The third IndyCar Wrap-Up brings us to one of IndyCar's newest and fastest rising organizations. Meyer Shank Racing competed in its second full season in 2021, and a second full season brought a slight expansion to the operation. With one full-time car, MSR ran a second car in a half-dozen races. Meyer Shank Racing achieved another incredible milestone, and yet, 2021 felt like it could have been better.
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| Jack Harvey bounced between good days and bad days |
Jack Harvey
Harvey began his second full IndyCar season and fifth season overall with Meyer Shank Racing. After a split season with strong qualifying results but race results that did not always match in 2020, Harvey looked to make a leap forward. Though he continued to have good races, this season did not standout as a clear improvement.
What objectively was his best race?
Harvey was fourth at St. Petersburg after starting on the front row. He struggled on the alternate tire and that cost him a few spots, but he still pulled out a fabulous result. Harvey then finished fourth at Portland after starting 20th. He drove a superb race and going long on his first stint set Harvey up to run hard in the closing laps and get up to fourth.
What subjectively was his best race?
Harvey was fourth at St. Petersburg after starting on the front row. He struggled on the alternate tire and that cost him a few spots, but he still pulled out a fabulous result. Harvey then finished fourth at Portland after starting 20th. He drove a superb race and going long on his first stint set Harvey up to run hard in the closing laps and get up to fourth.
What subjectively was his best race?
Though Harvey did not have nearly as many strong results as he should have, I will say it is Portland because that weekend started well in practice, he then qualified 20th and it looked like he was doomed for another disappointing race and then he was quick in the race and matched his best finish of the season.
The second IMS road course race deserves a mention because that ended an eight-race slump where Harvey's best finish was 15th. At Indianapolis, Harvey was sixth.
What objectively was his worst race?
Twenty-third in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis after a botched pit stop took him out of contention for a podium spot, and possibly a race victory, and a tire puncture exiting pit lane took away any chance of a respectable result and left him a lap down.
What subjectively was his worst race?
Unfortunately, for the second consecutive season, Harvey's season is full of too many results that do not add up to the pace we saw and some of these were self-inflicted.
The team tossed away a top ten finish at Road America trying to go off-strategy at a terrible point in the race prior to a pit window opening where there was no way Harvey was going to save enough and get a better result than if he had waited. What should have been a sixth or seventh was a 17th. The team employed a similar strategy at Nashville. See how wacky that race was, Harvey could have won it, but his strategy choices, and the oddly shaped pit lane, trapped him in 15th.
One that was not on the teams the second Texas race when a wheel bearing broke and ended a possible top five run.
The Grand Prix of Indianapolis is probably his worst result. He was up there with Romain Grosjean, Álex Palou and Rinus VeeKay. He could have won that race, if not it looked like he was set for a podium result.
Jack Harvey's 2021 Statistics
Championship Position: 13th (308 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 2
Top Tens: 6
Laps Led: 6
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 4
Fast Twelves: 6
Average Start: 13.714
Average Finish: 13.0
Championship Position: 13th (308 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 2
Top Tens: 6
Laps Led: 6
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 4
Fast Twelves: 6
Average Start: 13.714
Average Finish: 13.0
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| Hélio Castroneves turned a new, part-time gig into something historic |
Hélio Castroneves
Meyer Shank Racing rolled the dice on Castroneves, newly released from Team Penske, and it paid off with Meyer Shank Racing winning the biggest race on the IndyCar calendar, the team's first victory in the series and a historic victory for Castroneves to boot. This pairing ran six races in 2020 and it will expand to a full-time operation in 2021, but their first race together might be the mountaintop for this duo.
What objectively was his best race?
Come on? What do you think? It is Castroneves' fourth Indianapolis 500 victory.
What subjectively was his best race?
Come on? What do you think? It is Castroneves' fourth Indianapolis 500 victory.
What subjectively was his best race?
