2025 IndyCar Team Preview: Andretti Global

Twenty-three days are all that remains until IndyCar begins its 2025 season in St. Petersburg, and one team that has a good track record at St. Petersburg is the Andretti Global organization. Ranking second all-time in St. Petersburg victories, a great start in Florida could put the three-car operation in a stellar spot as it looks to get back on top of the series as a whole.

The driver lineup has been retained from 2024, a year where Andretti improved from the previous few seasons. With multiple victories and a driver that finished second in the championship, the promised land appears to be close. There are a few areas where the team can still improve, and if it does, a championship is reasonable, but that last bit is the toughest to get.

At First Glance... Andretti always feels like it is about to make that next step but falls short

Thirteen years flew by. That is how long it has been since the Andretti organization has won a championship. During that interim, the team has swung through the highs and the lows. It was lost in the early days of the manufacturer-specific aero kits but rallied in the early days of the universal aero kit. 

Things started well when the aeroscreen was introduced, but then the team took a two-year dive. In 2024, Andretti climbed up the order, and the introduction of the hybrid did not shock the system. Andretti ended last year on a high note and was respectable across the board. 

Last year wasn't a case where Andretti was only good on street courses but lost on ovals. It won on both. It had a podium finish at Laguna Seca and top five finishes at Mid-Ohio and Portland. Andretti was competitive across the board. There is room to improve, but the team is starting 2025 in a good spot. 

However, good spots have been wasted before. 

The title should have gone to the team in 2018 with Alexander Rossi. One caution in Portland swung everything out of Rossi and Andretti's control and into Scott Dixon's. It was a close call and hopes were high. However, Rossi and Andretti could not re-create that championship push. 

Colton Herta has been the future of IndyCar since 2019. That was only accelerated when he won in his third career start weeks prior to his 19th birthday. Herta went through the rookie hardships, but he worked through those growing pains and ended up third in the championship in his sophomore year. The 2021 season saw a few more growing pains, but he ended that year with two consecutive victories, and it felt like 2022 was due to be Herta and Andretti's year. 

Instead, Herta only won once in the next 45 races, and he could not finish better than tenth in the championship. 

We have been here before. Andretti has made a step, a notable one, it is on the door step, but recent history suggests we are about to enter the stage where Andretti trips. There are no signs it is about to go wrong, but that was the case entering 2015, 2019 and 2022 as well. For years we have been expecting Andretti to return to its former glory and fulfill the "Big Three" narrative in an IndyCar championship that pits it against Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing for 17 races. That hasn't come close to being consistent for most of the last decade.

It is understandable to think this time will be different. Andretti Global has done all the right things. It is entering 2025 with a proven lineup, and there are not question marks. These are three capable drivers, all past winners who could likely do it again, and we saw these three combine to turn Andretti around in 2024. Now, these three must take the team that next step forward, a tricky task to complete. 

2024 Andretti Global Review

Wins: 2 (Toronto, Nashville)

Poles: 4 (Detroit, Iowa, Toronto, Nashville)

Championship Finishes: 2nd (Colton Herta), 7th (Kyle Kirkwood), 15th (Marcus Ericsson), 43rd (Marco Andretti)

Colton Herta - #26 Gainbridge Honda

Numbers to Remember:

305 - Laps led last season, the third-most in IndyCar

11 - Races led last season, the most in IndyCar

10 - Top five finishes last season, Herta's most in a season

What does a championship season look like for him?

Everything that went right in 2024 to go right again in 2025, and those few things that went wrong to be turned around. That goes for the driver and the team.

Herta was 32 points off a championship in 2024. Those 32 points can be found in not spinning out of the Indianapolis 500 while running second. Instead of finishing 23rd, Indianapolis could have been a second-place finish or a sixth-place finish. That is a 21-33 point swing right there.

Instead of finishing 19th at Detroit after being shuffled back in a pit cycle due to a caution and running into the barrier, Herta could be on the right side of that caution or at least be more patient and work his way to seventh or eighth, not as great as it could have been, but not terrible either, and netting him at least 15 more points. 

Instead of finishing 22nd at Milwaukee because the left front tire was not secured on a pit stop, Herta's team could make sure the tire is on and he could finish fifth and pick up 22 more points. 

In three races, Herta left about 58-70 points on the table, more than enough to swing a championship. Minimizing these days where a dozen points or more slip through his fingers can be the deciding factor.

What does a realistic season look like for him?

A championship is realistic. Herta ended up second in the championship last year in a season where I think most would have considered him the fifth-best driver, but his results were unappreciated. 

Herta won twice, both in convincing fashion. He dominated Toronto and his Nashville victory after driving down Patricio O'Ward was stuff of legend. Herta stood on the podium after three of the four street races, and he probably should have won the fourth if it wasn't for the disjoined nature of the Detroit race. His oval form made a big leap and two of his three non-top ten finishes on ovals come down to things out of his control as a driver. Other than maybe finding a little more speed on the natural-terrain road courses, Herta does not need to do much more.

