Jack Harvey will be driving the #45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda next season, and he hopes the change will bring him the wins that have eluded him so far in his IndyCar career.
After driving for Meyer Shank Racing for the entirety of his five years in the series, and helping the team grow from a part time effort into the multi-car outfit, Harvey will be moving on in 2022 to try to find the next level of results.
Despite getting along very well with the whole MSR team, he found that there were simply too many little issues preventing him from achieving the wins he knew he was capable of.
“I look back at our [2020] season, and it was filled with a lot of potential. Too many coulda-woulda-shouldas,” said Harvey.
“I would look every weekend and watch the races back, and I always felt like Graham [Rahal]’s race pace was exceptionally strong, and as a team they always found a way to get their drivers to the front.
“That’s definitely been a few races where I was envious of that.”
One such ‘coulda been’ moment was in Mid-Ohio, which saw Harvey spin in the first round of qualifying while he was already locked into an advancing position.
He had been pushing hard to get in a faster lap due to a miscommunication with the team about his current place in the order.
After being penalized for the spin, Harvey started near the back and was stuck in the midfield for the entire race, despite having one of the fastest cars early in the weekend.
It’s those kinds of situations that the 28-year-old hopes will be less common with his new team, which has many more years of experience to draw from.
Harvey decided the shakeup was necessary to get his career moving again, and he believes the established infrastructure of RLL will help to get the wins that he feels he is capable of.
“What really drew me to the team was they were having a good season, but that wasn’t enough,” continued Harvey. “That’s really how I felt, as well. I feel ready to have an expanded role, I guess.
“But to me it wasn’t one thing that hammered it home. It was from the get-go, from our first conversations to now, I’ve just been so impressed with the hunger and desire of the team.
“There’s so many things to look forward to with this team, and honestly I’m just really grateful to be a small part of it but obviously a big part of it come race day.”
