Welcome to Leap Day! Only once every four years to we get to experience February 29. It is the quadrennial chance to wish Ja Rule a happy birthday. Masten Gregory is the only driver born on Leap Day to start the Indianapolis 500, but don't forget Louis Schweitzer, born on Leap Day 1880, who never started the Indianapolis 500 but drove in relief for Harry Come in the first Indianapolis 500. This the 20th anniversary of Sam Hornish, Jr. winning on his Team Penske debut at Homestead.
It is rare we get to experience this day! We must make the most of this later end to February!
Possible IndyCar Milestones
Not really February-related, but we are within two weeks of the first IndyCar race of the season. We are running out of time for previews and to be set for the first race. Each year, it is good to know what we could witness over the course of a season. We are always going to see something historic. What is possibly ahead of us in 2024?
Scott Dixon: 400 Career Starts
Where he is at: 385 starts
What he needs to do: Start 15 races.
Dixon is quietly approaching another all-time record. If he makes 15 starts, Dixon will become the second driver in IndyCar history to start 400 races. Mario Andretti's all-time record is 407.
In all likelihood, Dixon is going to break this record. There has been no signs he is suggesting 2024 will be his final season. I think we are at least going to get 2025, and probably 2026. When all is said and done, Dixon could be looking at about 440 starts in his career if he only continues for three more seasons, and there is a chance he clears 450.
Consider where Dixon could be in the record book when his career is over.
Starts: 1st
Victories: 2nd (There is a chance he reaches the 60-victory mark)
Runner-Up Finishes; 2nd (Dixon has 50, six behind Andretti's record)
Podium Finishes: 2nd (Dixon has 137, seven behind Andretti's record)
Top Five Finishes: 1st (Dixon is so far the only driver to surpass 200 career top five finishes)
Laps Led: ... We will get to that in a minute.
Championships: 2nd (And there is still a good chance Dixon gets one more title and finishes tied with A.J. Foyt for first all-time)
Stunning. Simply Stunning.
Scott Dixon: 7,000 Laps Led
Where he is at: 6,734 laps led
What he needs to do: Lead 266 laps, which could be a little of a stretch.
Dixon is already second all-time in laps led. He would be the second to 7,000 laps led. The all-time record is Mario Andretti's at 7,595 laps led.
Dixon led 205 laps last year, but he led only 13 laps in the first 13 races. He has led 266 laps or more in only six of 12 seasons since the introduction of the DW12 chassis. It is literally a 50/50 shot he reaches 7,000 laps led this season. If it isn't 2024, it will be 2025, and more likely early 2025.
What about the all-time mark?
Dixon is 861 laps behind Andretti. Dixon averages 292.7826 laps led per season. That means Dixon is about three seasons away. It is possible, but far from a guarantee.
Josef Newgarden: Top Ten All-Time in IndyCar Victories
Where he is at: Tied for 13th all-time with Rick Mears on 29 victories.
What he needs to do: Win at least two races to becoming tied for tenth all-time. Win at least three races to earn sole possession of tenth all-time.
Newgarden is 33 years old. There is a good chance he will be in sole possession of tenth all-time all on his own and easily have another decade left in his career. He is only going to be reaching the 200-start milestone two races into this season. Top ten is just going to be a start.
Forty victories are easily in play. Fifty isn't out of the question either. Since joining Team Penske, Newgarden is averaging 3.714 victories per season. Only once has he failed to win at least three races in a season with Team Penske.
An average of three victories a season over the next decade with Team Penske is possible. If he does that, we are taking about a guy pushing 60 victories. Even if his average is only 2.5 victories per season, he will clear 50. This is still the start of something great, and it is already pretty sensational.
Josef Newgarden: 4,000 Laps Led
Where he is at: 3,983 laps led
What he needs to do: Lead 17 laps, which isn't that hard. Newgarden will surpass 4,000 laps led this season. He might even crack 4,500 laps led.
He has led at least 300 laps in each of the last nine seasons. His average laps led per season during that time is 440.222. And again, he is only 33 years old and has yet to make 200 starts. Give him another decade and lower his average laps led per season down to Scott Dixon's 292.7826 laps per season pace, and Newgarden will be on the verge of 7,000 laps led.
Talk about near-identical careers.
Will Power: 300 Career Starts
Where he is at: 285 starts
What he needs to do: Start 15 races.
Power is on the verge of becoming the tenth driver to reach 300 career starts. It has been an incredible career. Starts shows longevity. For nearly two decades, Power has been at the top of IndyCar, a standard every driver wishes he or she could emulate.