It is highly realistic Herta can win four races, pick up nine podium finishes and have 12 top five finishes with only two results outside the top ten and both those still be top fifteen results. That is more than enough to win a championship in 2025. 

But as we have seen with Herta and the Andretti organization, as plausible it is for him to come out on top, we must remember there is a season where he only finishes on the podium twice, gets six or seven top five finishes, but has four results of 20th or worse, and that drops him down to ninth.

Kyle Kirkwood - #27 Chili's Honda

Numbers to Remember:

8.7059: Average finish last season, the fourth-best in IndyCar

13: Top ten finishes last season, tied for the most with Álex Palou

8: Top ten finishes in Kirkwood's career entering the 2024 season

What does a championship season look like for him?

Being a little bit better than how Kirkwood was in 2024, which was pretty good. Through the first ten races, his worse finish was 11th. He had three top five finishes, but he had no podium results. That is good, but nobody would consider that great. 

It starts with turning some of those fourth and fifth-place finishes into podium results, and likely a victory or two. it is turning those finishes of seventh and tenth into finishes of fourth and sixth.

To start the season, instead of having three consecutive top ten finishes, he has three consecutive top five finishes with one of those being a victory. Another start of nine top ten finishes in the first ten races sees at least two of those results be victories and half of those results be podium finishes. 

Kirkwood's oval form also takes a leap forward. He has the speed to run in the top five and he pulls out at least a victory or two on that disciple as well. Four victories across the spectrum of track disciplines and eight podium results with a dozen top five finishes puts Kirkwood in championship territory. 

What does a realistic season look like for him?

A championship is not an absurd notion for Kirkwood, but it requires a little more convincing than Herta’s case. In 2023, we saw what he can do when the speed is there and he is at the front. He can win races, but on off days, he struggled to breakthrough. In 2024, we saw Kirkwood find better consistency and remain in the top third of the field more, though we did not see him breakthrough for another victory. 

If he can combine 2023 and 2024 in 2025, he has an outside shot at the championship. 

He has already won twice in a single season. Getting another victory would not be a surprise at this point, and it would likely come on a street course, though there are a few road courses that suit him well. His oval form got better last year, and it could take a step this year. It will be the toughest place for him to defeat the competition, but it is an area where he could get more top five results.

As excited as we should be that Andretti Global could have two drivers finish in the top five in the championship, that is something this team has done once since reunification. It is realistic to think Herta and Kirkwood can both pick up at least one victory, both could be on the podium five times and have at least eight top five finishes. It is difficult to believe that is how it will really play out. 

Marcus Ericsson - #28 Bryant Honda

Numbers to Remember:

20.857: Average finish on ovals last season and this is with two top ten finishes on ovals

15.176: Average finish over the entire 2024 season, Ericsson's worst average finish in an IndyCar season

13.294: Average starting position last season, his worst since his rookie season in 2019

What does a championship season look like for him?

It starts with six glorious oval races. Six races where Ericsson is not scoring single-digit point totals and that is the spine of his season. He is in the top ten of all of those races, in the top five in at least two or three and he wins one. The mechanical issues do not bite him either, especially when he is on a top ten run. 

In his first six seasons in IndyCar, we know Ericsson's best is when he is consistent and pick up points when others are throwing them away. He is not the type of driver that is going to win five to six races in a season and go on a tear. It is a methodical accumulation of points, constantly finishing fifth or sixth with those few races where he jumps up the order and steals a handful more. 

To be champion though, those great days must be more than once or twice. 

For Ericsson to be champion, he must find a way to win at least three races. He must be on the podium at least six or seven times. He can still finish fifth or sixth in six or seven races, but however many races he finishes in the middle of the top ten, he must at least match in podium results. 

Any Marcus Ericsson championship season ends with us in awe of his consistency that doesn't look stunning but is rather calculated and it is difficult to beat.

What does a realistic season look like for him?

Better than last year that is for sure.

Some drivers get these snakebitten seasons where a half-dozen races go against them in the same way and it only happens to one driver. Ericsson is not going to have five oval races where he finishes 23rd or worse happen again. He is not going to have a handful of races where he is in an incident early. If you make those five races finishes of 13th, Ericsson scores about 45 more points and he is 11th in the championship. That is just by being squarely in the middle of the field on ovals. Ericsson will be better than that. 

Year two with the Andretti organization will see Ericsson find his legs. Things will click, and the results will get there. The team's pace is where all Ericsson needs is it for to click for him to be competitive. He can find himself in a position to win a race or two and be a regular top ten finisher. 

Andretti Global is setup to have three drivers that finish in the top ten of the championship. All three of these drivers could win a race. It doesn't normally work out that way, but it is realistic. Of the three drivers, Ericsson is the least confident I feel about winning a race, mostly because he has yet to dominate an IndyCar race in his first six seasons. He has four career victories, but he has never led the most laps in a race and only once has he led more than a quarter of the laps in a race. 

Two of Ericsson's victories have come when he has led five laps or fewer and on both occasions the leader had a mechanical issue while Ericsson was in second. 

