Is Chip Ganassi Racing the Greatest Team in IndyCar History?

It has likely been a modest championship celebration at the Chip Ganassi Racing shop in the aftermath of Álex Palou clinching his fourth IndyCar championship with two races remaining. Everyone is happy, but there are still two races to go. The focus will be winning those races. A larger celebration can follow in September when there will be at least six full months until the next race. 

While partying responsibly and noting what Palou's title means for the his legacy amongst the greatest drivers of all-time, it has quietly been ignored that this is Chip Ganassi Racing's 17th championship as a team, and that is level with Team Penske for the most all-time. 

For the last 20 or 25 years, we have been comparing Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing. Penske has long been the standard in American open-wheel racing. It has done everything with the utmost attention to detail. It is not only the best team on the track but the best operating team off the track, "Penske Perfect" if you will. 

As we moved deeper into the 21st century, Chip Ganassi Racing started to take the fight to Penske. It soon became clear every championship came down to who would be better, Ganassi or Penske? After all, the two teams have combined to win the last 13 championships and 17 of the last 18. We go into every IndyCar season asking who will be champion, but inside we know it will be one of five or six drivers. 

The records Team Penske had set felt further out of reach. After all, Team Penske has been competing in IndyCar for over 50 years. The numbers are staggering. From race victories to pole positions, they are numbers no other team is truly close to. Most organizations are barely over a decade old. Almost a third of the teams only started competing full-time in IndyCar in the last five years. It is hard to hit triple-figures in some of these categories when your organization has competed in fewer than 100 races. 

Team Penske's mark at the top appeared to be safe for a very long time. Except, it appears, in one category. 

We never really acknowledged Chip Ganassi Racing's success on a historical level. We knew Ganassi was winning championships and head and shoulders above most of the competition. It almost became anticipated that on the stage at the end of the season would be Ganassi with Dario Franchitti or Scott Dixon or now Álex Palou. What we didn't realized was what all these Astor Cup presentations meant. We weren't really counting and until this weekend it went largely unnoticed how close Gannasi was to Penske. 

Now they are equal. 

Not only are they equal, but Ganassi has reached 17 championships in a little over half the time it took Penske to hit that mark. This is only Ganassi's 36th season in IndyCar. That still makes it the third-oldest team (hello, Dale Coyne Racing in second), but that means Ganassi has been winning a championship at a rate of nearly one every other year.

Team Penske's 17th championship came only three years ago in what was the organization's 55th season competing in IndyCar. 

When it comes to championship, not only are the organizations level, but Ganassi is winning them at a much faster rate, and it does not appear likely the Ganassi organization will be slowing down anytime soon. 

Anytime you see a record for most championships matched or surpassed, the question becomes about who is the greatest team. It is easy to look at who has the most champions and declare that is the team that is best. 

Last year, the Boston Celtics surpassed the Los Angeles Lakers for most NBA championships with 18, a swing in the favor for the folks from Bean Town against their long-time, cross-country foes. 

This past May, Liverpool won the Premier League title, its 20th time winning the championship in England's top league, moving it into a tie all-time with Manchester United. Soccer is a little more nuanced as there are the domestic competitions in each country as well as continental competitions, and Liverpool has been the European champions six times, more than any other English club.

American football is a little messy as the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots are tied for the most Super Bowl championships (six), but when you consider the entire 100-plus year history of the NFL, the Green Bay Packers have the most championships (13). Bragging rights exist for both.

Motorsports is different, the same way soccer differs from basketball and both differ from American football. Championships matter, but there are races within championships and those totals matter. Then there are more prestigious races and victories in those carry more weight than 10 or 20 victories in lesser celebrated races, and in some cases those prestigious race victories are seen as greater than a championship. This is the case for multiple disciplines of motorsports, IndyCar include. 

Is Chip Ganassi Racing the greatest team in IndyCar history? 

It is level on championships with Team Penske, but with 17 titles in 36 seasons versus Penske's 17 in 58 seasons, it understandable to give Ganassi the edge in that department. 

The next thing people look at in IndyCar is Indianapolis 500s. Many look at that before championships, but in this context, we look at it second. Team Penske is the all-time leader and by far the all-time leader. Penske has won the race 20 times since its first attempt in 1969, though Penske has only competed in the race 51 times thanks to failing to qualify in 1995 and then the split from 1996 to 2000. 

