And we have made it. The final IndyCar team preview comes ten days before the first race commences from St. Petersburg. We end with the team that ended up on top in 2024. Chip Ganassi Racing took its fourth championship in five seasons. It was not the most dominating season for the team, but it was still consistent.
Ganassi's makeup is a bit different this season as the charter agreement limits a team to three entries. Ganassi has contracted back to three cars, but despite being 40% smaller, the organization has not lost any strength.
At First Glance... Why should we expect anything different?
Ganassi has Scott Dixon and Álex Palou. Does it need anything else?
These two drivers have combined to win four of the last five championships and five of the last seven championships. Palou continues to be remarkably consistent. Even in a season where he was not as clean as he was in his near-flawless 2023 season, he still won the championship with comfort. Dixon remains a reliable driver that will not put the car in harm's way nor will he be off his game for long. More times than not, Dixon can take a good car and make it great.
Losing two teammates isn't going to hurt this duo. Kyffin Simpson is taking up space but not hindering these two champions. Dixon and Palou are going to run at the front and be two of the drivers to beat.
We have seen Dixon win championships with one teammate, two teammates and three teammates. He has won championships surrounded by veterans and surrounded by inexperience. Palou won in his second season in IndyCar, his first year with a new organization. He has regularly defeated one of the best drivers in IndyCar history in equal equipment. He had a season where he never finished worse than eighth, and he did not let the introduction of hybrid systems slow him down.
Why should we expect anything different than what we have seen for the last half-decade?
Ganassi is as good as Team Penske on every historic level, Ganassi is only about a 25-year younger team. We are not going to see Chip Ganassi Racing disappear due to some slight change. Everything has remained the same. Chassis, engine, tires, aero regulations, fuel, oxygen levels in the atmosphere. If everything is the same, expect the same result, and that is Chip Ganassi Racing being a force.
Even if Team Penske is rather clinical and ends up winning the championship, it will likely come after an admirable fight from Chip Ganassi Racing where it combines to win at least four or five races and it will still have two drivers in the top five of the championship.
The Ganassi organization has won a race in 20 consecutive seasons. It is a stalwart in IndyCar. The earth is not going to fall out from underneath them. A bad season for Ganassi would be a significantly good season to eight of the other teams in IndyCar.
A championship might go elsewhere, but whoever wins it will have to take it from the Ganassi group.
2024 Chip Ganassi Racing Review
Wins: 4 (Long Beach, Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Detroit, Laguna Seca)
Poles: 3 (Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Laguna Seca, Mid-Ohio)
Championship Finishes: 1st (Álex Palou), 6th (Scott Dixon), 14th (Marcus Armstrong), 16th (Linus Lundqvist), 21st (Kyffin Simpson)
Kyffin Simpson - #8 Journie Rewards Honda
Numbers to Remember:
3: Top fifteen finishes in the first four races last season
2: Top fifteen finishes in the final 13 races last season
4: Top twenty starts last season
What does a championship season look like for him?
There was a running joke over some of these early predictions that the only way the likes of Devlin DeFrancesco or Sting Ray Robb could win the IndyCar championship would be if something catastrophic happened, and it whittled the IndyCar championship down to three cars involving those two and then Kyffin Simpson.
This remains true for Simpson. Simpson can with the championship if it is a three-car championship and being the Chip Ganassi Racing driver is enough to defeat a Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver and a Juncos Hollinger Racing driver.
Let's face it, driving for Ganassi alone should be enough to put Simpson over the top of the other two drivers. Imagine if the entire Ganassi staff was focused on one car? Advantage Simpson in such a scenario.
What does a realistic season look like for him?
It wasn't the worst rookie season from Simpson in 2024. Some of his best results did come from others stumbling around him, but he was putting the car in a spot to finish in the top fifteen. For a good portion of the season, Simpson was not making mistakes and not getting into accidents. He did have a spell where he struggled and went over the limit to his detriment.
Simpson was 21st in the drivers' championship, but his points total was only good enough for 25th in the entrants' championship. With two fewer Ganassi cars in house and a shuffling of crew, Simpson should do a little better, but a little will not look like much.