We know Ericsson can win, but mostly because he has put himself in a position to capitalize on misfortune, not because he has taken control. At some point, he must have a race where it is his and no one can take it away from him. If that doesn’t happen soon, it is fair to wonder if he has that ability to definitively be the man to beat.

Even if he doesn't win, the table is set for him to get four or five top five finishes and a dozen top ten finishes, which should be enough to crack the championship top ten.

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.

IndyCar Wrap-Up: Andretti Global's 2024 Season

We are entering the final stretch of the IndyCar Wrap-Ups, and we move to another race-winning organization, one that saw a shot upward. With a new name and one fewer entry, Andretti Global made a stride back to where it once was. Renewed speed produced more competitive entries. Colton Herta and Kyle Kirkwood each had their best seasons in IndyCar. Marcus Ericsson had some good days but experienced some growing pains at his new home.

Colton Herta

Entering 2024, Herta had not won since May 2022. It had been quite the rough spell for the one that was seen as IndyCar's next great driver. Victory had not been all that close either in 2023. He was more known for letting good results get away from him over the previous year-and-a-half. This season started different, and it was clear this season was not going to be same as the recent past.

What objectively was his best race?
After going more than two years without a victory, Herta won twice in the final six races, a dominate victory from pole position at Toronto and a drive to the front with a late pass for the victory at Nashville Superspeedway, the first oval victory of Herta's career.

What subjectively was his best race?

Toronto should get a mention because Herta led 81 of 85 laps, but the most impressive part of Herta's season was his oval form. He spun in the Indianapolis 500 while running in the top five, but Herta probably should have won one of the Iowa races. If he didn't get caught on pit lane in the first race when Álex Palou spun, he could have won. Herta overcame starting at the back at Gateway to finish fifth. An unsecured tire on his final pit stop cost him in the first Milwaukee race, and he had another great drive forward in the second Milwaukee race.

It felt like Herta should have won an oval race this season, and the fact it came at Nashville, another race where he started in the middle of the field and worked forward, was fitting. It is more incredible when you consider Herta had to run down Patricio O'Ward and then pull off a daring pass while splitting the lapped car of Sting Ray Robb. Sticking to the inside of turn two, Herta was able to carry speed into turn three and pass O'Ward, running away from there to close the season with a victory.

What objectively was his worst race?
Herta was in second when he spun exiting turn one in the Indianapolis 500, leading to a 23rd-place result. It was getting into the final stages of the race, and at that point Herta was running better than he had been all race. 

What subjectively was his worst race?

Indianapolis was crushing, but there was a lot of time left and there is a chance Herta would not have been battling for the lead in the closing laps. Detroit is a race he should have won. He led from pole position and the way the cautions fell shuffled Herta back and put him in a precarious position. It was not long before Herta made an aggressive move on a damp track and wound up in the tires.

Colton Herta's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 2nd (513 points)
Wins: 2
Podiums: 6
Top Fives: 10
Top Tens: 13
Laps Led: 305
Poles: 3
Fast Sixes: 7
Fast Twelves: 8
Average Start: 8.647
Average Finish: 7.4118

Kyle Kirkwood

Coming off a two-win season in his sophomore year, Kirkwood was looking to build upon what was somewhat of a surprising season. Though he won, great results were still limited. This year, Kirkwood took a step forward. Results improved and Kirkwood showed more speed. In three years, Kirkwood has gone from stepping over the edge to living in the top ten.

What objectively was his best race?
Kirkwood was in Herta's shadow for the entire race at Toronto and Kirkwood made it an Andretti Global 1-2 after the two drivers started first and second.

What subjectively was his best race?

Starting on pole position at Nashville, Kirkwood led early but he was caught on pit lane when Felix Rosenqvist suffered a tire puncture and hit the turn two wall. Kirkwood was waved back onto the lead lap immediately, but he went from first to 11th. However, Kirkwood drove forward and ended up finishing fourth in what was an impressive recovery drive.

What objectively was his worst race?
At Gateway, Kirkwood was running high in turn two when he made contact with Conor Daly and Romain Grosjean. This took Kirkwood out of contention for a top ten result or better, and he spent most of the race running 30 laps down. He was classified in 22nd.

What subjectively was his worst race?

Kirkwood lost a top ten result in the second Iowa race spinning to avoid the Alexander Rossi and Sting Ray Robb accident. Kirkwood collected Ed Carpenter in the process. It was the final lap of the race and instead of finishing seventh or eighth, Kirkwood ended up 16th, his worst finish of the season up to that point.

Kyle Kirwood's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 7th (420 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 1
Top Fives: 5
Top Tens: 13
Laps Led: 121
Poles: 1
Fast Sixes: 5
Fast Twelves: 8
Average Start: 10.176
Average Finish: 8.7059

Marcus Ericsson

Coming off a successful four-year stint at Chip Ganassi Racing, Ericsson moved to his third IndyCar team with hopes of repeating his form at a new outfit. It was going to be a challenging ask to step down from Ganassi, an organization that had won three of the previous four championships, and the Swede did experience a few more tougher days than he was accustomed to at his previous team. 

