SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (May 23, 2017) - Sausalito native JR Hildebrand will tackle the 101th running of the Indianapolis 500 this Sunday, May 28, but prior to The Greatest Spectacle in Racing, Hildebrand returned to the Bay Area today to visit with media.
Hildebrand, a lifelong San Francisco Giants fan, met with local media at Public House at AT&T Park before enjoying an all-access tour of the scenic ballpark.
"It's always great to be out here, and it's so cool to check out the behind-the-scenes tour of the AT&T Park," said Hildebrand. "Even though I don't live here anymore, this is still my home team."
Hildebrand gained national fame after almost winning the Indianapolis 500 as a rookie in 2011 before crashing in the last turn on the final lap. He ultimately slid over the finish line second and claimed Indy 500 Rookie of the Year honors.
He returned to full-time competition for 2017 with Ed Carpenter Racing and will start on the second row for his seventh Indy 500 start. The race will be televised live on ABC at 8 a.m. PT on Sunday.
"This is the best starting position I've had at Indy. We've had a bunch of great runs without starting that well, so it's very exciting. I'm really happy to have such a good result from all of our hard work in qualifying, and feel really confident in our level of execution for the race."
Hildebrand returns to his home track at Sonoma Raceway for the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma Verizon IndyCar Series championship, Sept. 15-17.
