INDIANAPOLIS – When JR Hildebrand finished his drive in the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil, he still had about 1,400 miles to go.

Besides his passion for racing and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Hildebrand loves a long drive across the country. Especially to and from Indianapolis in what has become an annual journey to the hallowed grounds of motorsports, not unlike thousands of others who come to the track every year. The only difference is that after Hildebrand parked his personal car at the speedway, he hopped into his No. 66 Salesforce Chevrolet for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and started clicking off laps at 227 mph. Hildebrand finished 11th in Sunday’s race, quite an achievement for the one-off driver and team.

Hildebrand arrived May 10 in his Cadillac CTS-V Wagon after driving from his home in Boulder, Colorado, through Oklahoma City, where he dropped off his wife Kristin and their dog, then on to Indianapolis.

“I love road tripping. I’ve done this drive the last bunch of years,” he said. “My wife’s family is just outside of Oklahoma City, so we drove down there and she stayed for Mother’s Day weekend, and I made the trek up here solo.”

For Hildebrand, it’s a perfect way to ease his mind before the mental grind that Indy can foist on a driver.

“It’s like a pilgrimage coming out here,” he said. “It’s much different to drive the mileage and have time to think a little bit rather than just hopping on a plane and getting to Indy. You can’t be on your phone, checking emails or that kind of stuff. I choose not to do all of that stuff while I’m driving anyway – as should everybody else.”

And while cruising up I-44 through Springfield, Rolla and St. Louis in Missouri, then I-70 past Vandalia, Effingham and Greenup across Illinois, and into Indiana through that window in Terre Haute, what goes through Hildebrand’s mind?

“I’m probably thinking more about how I’m going to navigate my way through the traffic that’s ahead of me while trying to maintain a reasonable average speed,” he said. “I had to do the drive a couple of years ago all in one day, and I had to just crank from Denver to Indy, which is not a small feat.”

A two-day trip, he says, is perfect.

“I tend to just kick back,” Hildebrand said. “You’ve got plenty of time, whether it’s on I-70 all the way from Denver or coming up I-44 through Missouri from OKC. You’ve got plenty of time to just soak it all in. You don’t have to worry about whether the next cop is around the bend. I love those moments when you can set it on cruise control and get to think about what’s coming up.”

After Hildebrand turned his final lap in the 500, he made the trip back to Boulder in reverse – from Indy to Oklahoma City to pick up his dog, then on to Colorado. In coming years, he hopes to keep taking that pilgrimage to IMS and the journey back home.

“But hopefully,” he added, “that happens after the Indy 500 victory tour.”