What objectively was his best race?
Though he spent most of the Detroit weekend as the third of the three Andretti cars, Ericsson ended up finishing second after all the cautions and pit strategies shook out. Ericsson had fresher tires and more fuel in the final stint than leader Scott Dixon, but Ericsson could not overtake the New Zealander in the closing laps.

What subjectively was his best race?

At Long Beach, Ericsson basically ran in a position to finish fifth the entire race. It wasn't anything special or spectacular, but after the tough start to the season, he needed a good day and he got it in Long Beach, putting two Andretti Global cars in the top five as Herta ended up finishing second.

What objectively was his worst race?
It is 33rd in the Indianapolis 500. Ericsson survived the Last Row Shootout after he suffered an accident in practice and lost his best car. Starting on the last row, Ericsson was collected when Tom Blomqvist spun. After finishing first and second in the previous two years at Indianapolis, this race was done before he even completed a corner. 

What subjectively was his worst race?

Expanding on Indianapolis, it is the ovals across the board for Ericsson. In seven oval races, Ericsson scored 81 points. That is ten fewer than Nolan Siegel, who did not qualify for the Indianapolis 500, and  only three more than David Malukas, who was not even entered for the Indianapolis 500. The only drivers that ran every oval race that had fewer points than Ericsson were Kyffin Simpson (73), Pietro Fittipaldi (72) and Katherine Legge (61).

It wasn't for a lack of speed. Some of it was poor fortune. Ericsson had the accident at Indianapolis after a trying practice week. He and Josef Newgarden got together while battling inside the top five in the first Milwaukee race. Ericsson brushed the wall on his own at Nashville. He had five finishes outside the top twenty in seven oval starts. That wasn't down to some lack of ability but more unlucky days than anything else, and that happens on ovals. The smallest mistakes can be greater amplified on ovals. That is what we saw for Ericsson in 2024.

Marcus Ericsson's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 15th (297 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 1
Top Fives: 4
Top Tens: 8
Laps Led: 14
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 3
Fast Twelves: 6
Average Start: 13.294
Average Finish: 15.176

An Early Look Ahead

Nothing is changing on the driver front for Andretti Global in 2025. The team found something in 2024. Herta looked like the driver we saw in 2020 and 2021 and who felt like he was inching closer to being a possible champion. Kirkwood picked up his form. Ericsson wasn't as clinical as we have seen, but the program did make a move forward. 

In 2023, the Andretti organization had only three races where it had multiple cars in the top ten. In 2024, that number increased to 12 races. In six of those races, all three cars finished in the top ten. Only once in 2023 did Andretti have three cars in the top ten. Andretti Global had seven races with multiple top five finishers in 2024. That happened only once in 2023. 

The problem with the Andretti organization is it has lacked that year-to-year consistency. It hasn't really pushed for the championship since Alexander Rossi in 2018 and 2019. The team hasn't won more than three races in a season since 2018, which was the most recent season it had multiple cars finish in the top five of the championship. 

Andretti Global has lacked pace over every track discipline. Over the last few seasons, it can be good in one area but weaker in others. At one point, Andretti was the best team on short ovals, but it did not have competitive pace on road and street courses. It was once the team to beat at Indianapolis but it hasn't been in the conversation the last few years. Recently, the team has looked better on street courses but its oval form took a turn. 

This past season felt like the first time in a while Andretti had good oval cars while its street course performances remained strong, but its road course form took a dip. It must find a way to be strong everywhere if it hopes to return to championship form. The drivers are there. Herta is the favorite, but Kirkwood has what it takes as well. Even Ericsson could carry the Andretti flag if called upon. The driver lineup is not a weak point for the organization. 

Considering how this season ended, Andretti Global should remain in the picture for 2025. However, the team ended on an upward trend in 2021 and by the end of 2022, its best driver in the championship was ninth. 

Álex Palou will remain the most consistent driver in IndyCar with an outstanding Chip Ganassi Racing. Team Penske will bounce back after a chaotic 2024. Patricio O'Ward is carrying confidence into next year. Andretti Global does not have its work cutout for itself, but the team ended 2024 heading in the right direction. Herta earned second in the championship through a strong finish to the season with two victories and eight top five finishes in the final ten races. That form is not accidentally. It will take more of that for Andretti Global to usurp the championship from the Penske-Ganassi tandem that has been controlling IndyCar for over a decade. 

Everyone is improving, and Andretti Global must continue working to pick up on where it left off at the end of this season.

2024 IndyCar Team Preview: Andretti Global

We are into the final half of the IndyCar teams as we are now 37 days until the St. Petersburg season opener. We move to Andretti Global, re-branded after 14 seasons as Andretti Autosport. We enter this season 11 seasons removed since the organization's most recent championship. It has been six years since its most recent Indianapolis 500 victory. The team has only won three races or more in one of the last five seasons and in only two of the last eight. This year, Andretti Global has reduced its stable to three full-time cars, which coincidentally is the same number of full-time cars the team ran in its last championship season.

