Driving for AFS/Andretti-Green Racing, Hildebrand posted an impressive tally of four wins, six other top-five finishes and six poles during the fourteen races held so far. His fifth place result during the most recent race (last weekend at Chicagoland - coupled with the misfortunes of his closest championship rival at that race - were enough to cement his title.

This is J.R.'s second full year in the FIL series. After starting out driving for RLR-Andersen Racing for the final two races of the '07 season, he contested the full '08 schedule for them, winning once, at Kansas, before making the move to AFS/AGR for this year.

Team co-owner Michael Andretti is very high on his young driver; "J.R. has been terrific for us this year. We saw a lot of potential in him last year, which is why we were interested in him, and he has delivered, for sure. He takes a very smart, mature approach to what he does in the car and really makes the most out of what he has at any given time." 

And what will '10 hold for him? Hildebrand has publicly stated his desire to make the jump to the IndyCar Series. While the '08 FIL champion, Raphael Matos, has found a seemingly secure home with newcommers Luczo-Dragon Racing, the fates of the other recent champions have been less impressive. 2007 champion Alex Lloyd signed a "test driver" deal with Ganassi Racing, which was supposed to include a handful of race appearences. However, he walked away Ganassi from earlier this year after his race seat time failed to progess beyond an annual "one-off" at Indy. The 2006 and 2005 champions, Jay Howard (who did get in a couple of drives for the short-lived Roth Racing) and Wade Cunningham are both currently back in the Indy Lights ranks, trying to keep their skills sharp and - hopefully - their names on the minds of the IndyCar team bosses should a seat become available. 

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