IndyCar's James Hinchcliffe Joining NBC As Part-Time Racing Analyst

IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe is joining NBC Sports as an on-air analyst this season to help fill out his schedule as he only competes in a handful of races. Hinchcliffe was ousted at the end of last season from his full-time deal at the team now known as Arrow McLaren SP. So far he will only enter three races this season in the Indianapolis 500, IndyCar Grand Prix (at Indianapolis Motor Speedway) plus the annual stop at Texas Motor Speedway. As a result, Hinchcliffe will join IndyCar’s full-year media partner NBC for 10 races, which is more than half the season. Hinchcliffe will not be in the booth but rather on the pit road area, though he will be more of an analyst than a pit reporter. The Canadian's NBC schedule includes the season opener at St. Petersburg next month, plus the Grand Prix of Long Beach, his traditional home race in Toronto and the season finale at Laguna Seca. He also will do some work in NASCAR and IMSA, including the Brickyard 400 this summer.