At First Glance... All the pieces are there

Andretti Global will have three drivers with a combined 13 victories, all dating since the start of the 2019 season. The team has a history of winning races and championships. Two of its three drivers finished in the championship top ten last year. The other driver was 11th in the championship.

All the pieces are there for Andretti Global to succeed. Can it breakthrough?

The team has failed to put a car in the championship five in the last two seasons and in six of the last ten seasons. In only one of the previous four seasons has the team had multiple drivers win a race, and Andretti Global has not had multiple drivers win multiple races in a single season since 2018. Prior to that, Andretti hasn't had multiple drivers win multiple races since 2013. The team hasn't had three drivers win in a single season since 2011.

It hasn't been for a lack of talent. Colton Herta, Alexander Rossi, Romain Grosjean, Ryan Hunter-Reay and James Hinchcliffe have all driven for the team during that time. Herta is coming off his first winless season in his full-time IndyCar career. Rossi went winless in two of his final three years with the team. Grosjean never won a race over two seasons. Hunter-Reay went winless in his final three years with the organization. Hinchcliffe's second stint at Andretti will be a long-forgotten season.

Despite the team's woes, it has not failed in drawing in top talent. Herta is coming off his worst season, but he still showed plenty of speed and won multiple pole positions. Kyle Kirkwood won multiple races in his first year with the team after many had questions over his ability from Kirkwood's rough rookie season. Entering the fray will be Marcus Ericsson, a driver that has finished sixth in the championship the last three seasons and who has 50 top ten finishes in 80 career starts. 

One of these drivers should at least be in the conversation for the championship top five, and the team should be good enough to allow one of them to be sniffing a championship outright. Herta was third in the championship only four seasons ago.

Ericsson has the consistency to bring the team back in the conversation. It must be acknowledged Ericsson's consistency did come with Chip Ganassi Racing. Consistency is something Andretti Global has struggled with. Andretti had only seven top five finishes over the entire 2023 season. There were 12 races where Andretti Global did not put a car in the top five, ten races where it only put one car in the top ten, and there were three races where Andretti Global failed to have a top ten finisher. 

However, in qualifying last season, Andretti had four races with multiple top five finishes, multiple top ten starters in ten races and on three occasions the team had three cars starting in the top ten. 

Andretti Global must raise its game across the board. Even with its recent dip in results, the drivers that have been there were more than good enough to achieve quality finishes and all of its drivers should have been higher up the order. The 2024 lineup is not a reset, but it is a chance to re-focus. It has two top-tier young drivers that could be the backbone of the team for a decade plus and it has added a proven race winner who rarely steps over the edge. 

After a few fledging seasons, the Andretti lineup has a new identity simply from one driver change and one team removed from the grid. This is a group that should be quick and not push over the limit. There will be more eyes and more hands looking over these three cars. Combined with the drivers selected, improvement is the minimum for Andretti Global in 2024. The pieces are there for so much more.

2023 Andretti Autosport Review

Wins: 2 (Long Beach, Nashville)

Poles: 5 (St. Petersburg, Long Beach, Barber, Road America, Mid-Ohio)

Championship Finishes: 10th (Colton Herta), 11th (Kyle Kirkwood), 13th (Romain Grosjean), 22nd (Devlin DeFrancesco)

Colton Herta - #26 Gainbridge Honda

Numbers to Remember:

8.8235: Average starting position last season, sixth best in IndyCar

11.471: Average finishing position last season, tenth best in IndyCar

14.2: Career average finish in 25 oval starts

What does a championship season look like for him?

It starts with Andretti Global remaining strong on the street courses and Herta opening the season with an emphatic victory at St. Petersburg. It is followed with another emphatic street course victory at Long Beach, providing a good cushion before moving to the road courses at Barber and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he has top five finishes. He has his best Indianapolis 500 to date, running much of the race in the top ten and again finishes in the top five.

This positive start continues with another street course victory, this time at Detroit, he finishes on the podium at Road America and he makes it nine top five finishes from nine races, including four victories with a smashing Laguna Seca triumph. Halfway through the season and the championship already looks determined. 

In the second half of the season, with firm control on the points, Herta is hitting good finishes. A top ten at Mid-Ohio. There will be an off day in Iowa, but in one of the races he finishes tenth. He is back on the podium in Toronto before heading into the Olympic break. 

Back at Gateway, he finishes ninth, before picking up a fifth victory at Portland. He settles for two top ten finishes in Milwaukee and caps off his season in style with a sixth victory in the Nashville season finale.

What does a realistic season look like for him?

Herta has what it takes to be a champion with multiple race victories. He hasn't been able to put a full season together. He is coming off two bad seasons where he still finished in the top ten of the championship in each. If he has a good season, he will only improve and be pressing for a championship top five finish. 

