Ryan Hunter-Reay will be leaving Andretti Autosport’s IndyCar team at the end of the 2021 season, the team has announced.
After joining the team in 2010, his seventh season in the series, Hunter-Reay won the fourth race with his new team.
He went on to win the 2012 series championship, and later won the Indy 500 in 2014, carrying the familiar yellow DHL colors all the while.
His most recent win came in 2018, when he won the season finale from Sonoma Raceway and securing fourth in the championship battle.
Hunter-Reay has always had a positive attitude, and the relationships he’s formed with his team-mates and team bosses are ones that will not quickly fade.
“When we signed him up, we basically signed him up for the first three races,” said Michael Andretti, CEO of Andretti Autosport.
“Luckily he won Long Beach that year and that turned it into a full year of sponsorship. We ended up catching the eye of DHL, and when they came on board we won a lot of races together.
“He’s been a big part of our team. Big part of the family. You always knew he was going to give everything he had out on the race track.
“We’ve had a lot of great times together. We’ve had tough times, but we’ve had good times. It’s been a great run.”
Hunter-Reay has struggled to get good results the past couple seasons, with only one podium finish since the start of 2020.
The Dallas-born driver has not yet announced plans for the 2022 season, but there still are a few openings on the IndyCar grid should he want to stay in the series.
He would also likely be able to find options in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, where he has raced part time since 2014.
“I’d like to say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for putting it on the line every single day for us,” added Mike Parra, CEO of DHL.
“Thank you for winning the 500. Thank you for being a champion. You’ll always be a DHLer, and when I look at the #28, it’ll be hard not to think of Ryan Hunter-Reay.”
Andretti Autosport has not announced who it plans to put in the #28 entry, though it is understood that Romain Grosjean has had in-depth talks with the team recently.
The Frenchman is coming off a strong rookie season in the series and is almost done with his one-year contract with Dale Coyne Racing.
Hunter-Reay will have two more races with Andretti in the coming weeks, finishing off the season with events at Laguna Seca and Long Beach.