A top ten finish or two would be a great gain. I don't think those finish will come based on speed. Those will come from misfortune of others while Simpson is having a good day. Cracking the top twenty should be the goal because he is driving for Chip Ganassi Racing and he will definitely have two teammates in the top ten of the championship and likely two teammates in the top five of the championship.
Scott Dixon - #9 PNC Bank Honda
Numbers to Remember:
6: Starts away from the all-time IndyCar record (currently on 402 starts)
297: Career top ten finishes
6,821: Career laps led
What does a championship season look like for him?
Dixon has done it six times. There is no script you can write for a Dixon championship season that does not already exist. Any fantasy you could write does not quite live up to what Dixon has done already. To season dominance, comeback titles and tiebreakers, Dixon has covered pretty much every possible story.
Let's use history then.
In Dixon's six championship seasons, he has done the following...
On average, had his first victory by the fourth race of the season...
Had his first podium finish by the third race of the season...
Won 3.833 races per season...
Stood on the podium 7.667 times...
Finished in the top five 10.333 times...
Finished in the top ten 12.833 times...
Scored 62.696% of the maximum points.
What does a realistic season look like for him?
With Dixon turning 45 years old this season, our attention is keen for any signs of slowing down. It has been anticipated, but every time we think it is near, Dixon flips the switch and shows he still has it.
What has cost Dixon the last few seasons is one or two fluky results that send him down the championship.
Last season, he had the car fail while on the parade laps at Mid-Ohio and then was taken out on lap one at Portland.
His only finish outside the top ten in 2023 was at Long Beach when contact with Patricio O'Ward took him out. In 2022, a pit lane speeding violation on his final pit stop took him from first in the Indianapolis 500 to 21st, his worst finish of the season, and in 2021 at Indianapolis, Dixon ran out of fuel coming to pit lane while leading on his second pit stop and it forced him to lose a lap on pit lane.
We haven't seen the results drop off because the pace has dropped off. Dixon's season comes down to a few bad days. However, we haven't seen him be the force that controls the championship either in five seasons. His is still doing better than most, but he has not consistently been the best the last few seasons.
A victory or two is the minimum. Five or six podium finishes is the minimum. Eight or nine top five finishes is the minimum. That will put Dixon at least sixth in the championship. If he does better than the minimum in any of those categories it will raise his championship position.
Álex Palou - #10 DHL Honda
Numbers to Remember:
5: Drivers with four championships in IndyCar history
3: Drivers who have won three consecutive championships
93.919: Percentage of laps completed in his IndyCar career (10,241/10,904)
What does a championship season look like for him?
In the same vain, Palou has won three championships, half of Dixon's total, but enough to have a read on how Palou pulls out the ultimate prize. Palou has also won three titles in the last four seasons. Not much has changed between 2021 and now. The recipe that worked last year and the year before that and in 2021 will likely work this year as well.
In Palou's three championship seasons, he has...
Taken 3.333 races for his first victory...
Took 1.667 races for his first podium finish...
Won 3.333 races per season...
Stood on the podium 7.667 times...
Finished in the top five 12.333 times...
Finished in the top ten 14 times...
Scored 62.913% of maximum points.
What does a realistic season look like for him?
Palou has won consecutive championships and three titles in four seasons. It is realistic to expect a championship because we need to see someone beat Palou, and no one has been able to consistently do that.
The one championship Palou did not win was the year Will Power started with five consecutive top five finishes, Palou did not win until the season finale, and there was only one repeat winner in the first eight races.
That one slow start appears to be the outlier, and even then it wasn't that slow as Palou had three podium finishes in the first four races that season.
In each of his three championships, Palou won one of the first five races, had at least two podium finishes in the first five races and had at least three top five finishes in the first five races. Last year, Palou opened with five consecutive top five finishes, eight top five finishes in the first nine races, and 13 top five finishes in the first 15 races. If you have 13 top five finishes in the first 15 races, you have had a great season.
Everything is on the table for Palou. This season could be better than last season. He only won twice last year with five podium finishes. Both those totals could double. If that is the case, we will be witnessing a little more IndyCar history.
The 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season opens on Sunday March 2 with the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Fox's coverage of the season opener will begin at noon Eastern Time.