Andretti finds an area to be deficient in speed. For the last few seasons, really pushing the better part of a decade, it has been short ovals. There aren't many of them, but the only big oval on the schedule is Indianapolis, which means if a team wants to maximize points on ovals, it must do well at Iowa, Gateway and Milwaukee. 

Herta extracting the most out of the car on road and street courses will lift him up the championship. If he can combine it with strong oval performances, he could sneak through and win the title. In a more likely outcome, he will win two or three times, have spats of sluggish results and wind up making the top five of the championship, but still with many areas to target improvement in 2025.

Kyle Kirkwood - #27 AutoNation Honda

Numbers to Remember:

7.1174: Improvement in average finish from 20.1764 in 2022 to 13.059 in 2023

7.7647: Improvement in average starting position from 19.4117 in 2022 to 11.647 in 2023

50: Percent improvement in races finished (ten to 15) and lead lap finishes (five to ten) from 2022 to 2023

What does a championship season look like for him?

Just like Herta's for the most part. Kicking everyone's teeth in with two victories at St. Petersburg and Long Beach, good runs in the next two road course races, and then his best Indianapolis 500 to date where he spends almost the entire race in the top ten before getting a respectable finish. 

After that comes another stellar street course result, a victory in Detroit, good finishes at Road America and Laguna Seca close out June, and a few podium finishes with a victory mixed in over the final four races before the Olympic break setup Kirkwood to be the man to beat entering the final stanza of the season. 

Due to the number of oval races and Andretti's oval record, expectations will be against Kirkwood. He will salvage a top ten at Gateway. He will finish in the top five at Portland. Milwaukee will be two grueling top ten results where any joy expressed afterward is from pure survival of the weekend. At Nashville, with everything at stake, Kirkwood sheds any concerns and pulls out a victory to cement his championship.

What does a realistic season look like for him?

Kirkwood should be in the championship top ten. It was a fluky 2023 season in that he could win twice and miss the top ten in the championship. It isn't that those victories were flukes. He handled the competition in those races, but those were his only top five finishes all season. Those are still the only top five finishes in his career. He likely threw away a top five at Toronto last year, and he could have finished in the top five of the Indianapolis 500 had he avoided the spinning car of Felix Rosenqvist. 

This could be a year where Kirkwood has more top five finishes, fewer victories and finishes four to five spots better in the championship, and that will be embraced as undisputed improvement. There should be fewer races where he is starting in the top ten and then sliding backward. If he can eliminate those races, or at least only drop from sixth to ninth instead of sixth to 14th or go from third to seventh instead of third to 17th, that will be less of a hit to his championship position. 

There is still a world where Kirkwood is the second best Andretti driver when this season is over. He made a big leap from year one to year two. That same kind of jump from year two to year three will be unlikely, but incremental gains are highly probable. 

Marcus Ericsson - #28 Bryant/Delaware Life Honda

Numbers to Remember:

0: Stretches of three races or more without a top ten finish since the start of the 2020 season

4.1818: Average of consecutive top ten finishes since the start of the 2020 season

5: Times lead at least double digit laps in a single race in his IndyCar career

What does a championship season look like for him?

Something similar to what we have seen from Ericsson, only slightly better. Instead of opening the season with eight consecutive top ten finishes with three podium finishes, he opens with eight consecutive top ten finishes, but four podium finishes, two of which are victories, one is the Indianapolis 500, and he has six top five finishes in that eight-race span. 

Instead of having one top five finish in the final eight races, Ericsson has four or five top five finishes in the final half of the season. He wins another race or two. During this span, Ericsson is the clear leader in the Andretti Global trio, finishing best of the bunch in each race. 

Ericsson is getting more out of the car than we have seen at Andretti in recent years. He has strong finishes at Iowa, Gateway and Milwaukee. He is leading the revitalization of the team, and he closes out the season with eight consecutive top ten results, taking the championship with a respectable sixth place finish in Nashville while his other two Andretti teams both make the championship top ten.

What does a realistic season look like for him?

The scary thing about Ericsson is he is coming from being very good at a great team in Chip Ganassi Racing. What will he do at a good team in Andretti Global? 

The results Ericsson achieved in four seasons at Ganassi are the bare minimum at that organization. He won regularly enough not to be fire and he finished consistently well where he was always a threat for the championship even if the results weren't quite good enough. Andretti Global has not proved it is good enough in recent seasons for Ericsson to keep that up at this group. 

He should still have good days. This concern is will he have them at the same frequency. While he has been a regular race winner, Ericsson has never led more than 51 laps in a season. His most laps led in a race is 37. If that is all he could achieve at Chip Ganassi Racing, how can we expect it to be better at Andretti Global?

We cannot. However, we should not expect Ericsson to fall off the face of the planet. Results will remain good, and he should still finish in the championship top ten. He will likely not finish sixth, but falling to eighth with two podium finishes, five top five finishes and 11 top ten results is still a good season. But, if we think Herta and Kirkwood could have it click and contend for a championship, the same is true for Ericsson. 

