“There were plenty of people that were interested, but we're primarily focused on value-added programs,” he said. “And honestly, there's no shortage of talent out there, but our focus is to remain on our current line-up and continue our focused effort and the strong efforts that we started this year. We don't really want to be distracted on anything else. So we're going to maintain three cars.”

Without Andretti’s fourth car, the IndyCar Series has 32 known entries for its 33 Indy 500 starting positions.

Of the possibilities to complete the grid, AJ Foyt Racing, PREMA Racing and Bryan Herta Autosport have been mentioned as potential solutions to facilitate a single entry. Katherine Legge, Stefan Wilson and a handful of others are on the short list of drivers with budgets seeking a way into the race.