Stefan Wilson slots 33rd Indy 500 entry with Cusick Motorsports, DragonSpeed affiliation
Cusick Motorsports announced on Thursday (May 5) their official entry into May 29th’s running of the 106th Indianapolis 500 with returning driver Stefan Wilson behind the wheel of the No. 25.
The 32-year-old Wilson is set for his fourth appearance at the Indy 500, and second straight for Don Cusick, an entrepreneur who has rapidly invested in the Englishman’s racing efforts the past year. After taking on Daytona’s 24 hour and Sebring’s 12 hour in a Porsche 911 GT3 R in the GTD class, Wilson and Cusick are heading for the brickyard.
The 2021-established Cusick Motorsports will join efforts with former IndyCar Series team and current IMSA LMP2 team, DragonSpeed, for the Month of May.
Title sponsor, LOHLA Sport and Sierra Pacific Windows return to the sides of the No. 25 Chevrolet, while the team gains GNARLY Premium Cut Jerky adorned on the DW12 for the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
This collaboration effort between Cusick and DragonSpeed also includes a major helping hand from A.J. Foyt Racing, per Marshall Pruett and the RACER Magazine. Pruett reported Thursday the chassis used will be rookie driver Tatiana Calderon’s primary car used at all the road and street course events this season.
This entry is the return to the IndyCar paddock for Elton Julian’s DragonSpeed USA team after shuttering operations at the end of 2020. After selling a DW12 chassis to Meyer Shank Racing, which went on to win last year’s Indy 500 with Helio Castroneves, the team sold all their remaining assets. The team had blossoming plans on the horizon for the 2020 IndyCar season, including oval events in Texas and St. Louis. However, the pandemic forced the mainly European-based team to completely scrap all their efforts outside the 500, set in August that season.
DragonSpeed’s Indy 500 results all came at the hand of their sports car ace at the time, Ben Hanley. Their 2019 debut ended in a crash and a 32nd-place result, and in 2020, they finished 23rd. DragonSpeed’s best IndyCar Series result thus far was their series debut, 18th, at the 2019 St. Petersburg Grand Prix.
Stefan Wilson, the younger brother of late 2000’s IndyCar icon Justin Wilson, has made just three Indy appearances, with a best finish of 15th in the 2018 event with Andretti Autosport, coming up a few laps shy of fuel and handing over the lead and win to Will Power. Last year, the Cusick team united with Andretti’s efforts for Wilson, however after inflicting damage from a spin entering pit road for the first service stop of the race, the No. 25 team finished last. Stefan of course carries on Justin’s legacy by driving that No. 25, the number his elder brother raced when fatally injured in a 2015 race.
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