"When I saw the red gloves, I knew why he was carrying them," Franchitti said. "That was a beautiful thing. He was paying tribute to his hero."
The next step comes Sunday, when Hinchcliffe has a legitimate shot to win the 500. The entire Andretti organization has been strong, and Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti will start third and fourth. Off the track, Go Daddy will debut its first national television ad with Hinchcliffe, who co-stars with Patrick in a spot shot earlier this month.
A win would be life-changing for Hinchcliffe, but he's refusing to look that far ahead.
"This race proves time and time again ... it's not over until it's over," he said. "It's just such a long race, and you've got to be so patient and you never know what can happen. So, for us its really is just trying to take this thing one lap at a time, because there are going to be curve balls thrown at you, there's going to be wrenches thrown in the plans."
So how will he prepare for all of those scenarios? In classic Hinchcliffe fashion, of course.
"You go kick Briscoe in the shin, and you slip something into Hunter-Reay's cornflakes," he laughed.
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