Video: Dreyer & Reinbold driver announcement
"I looked around and met the people. I was really impressed," Wilson said. "Speaking with (general manager and competition director) Larry Curry and (co-owners) Dennis (Reinbold) and Robbie (Buhl), I liked what I saw and the progress they'd made over the offâ€'season. That's when it really started to come together.
"We just worked it out from there. It came together over the last two weeks."
"It was a pretty tough call to leave Dale and move on with my career," said Wilson, 31. "That's not an easy decision. I just got to thank Dale and Gail (Coyne) for everything they've done. It was a great year. I have really fond memories. I've spoken to Dale a few times and we still get along really well, which is nice. I've got a lot of admiration for him.
"It was just a great opportunity (to go to D&RR) and I feel like this is the direction to go. Obviously, Zâ€'Line had presented that. They've got an agency that was looking for them to see what was available and it just progressed. I was pretty shocked that I'd get this opportunity. But I'm very pleased to be driving the Zâ€'Line Designs car again, and driving for this team, and the IZOD IndyCar Series."
Wilson will partner with Mike Conway, who enters his second IZOD IndyCar Series season in the No. 24 car (high finish of third at Infineon Raceway in August) for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's first full-season two-car team.
"I did have some good teammates last year," Conway said. "It was just the case of they weren't always there the same weekend, we'd been changing so often. But it's great to have Justin on board. I know he's a great talent. And I think we can both bring a lot to the table and really move the team forward and get some good results.