Hinchcliffe visits speedway

Viso at wheel of Hinchcliffe's car

Following an on-track incident in Saturday's Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Andretti Autosport driver James Hinchcliffe was checked and released that evening from Indianapolis Methodist hospital with symptoms of a concussion.

While Hinchcliffe did make an appearance at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for today's opening day, the Canadian kept the visit brief, joking around with his crew and having lunch with family. No medical evaluation was performed today and the three-time race winner returned to his Indianapolis home to rest and recuperate. Hinchcliffe could return to the speedway for re-evaluation as early as Tuesday, however a date for his next medical visit has not yet been set. In the meantime, the Canadian is not cleared to drive in Indy 500 practice sessions.

Venezuelan E.J. Viso took the wheel of the No. 27 machine today for a "shake down" run and will continue to practice with the team while Hinchcliffe recovers, and until a definitive decision in made in regard to the driver of the No. 27 car for the 98th Indianapolis 500. Viso finished sixth on the speed charts in today's session.

"So far things have been pretty smooth," said Viso, "I love working with these (Andretti Autosport) guys. Last year I had an amazing year, an amazing experience, and I only have positive things to talk about my teammates and my team. This opportunity just showed up overnight. Of course we all know what happened to (James) Hinch(cliffe) – at the same time, he is a great friend of mine, he was my teammate last year. Right now I'm helping him out, putting miles on his car and hoping he comes back soon and jumps back in. It's all credit to the team; we have a very strong car, and I think with the little things we're tuning up, they'll become very important later on in the week when we start trimming the car. As of now we have a good database from last year to start the month off."