Ericsson could find himself excelling at a greater rate than even he achieved at Ganassi. Andretti could be the place where he feels more comfortable being a leader, out of the shadow of Scott Dixon and Álex Palou, and it allows Ericsson to thrash the field and wins three or four times a year and pick up personal bests in podium finishes and top five finishes on his way to a title.

The first round of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season will be the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 10. Coverage will begin at noon on NBC and Peacock.

2023 IndyCar Team Preview: Andretti Autosport

There are now 51 days until the NTT IndyCar Series season opener from St. Petersburg, and Andretti Autosport will be looking for an improvement. It has been ten seasons since Andretti Autosport's most recent championship. Its best driver in the 2022 championship was ninth. The team won twice, both on the same circuit. It hasn't won on a oval in over four years.

Once considered one of IndyCar's best three teams, Andretti Autosport looks like just another IndyCar team and doesn't necessarily appear close to returning to the top of the IndyCar mountain. For 2023, three drivers are returning to the Andretti lineup while a sophomore shuffles into the quartet. It will be one of the team's most inexperienced lineups entering an IndyCar season. 

At First Glance... It is difficult to fathom how Andretti Autosport is this uncompetitive but the expectation remain high

When combining an Indianapolis 500 winner and driver who had twice nearly been champion, a driver with six career victories before his 50th career start and a sophomore who had three podium finishes as a rookie joining a championship-winning organization, you would expect it to be one of the most dangerous trios in IndyCar. That was not the case for Andretti Autosport in 2022.

The Alexander Rossi/Colton Herta/Romain Grosjean combination did not take the series by storm, and what could have been a forceful grouping for seasons to come splintered after year one, leaving Herta and Grosjean as Andretti's leading duo. 

It should be much better for Andretti but the team cannot remain on course, both literally and figuratively. It coughed up more races than it won in 2022 and that has been a common theme over the last few seasons. The team won two races last year. The year before that it was Herta carrying the entire organization. In 2020, the team had one victory. 

This is a shell of a championship contender. Herta is responsible for five of Andretti's six victories since the start of 2020. This team used to be three drivers deep and regularly producing a title challenger. Now it is over a decade removed for its last title and it does not look any closer entering the 2023 season than it was when 2022 ended.

Rossi was the best driver in the team last year and ninth in the championship. Herta clung to tenth for his life. Grosjean was fractionally better as a full-time driver than he was running only the road and street courses until sampling Gateway with Dale Coyne Racing in 2021. This is a team that has lost its way, but it is difficult to fathom it will be better. 

On the verge of turning 23 years old, Herta is now expected to be the leader of a team with a driver entering his third IndyCar season and two sophomore drivers who have a combined one top ten finish in their careers. To be fair, Herta has done everything asked of him, but some times he does it with too much weight on his shoulders. He has won in every one of his full-time seasons. He has never finished outside the top ten in the championship. He really needs a team that can support his abilities.

Andretti's greatest sin entering 2023 is it doesn't feel like enough changes have been made to make sure the team is moving in the right direction. Strategy choices cost the team. The team has devolved from oval masters dominating the field to dogs chasing their own tails. When things went wrong for the team it went wrong for all of its entrants. That should not be as frequent as it was for a team of Andretti's magnitude. 

On the surface, it is a championship team. It is a winning team. It is a threat at the Indianapolis 500. It is one of IndyCar's "Big Three." But Andretti Autosport doesn't fit that mold entering 2023. We shouldn't expect more than average out of this group, even if all the pieces tell us otherwise. 

2022 Andretti Autosport Review

Wins: 2 (Grand Prix of Indianapolis, July IMS road course race)

Poles: 3 (Long Beach, Road America, Toronto)

Championship Finishes: 9th (Alexander Rossi), 10th (Colton Herta), 13th (Romain Grosjean), 23rd (Devlin DeFrancesco)

Colton Herta - #26 Gainbridge Honda

Numbers to Remember:

17.8: Average finish in oval races in 2022

1: Top ten finish in the last nine oval races

18.4: Average finish in races following a top five finish in 2022

What does a championship season look like for him?

All the best parts of Colton Herta congealing into what is otherwise a perfect season. It starts with the oval form being respectable, getting the car to the finish and finishing every time in the top ten, mostly in the top five and finally have a good day in the Indianapolis 500. 

On top of his best oval season ever, Herta's blistering street course pace remains and is flawless. Top five starting positions in every street course race leading to regularly street course podium finishes. That pace also carries over to the road courses, and Herta is always making the final round of qualifying and in position for a stellar result. 

Herta would likely need a career best in victories, probably at least four, with somewhere between eight and ten podium finishes, and he could not afford more than two finishes outside the top ten. 

What does a realistic season look like for him?

This championship season is realistic for Herta. It is a dream, but one that is achievable. But history suggests there will be a handful of races where it doesn't work out either because Herta overdrives the car, which could put him in the barrier, or the team gets the strategy wrong, costing him handfuls of positions. A driver can still be champion with those performances, but they must be limited. 

