And then there were two. Two IndyCar team previews remain and we are now only 16 days until the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series season opener from the streets of Long Beach. Dale Coyne Racing has won the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg twice, one of only three times to win this event multiple times. Not even Chip Ganassi Racing has done that. The chances of a third St. Petersburg triumph lie in the hands of IndyCar's two youngest drivers, as Coyne looks to end a five-year winless drought.
At First Glance... That is a lot of youth in one team
One driver was born September 3, 2001. The other driver was born 24 days later. The two youngest drivers on the IndyCar grid in 2023 will be teammates, setting up a combination that could either leave us hopeful for IndyCar's future or a trail of carbon fiber straight to Dallara's front door.
David Malukas is the veteran despite being the youngest driver in the team. In 17 races, Malukas rarely put a wheel wrong. Outside a few accidents early in the season and contact while battling for a top five position in Nashville, Malukas did the minimum any rookie could do: Bring the car home in one piece more times than not. Not only was he bringing the car home but he was completing all the laps. There were his three retirements but the only other races he finished a lap down were the first Iowa race and the Laguna Seca finale.
He completed 1,257 of 1,258 laps on ovals, including all 200 at Indianapolis and was the top finishing rookie though honors went to another driver. Malukas' best result was a charging finish to second at Gateway while pressuring Josef Newgarden all the way to the checkered flag. All of Malukas' best days came on ovals. He went from 19th to 11th at Texas with three laps led in his second career start and he was eighth in the second Iowa race, spending much of the day in the top ten. His only top ten finish on a road/street course was at Mid-Ohio. For all his success, there is much room for growth.
Enter Sting Ray Robb, a Road to Indy driver that has been far from exceptional. Robb has gotten results after some time in each of the development series. It took him 49 races to win in Indy Pro 2000. He had one top five finish in his first Indy Lights season and it took him 33 races to win in the second-tier series. Last year's Indy Lights field was not overflowing with talent. The IndyCar grid is much quicker than where Robb is coming from.
This is a teetering driver lineup. Two young drivers will either work out shockingly well or be a mess. Neither driver has a senior teammate to lean on. Add to it Malukas will have a new engineer in Alex Athanasiadis, and most of this team will be learning together. If this team gets lost at any point the Coyne organization could be in for a long season.
2022 Dale Coyne Racing Review
Wins: 0
Best Finish: 2nd (Gateway)
Poles: 0
Best Starting Position: 2nd (Belle Isle)
Championship Finishes: 16th (David Malukas), 19th (Takuma Sato)
David Malukas - #18 Honda
Numbers to Remember:
4: Races where Malukas finished better than his starting position in 2022
3: Of those four races were oval events.
10.2: Average finish on ovals in 2022
What does a championship season look like for him?
Improvement takes place across the board, but a championship is built off the back of Malukas' oval results. Every oval race is a top five finish, and he wins at least two of them. That is only five races though, and where we notice Malukas the most is on the road and street courses. He makes the second round of qualifying in majority of the races, aiding his improved results.
Malukas finds himself getting on the podium in at least three races along with a total of six top five finishes and eight top ten finishes on road/street courses. The last portion of the season is what takes him over the top. He gets a victory at Gateway that starts his ride to the championship. A pair of podium results at Portland and Laguna Seca take him over the top and complete an improbable championship season.
What does a realistic season look like for him?
I think we will see Malukas right where he finished in 2022. Dale Coyne Racing can get some good results, but I don't think it can replicate what it did in 2017 and 2018 with Sébastien Bourdais. Every team has improved and most have done more than Coyne. There is too much uncertainty to think Coyne can take a pair of 21-year-old drivers and turn them into championship top ten drivers.
There are three Penske entries, three full-time Ganassi entries, three McLaren entries, four Andretti entries and three Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing entries. That is 16 cars. Malukas would need to top two of those to break the top fifteen and that isn't factoring in the pair of Ed Carpenter Racing and pair of Meyer Shank Racing entries. Malukas will be in that middle third of the field, but could fall into that bottom third if results aren't as strong as 2022. Five top ten finishes could be the best he and Coyne can hope for.
Sting Ray Robb - #18 Honda
Numbers to Remember:
95: Road to Indy starts
8: Road to Indy victories
26: Road to Indy podium finishes
19: Of those 26 podium finishes occurred in two seasons (2020 Indy Pro 2000 and 2022 Indy Lights)
What does a championship season look like for him?
We find out this is actually Robb's third or fourth IndyCar season and after about 34 to 50 IndyCar starts he has finally gotten a handle of all these tracks in an IndyCar. The season starts with a run of podium finishes. Robb keeps up his run with a top ten streak over the first seven races, but he doesn't win until Mid-Ohio. A few more top ten finishes follow before he wins for a second time on the IMS road course. He enters the Laguna Seca finally needing a victory and a little bit of help to take the championship and the one time it actually works it is in this case. Robb wins the race and gets the help needed to take the Astor Cup.
What does a realistic season look like for him?
I expect this season to look like pretty much Robb's first seasons in the other two Road to Indy series he contested. Nothing flashy, nothing remarkable and Robb finishing at the back of the championship. This will be a tough season for him. This field is significantly better than any grid he has raced against before. Combined with the Coyne entry, every race will be a uphill fight for Robb.
Anything inside the top twenty would be impressive, but there is a good chance he will be outside the top twenty. The expectation is for there to be 25 full-time drivers. At least five drivers will finish outside the top twenty in that case. At best I think Robb could get one or two top ten finishes. Top five finishes in normal racing circumstances is almost unfathomable to think about. Very few rookies blow the doors off the competition from the jump. I don't see Robb being a revelation this year. He is almost competing just to get a sophomore season.
The 2023 NTT IndyCar Series begins on Sunday March 5 with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. NBC and Peacock will have coverage of the race starting at noon.
