As the IndyCar season is only a few weeks away, now is the time to take a look at each team individually and what they should expect in 2014.
Each weekday from now until the Thursday before first practice at St. Petersburg a different team will be featured and each preview will include a review of 2013, a number to remember that is related to each driver on the 2014 IndyCar grid and a prediction/goals for each driver in 2014.
We start with the team that has won the two most recent IndyCar event, Team Penske who won the 2013 season finale at Fontana with Will Power.
2013 Team Penske Review:
Wins: 4 (Texas, Sonoma, Houston 2, Fontana).
Poles: 4 (St. Petersburg, Texas, Iowa, Fontana).
Final Championship Position: 2nd (Helio Castroneves), 4th (Will Power), A.J. Allmendinger (27th).
2014 Drivers:
Helio Castroneves
The Brazilian is coming off a difficult loss in the championship. The Brazilian held a forty-nine point championship lead and had completed every lap entering the final two race weekends before it all came apart at Houston. Gearbox issues at the final doubleheader of the season derailed his hopes for his first career title. I was very critical of Castroneves at the end of last year for not going for the jugular earlier in 2013 and racing for only points. His one victory at Texas was his lone highlight of the 2013 season and if he hopes to make another championship run in 2014 he is going to need to win more races.
Number to Remember: 27. Margin between Castroneves and Dixon in the final championship standings.
Prediction/Goals: He is going to be competitive but the championship will be out of his grasp. Last year was one of those years where everything was going his way and he had all the chances to close it out while on serve, while in control when Dixon was in the back of the field or stationary in the pit lane and he couldn't do it. Consistent runs of completing 2025 consecutive laps are an anomaly. He can't expect to match that performance again in 2014. He had one top five in the final half of 2013 and sixth place is a position Castroneves has become use to finishing in with eight sixth place finishes in two seasons racing the DW12 chassis.
Castroneves will be in the back half of the top ten and will get a win, maybe two but he won't be contending for the championship.
Will Power
Power had a sluggish start to 2013 but ended by winning three of the final five races including the final two races of the season and cracking the top five in the championship. Power called the Fontana win the greatest of his career and the look it his eyes and demeanor after that race still gives me goosebumps. The man who has three consecutive runner-up finishes in the championship is on a mission for that elusive first championship.
Number to Remember: 13.3. Average oval finish driving the DW12.
Prediction/Goals: Will Power will be in the championship picture entering the final race. The team turned it around at the end of 2013 and the Australian appears more confident than ever entering 2014. Don't be surprised if he picks up four to six wins along with four to six poles in 2014. It is going to be very difficult for anyone to hold off Power in 2014.
Juan Pablo Montoya
The 1999 CART champion and 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner returns to IndyCar racing for the first time since 2000 and open-wheel, single-seater formula racing for the first time since 2006. After seven respectable years in NASCAR that included two wins and a career-best eighth place finish in points, Montoya leaves Ganassi to join Penske. The Colombian has been testing over the winter more than most on the IndyCar grid and has two of the best teammates to get him up to speed.
Numbers to Remember: 4900 and 4942. Days between IndyCar starts for Montoya (Fontana 10-29-2000 and St. Petersburg 3-30-2014) and days between his last IndyCar win and St. Petersburg (Gateway 9-17-2000).
Prediction/Goals: I already said Montoya won't finish in the top ten in the championship. I stand by that. The field is deep and Montoya won't come in over thirteen years removed from his last start and be at the top immediately. Montoya will have his share of good runs, a win is a little much to ask in his first year back but a top-five or two with a half dozen top ten finishes is likely. He should focus on completing laps and being more of a threat toward the end of the season and prepare for a full assault on the championship in 2015.
Remember the first round of the 2014 IndyCar Series season is on March 30th and the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg can be seen at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
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