We don't know how many more races Power has in his career. We know we beyond the halfway point. We should appreciate every start we get from him.
Will Power: 100 Podium Finishes
Where they are at: 98 podium finishes
What they need to do: Score two podium finishes. Power entered 2023 with a good shot of hitting the century mark in podium finishes. He fell a little short. He should get over that line this year.
Since joining Team Penske, here is how many starts in a season it has taken for Power to reach two podium finishes...
2009 - 4
2010 - 2
2011 - 2
2012 - 3
2013 - 15
2014 - 2
2015 - 5
2016 - 7
2017 - 5
2018 - 5
2019 - 8
2020 - 6
2021 - 9
2022 - 5
2023 - 7
At worst, he will get it in the early summer. Only four drivers have 100 podium finishes (Mario Andretti 144, Scott Dixon 137, A.J. Foyt 119, Michael Andretti 100). Power will make that five in no time.
Team Penske: Tenth 1-2-3 Finish
Where it is at: Nine 1-2-3 finishes
What it needs to do: Score a 1-2-3- finish.
We don't consider team milestones, but this was something is recognized while going over the record book. Penske has nine 1-2-3 finishes. There have only been 13 1-2-3 finishes in IndyCar since 1946. The only other team with multiple 1-2-3 finishes is Andretti Green Racing/Andretti Autosport/Andretti Global with three.
Penske hasn't had a podium sweep since the 2017 season finale at Sonoma.
With Newgarden, Power and Scott McLaughlin, Penske has the trio to do it.
Team Penske: 300 Pole Positions
Where it is at: 298 pole positions
What it needs to do: Win two pole positions!
Team Penske has done a lot in IndyCar, but 300 pole positions would be something. To give you some perspective, Chip Ganassi Racing is the next closest active team in pole positions, and it only has 93.
This is going to happen. It might happen within the first two races. It is staggering and it will likely never be topped.
Álex Palou: Second youngest three-time champion
Where he is at: Two championship prior to turning 27 years old
What he needs to do: Win the championship for starters.
That is easier said than done, perhaps for most drivers, but for Palou, it might be easier to do. He makes it look that way.
Palou turns 27 on April 1. If he wins the championship this season, he will have three titles at 27 years, five months and 14 years old. That would make him the second youngest triple champion. Only Sam Hornish, Jr. would have three titles at a younger age. Hornish, Jr. won his third at 27 years, two months and eight days old.
This is more a case of Palou being born two months too early, and, to be fair, that was be out of his control. He would have three titles before 28 years old. The only other driver to do that was Sébastien Bourdais, who was born a little over four months before Hornish, Jr. and the Champ Car season went two months later in 2006.
Even if Palou doesn't get the record, he is rare company and at the start of an IndyCar career that doesn't appear to be ending any time soon.
Colton Herta: 15 Pole Positions
Where he is at: 11 pole positions
What he needs to do: Win four pole positions.
Fifteen pole positions might not sound like much, but if Herta wins four pole positions, he will become just the 23rd driver to reach 15 pole positions in a career. It would put him level with Tony Kanaan and Juan Pablo Montoya. That would put Herta ahead of Tony Bettenhausen, Tom Sneva, Simon Pagenaud, Parnelli Jones and Rodger Ward. He is already ahead of Dan Gurney, Alex Zanardi, Nigel Mansell, Bryan Herta, Sam Hornish, Jr., Al Unser, Jr., and Ryan Hunter-Reay.
Herta isn't quite on pace to rival Will Power’s all-time record, but Herta is on pace to have 38 pole positions when he reaches 285 starts, Power's current total. That would be good enough for seventh all-time. We are 203 starts from that point in time, but it is something to keep in mind.
Kyle Kirkwood: Third driver with his first three top five finishes being victories
Where he is at: Kirkwood's first two top five finishes were victories
What he needs to do: Have his next top five finish be a victory.
We covered this after the end of last season. Kirkwood put himself in exclusive company last year with his two victories and those two victories being his only top five finishes. He can put himself in another group if his next top five finish is a victory.
The only drivers to have their first three top five finishes be victories are Juan Pablo Montoya and Sébastien Bourdais. Of course, Montoya and Bourdais each did that in their respective rookie seasons. Kirkwood's first two victories came in his sophomore season, and a possible third would come in his third season. It would be a different way to accomplish it.
It should be noted, no driver have had their first four top five finishes all be victories. Kirkwood has a chance to be in a class of his own.