Expanding on the Indianapolis 500 victory, for starters, it was Castroneves' first race with the team. It was Meyer Shank Racing's first victory. Castroneves was in the top ten all race. This was not Castroneves pulling a rabbit out of his hat and he just happened to be first after stretching his fuel while others had to stop. This wasn't Castroneves leading at the right time when a rainstorm blew in. Castroneves won this race straight up after spending the previous three years committed to sports car racing while IndyCar was his side project.
What objectively was his worst race?
Castroneves was nowhere to be found at Laguna Seca and he finished a lap down in 24th.
What subjectively was his worst race?
Castroneves has some work to do on road and street courses. He may have been ninth at Nashville, but he was 21st in the second IMS road course race, 23rd at Portland and 24th at Laguna Seca. Castroneves did qualify third at Long Beach and he might have finished in the top ten if the team had not chosen poor on the pit strategy, failing to have him pit before the Patricio O'Ward caution and then not stopping under that caution nor the Marcus Ericsson caution only a few laps later. This comeback season is going to be tougher than many think it will be.
Hélio Castroneves' 2021 Statistics
Championship Position: 22nd (158 points)
Wins: 1
Podiums: 1
Top Fives: 1
Top Tens: 2
Laps Led: 35
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 1
Fast Twelves: 1
Average Start: 14.667
Average Finish: 16.333
Championship Position: 22nd (158 points)
Wins: 1
Podiums: 1
Top Fives: 1
Top Tens: 2
Laps Led: 35
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 1
Fast Twelves: 1
Average Start: 14.667
Average Finish: 16.333
An Early Look Ahead
With Harvey leaving the team, Simon Pagenaud will join his former Team Penske cohort Castroneves in the Meyer Shank Racing lineup in 2022.
Harvey built a good identity with the team and it felt like the partnership was going to continue for many years to come. However, I think one of the reasons results were lacking is the team itself and that is one reason why Harvey left.
There were a handful of races in 2021 where the team got the strategy wrong, either bringing Harvey in too early or having him stay out too long. Harvey's qualifying results did dip from an average around 8.8 to 13.714. However, his average finish only fell from 12.2 to 13.0, which wasn't great to begin with, but wasn't terrible either. There were strategy choices that cost him top ten and possibly top five finishes at Road America and Nashville.
Pagenaud moves over after a rough two-year period with Team Penske. His qualifying average has fallen tremendously, dropping to a career worst 15.9 in 2020, but he picked it up to 11.0 this year. While the Frenchman saw a tick up on the qualifying speed, his race finishes dipped. Two podium finishes matched his fewest in a season, his three top five finishes are his fewest in a season and he led only 12 laps, his fewest in a full season. Pagenaud was eighth in the championship for the second consecutive year.
Meanwhile, Castroneves might have won the Indianapolis 500 and finished ninth at Nashville, but he was 20th or worse in his final four starts. He started outside the top ten in three of those races with a surprising third-place qualifying result at Long Beach appearing to be more of an exception than the rule. Castroneves has made 13 IndyCar starts since his last full season in 2017. He has three top ten finishes and six finishes outside the top twenty.
When Castroneves first exited IndyCar full-time, he was on a streak of six consecutive top five championship finishes and nine top five championship finishes in his last ten seasons. He will turn 47 years old on May 10 next year. I am not sure how much MSR can expect out of Castroneves and how long they will be committed to him.
I think Pagenaud still has something in the tank, a lot in the tank actually, and while his results were not great in 2021, he is a competitive driver who is regularly in the top ten. Pagenaud could turn MSR into a regular contender and pull out a few victories. I just don't feel as good about Castroneves. He might have a few good days but I don't think Castroneves will be close to the Frenchman. I think we could see the two MSR drivers at different ends of the table at the end of 2022.
More than the drivers, what could decide MSR's success is its strategizing. It cannot continue to take front-running cars and put them at the back. The team was taking chances as if it was a mid-pack team, but its speed has it at the front. It cannot be running in the top five or six and act like it is running 13th and has to try something different. There are times to go off-strategy and take a risk, but it has to do a better job discerning when to roll the dice and when to stick to the plan.