Top ten is the minimum. Herta can pull out a top five championship run, but it must come off the back of regular top five finishes. A championship would mean winning at a greater rate than he has achieved in his IndyCar career. A victory or two will not be enough. 

Kyle Kirkwood - #27 AutoNation Honda

Numbers to Remember:

14: Consecutive starts without a top ten finish entering 2023

14: Races ranked outside the top 20 in the championship in 2022, including after the final eight races

1: Lead lap finish in the final nine races of the 2022 season

What does a championship season look like for him?

Repeating his Road to Indy form. Stunning pace in qualifying, maintaining it through races and being untouchable over 17 events. All the good stuff Kirkwwod did in 2022 must be multiplied by about 30 and all the bad stuff he did erased from the record. There cannot be one mistake, no off-road excursions, no stepping over the limit while running competitively. 

Kirkwood would be leading the way for Andretti Autosport, but likely have at least Herta on his heels. The two would combine to give Andretti Autosport the most victories in the 2023 season, both would likely have a shot at the title entering the finale, but Kirkwood would carry the advantage, likely off the back of a Mid-Ohio triumph which coincided with one of Herta's few bad days, but just enough to give Kirkwood the edge and enough to hold on through Laguna Seca. 

What does a realistic season look like for him?

Better than 2022, but after all the struggles Kirkwood went through, it is difficult to project how much higher he could go. Ahead of the 2022 season, everyone would have pegged Kirkwood to knock down some doors driving for Andretti Autosport. After a woeful year at A.J. Foyt Racing, we are trying to figure who Kirkwood is as a driver. 

Part of the issues was Kirkwood's own aggression. He must rein in his talent. Too many times he threw away races. Hopefully, he has a handle on that in 2023, but I still expect a few races to get away from him. There will be weekends he is in new positions fighting with drivers he didn't know were on the same track as him the year before. That could spook him. That could lead to mistakes. The top fifteen in the championship is the bare minimum with semi-regular top ten finishes and a few top five results. 

Romain Grosjean - #28 DHL Honda

Numbers to Remember:

9: Races without a top five finish to close the 2022 season

2: Races was the longest top five finish drought for Grosjean in the 2021 season driving for Dale Cyne Racing

3: Laps led in 2022

6: Drivers to run at least 70% of the races in 2022 and lead fewer laps than Grosjean (Christian Lundgaard, Hélio Castroneves, Devlin DeFrancesco, Dalton Kellett, Jack Harvey, Simon Pagenaud)

What does a championship season look like for him?

Two victories on the IMS road course, another victory on a street course and significantly improved street course and oval results that see him competing for the best in the Andretti team each time out. There would not be any slumps stretching on for two or three or four races at a time. If there is a bad day, Grosjean immediately responses and has five better finishes to counterbalance the poor result. 

A championship for Grosjean would mean he is the clear leader in the team. He would be the team leader in qualifying. He would be the team leader in races. The laps led total would exceed 200, maybe even push 300. The Frenchman would be one of the leaders if not the leader in podium finishes. Every race he would be in the mix and he would be mentioned on nearly every broadcast. 

What does a realistic season look like for him?

At least taking Alexander Rossi's spot as Andretti Autosport's second driver in the top ten of the championship. He should have more than three top five finishes and he should have a few in the second half of the season. There could still be difficult days, but not for months at a time. 

There wasn't really a race in 2022 where it felt Grosjean should win. He was close at Long Beach, but he really shouldn't have won that one. He should have won the 2021 Grand Prix of Indianapolis. We know Grosjean can hold his own in IndyCar. There is bound to be a race where Grosjean nails it, is one of the quickest through every session and it turns into a triumphant trip to the top step of the podium. He can win, but piecing together 17 races for a championship still feels like a stretch. Somewhere in the top ten, maybe even breathing down Herta's neck is more likely. 

Devlin DeFrancesco - #29 PowerTap Hydrogen Honda

Numbers to Remember:

0: Top ten finishes in 2022

0: Top fifteen finishes in the first 11 races of the 2022 season

3: Top fifteen finishes in the final six races of the 2022 season

0: Times as the top rookie finisher in 2022

What does a championship season look like for him?

A complete reverse of 2022. Instead of starting the season with three consecutive finishes outside the top twenty, 14 consecutive finishes outside the top fifteen and his best finish all season being 12th, it begins with three consecutive podium finishes, 14 consecutive top ten results and his worst finish being 12th. DeFrancesco would be the top Andretti finisher and qualifier at Indianapolis. He would sweep the Iowa doubleheader and win at Toronto for good measure. 

What does a realistic season look like for him?

Marginally better than 2022. DeFrancesco wasn't horrendous last season, but let's not mistake his season for something that needs maturing into beauty. He was the fourth Andretti driver by some distance last year and Andretti Autosport wasn't particularly brilliant. 

But DeFrancesco took steps over his rookie season. He can continuing taking steps forward and have better days, but those don't necessarily mean he will be living in the top ten and leading the charge for Andretti Autosport. He can step into the top twenty in the championship and do it with a few top ten finishes, but not much more than that.  

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.