Patricio O'Ward: Most runner-up finishes between race victories
Where he is at: O'Ward has four runner-up finishes since his most recent victory.
What he needs to do: Despite the results, O'Ward's 2023 season likely will not be remembered fondly because of how close he came to victory on a number of occasions but could not get a victory. O'Ward had four runner-up finishes. What is the record for most runner-up finishes between victories? It is a stretch for O'Ward to reach it, but it is ten runner-up finishes.
Tom Sneva had ten runner-up finishes between his victories at Pocono in 1977 and the 1980 Phoenix season finale.
O’Ward is good enough to have six or seven runner-up finishes this season before he wins a race. This is one of those records O'Ward likely does not want, but still remarkable if he achieves it.
Graham Rahal: Most Starts Between Victories
Where he is at: 107 starts without a victory
What he needs to do: Ok... technically, this record cannot be reached until 2025, but if Rahal does not win a race in 2024 he will have gone 124 starts cine his most recent victory.
What is the record for most starts between victories?
124.
Who owns that record?
Graham Rahal! Rahal went 124 races between his first career victory at St. Petersburg in 2008 and his second career victory at Fontana in 2015. If Rahal does not win a race in 2024 and then wins the 2025 season, he will match his own record. If he wins any race beyond the first race of 2025, he will break his own mark.
It is an accomplishment no driver really wants, and yet, if Rahal does accomplish it, the achievement shows resiliency through a trying career that might not have lived up to the hopes of 18 years ago, but is respectable nonetheless. Even if he wins in 2024, Rahal would become the first driver to have ended multiple winless droughts of 100 races or more.
You may not like your place in history but it is a place in history. Embrace it!
Santino Ferrucci: Six Ten Finishes in First Six Indianapolis 500 Starts
Where he is at: Five top ten finishes in five Indianapolis 500 starts
What he needs to do: Finish in the top ten of the Indianapolis 500, but do you know how rare six top ten finishes in the first six Indianapolis 500 starts for a driver is?
IT HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE!
With his third place finish last season, Ferrucci became the third driver to have five top five finishes in his first five Indianapolis 500 starts joining Harry Hartz and Hélio Castroneves.
Ferrucci has had some impressive drives at Indianapolis. He has yet to put a wheel wrong. He has made the most of some mid-pack teams and finished better than expected. However, it should be noted that Hartz and Castroneves both finished 25th in their sixth Indianapolis 500 start. Keep that in mind.
Hélio Castroneves: Oldest Indianapolis 500 Winner
Where he is at: On Indianapolis 500 race day, Castroneves will be 49 years and 16 days old.
What he needs to do: Win the Indianapolis 500, and it will break Al Unser's record of being the oldest "500" winner at the age 47 years, 11 months and 26 days. It would also make Castroneves the third oldest winner in IndyCar history.
The only older winners would be Mario Andretti, who was 53 years, one month and seven days old when Andretti won his final race at Phoenix in 1993, and the oldest winner in IndyCar history is Louis Unser, who was 57 years, five months and 22 days old when he won the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in 1953.
In a return to being a one-off, it is unlikely Castroneves will win at Indianapolis, but we said the same thing in 2021 and what a way would it be to get his fifth?
Fifth Indianapolis 500, victory oldest Indianapolis 500 winner annd oldest IndyCar winner in over 31 years!? What a day that would be.
March Preview
It might not be Super Sebring, but the 12 Hours of Sebring is still the standout event this March, and it has a tough act to follow after last year's race. The #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac took the victory after the top three runners all took each other out in one accident with about 15 minutes remaining. It was Cadillac's third consecutive Sebring victory.
Cadillac has a chance to join Porsche, Ferrari and Audi as the only manufacturers to win overall in at least four consecutive years at Sebring. We are likely going to see the IMSA debut for Lamborghini's GTP program in this race, which was fastest when it completed its homologation test. Acura will be looking for its first Sebring victory. Porsche hasn't won since Penske's upset victory in 2008 with the LMP2 RS Spyder. BMW is going on 25 years since its most recent overall Sebring triumph.
On the driver side, Pipo Derani is going for his fifth Sebring victory, and he would only be the third driver to win Sebring at least five times overall, joining Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello, and Derani is only 30 years old.
Other events of note in March:
Formula One has three races: Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Australia.
MotoGP has two races races: Qatar, Portugal.
Super Formula has an earlier start to its season.
There is the WEC season opener from Qatar.
Daytona Bike Week.
Formula E makes its first visit to Tokyo.
