Chilton steps down from oval racing due to 'fear'

Max Chilton has stepped down from oval racing in IndyCar for the remainder of the 2019 season due to not being comfortable in the car.

The Carlin driver will continue to race at the street and road courses but decided to walk away from the ovals following his failure to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 last month.

GPToday.net contacted a source on the other side of the ocean to confirm the story: "It is indeed true that Max sat around the table with the team at the end of the qualification of the Indianapolis 500.

"Max believes that he can't drive the ovals at the moment and that's partly because he doesn't feel comfortable with the car.

The source added that Chilton had already " regularly indicated internally about his fear to get into the car". 

Carlin confirmed on Tuesday that Conor Daly would take over Chilton's seat at Texas this weekend, the second oval race of the year following the Indy 500 where Daly drove for Andretti Autosport.

In 2020, IndyCar will introduce the Aeroscreen, a cockpit protection device that it has built with Red Bull Technologies to improve cockpit safety.

“I’m excited and pleased by the outstanding proactive work being done by INDYCAR around driver safety and the innovation of the solution developed in partnership with Red Bull Advanced Technologies that has created a new Aeroscreen," Chilton said. 

"The innovative solution will be the most advanced single-seater driver head protection in the world and will be introduced in 2020.

"My focus remains on getting the best possible results for the No. 59 Gallagher Carlin crew, and I will be helping the team and Conor in any way I can to that end.”