Ganassi is pretty far off Penske in this case. Ganassi picked up its sixth Indianapolis 500 victory this past May with Palou, it was Ganassi’s 32nd year competing in the race. Even if you account for the almost two-decade difference, Penske is still ahead. Penske had 14 Indianapolis 500 victories in its first 32 Indianapolis 500s. Give a point to Penske. 

What about total race victories? 

Longevity will give Team Penske the edge. It has the most IndyCar victories with 245 after Will Power's triumph at Portland this past weekend. However, Chip Ganassi Racing is likely a little closer than you realize. With nine victories this season, Chip Ganassi Racing is exactly 100 victories behind Team Penske. It has won 145 times, comfortably in second as third is the defunct Newman-Haas Racing on 107. Andretti Global is the next closest on 77. 

When it comes to winning percentage, Penske has won 28.128% of its 871 races contested. Ganassi has won 23.237% of its 624 races contested.

If there is one last thing to consider it is since reunification in 2008, when there was finally one IndyCar series and everyone was back together competing on the same terms. In those 18 seasons, Chip Ganassi Racing has won 12 championship. Team Penske has won five. Andretti Global and Ryan Hunter-Reay are the outlier. 

Since reunification, three different Ganassi drivers have won at least three championships. Scott Dixon has won five, Álex Palou has now won four, including three consecutive, and Dario Franchitti won three consecutive championships. Penske's five titles have come from three different drivers. Josef Newgarden and Will Power each won it twice. Simon Pagenaud won it once. 

Ganassi has now won six of the last eight championships. Penske's last six championships stretch back to 2006. The only stretch that rivals what Ganassi has done is what Penske did almost 50 years ago. It won six championship in seven years over 1977 to 1983, which spanned the USAC-CART split. Penske would win seven of nine championships if you extend that period to 1985, and it would win eight of 12 titles from 1977 to 1988. 

There is a bit of a difference in those time periods, as the championships have changed from oval-heavy series to road/street course-heavy series and teams are now all using the same chassis while Penske was building its own chassis for most of those championship seasons and sometimes competing against three or four or five different chassis manufacturers. 

There doesn't have to be one right answer. The fate of humanity is not relying on us coming to a consensus on what is the greatest team in IndyCar history. It is right to acknowledge how great these two organizations have been, and how each stand out in their own greatness. At this moment, Chip Ganassi Racing has gone on a run that cannot be ignored and has placed itself at the top, which we long assumed would only have one inhabitant for a very long time.

2025 IndyCar Team Preview: Chip Ganassi Racing

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.

IndyCar Wrap-Up: Chip Ganassi Racing's 2024 Season

We close our IndyCar Wrap-Ups with the champions, and for the second consecutive season it is Chip Ganassi Racing. Álex Palou successfully defended his title, and won his third championship in four seasons. For Ganassi, that makes its four titles in five seasons. While running five cars with two rookies and a sophomore didn't produce the most dominant seasons ever seen, Ganassi did not fall behind despite the inexperience. Its veterans still led the team ahead of the rest.

Álex Palou

It was always going to be hard to match his 2023 season, but Palou did not need to finish eighth or better in every race to claim another championship. The consistency remained insurmountable to the rest of the IndyCar field. While the door was left open as we saw Palou was human, no driver could overcome the methodically nature in which Palou wins championships. 

What objectively was his best race?
Palou won twice, the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and at Laguna Seca. He also on the exhibition race at The Thermal Club outside of Palm Springs, California, which paid $500,000 to the winner.

What subjectively was his best race?

Palou drove away with Laguna Seca. The Catalan driver stayed out under the Luca Ghiotto caution, which allowed him to drive flat out from those who did stop on lap 60. Palou opened a gap as others saved, and it allowed him to control a race that was not his in the early stages. He did have to hold on during some late restarts, but this race played into his favor and the competition gifted him one through conservative strategy.

What objectively was his worst race?
In the first Iowa race, Palou spun in the middle of the front straightaway somewhat inexplicably, and he finished 23rd. 

What subjectively was his worst race?

It proved not to be dire to his championship, but the second Milwaukee race could not have resulted in much worse after Palou's car died on the pace laps. With a chance of clinching the title early for a second consecutive season, Palou looked set on making Nashville a formality. When his car was unable to take the green flag, it appeared Palou could be heading to the Music City fighting from behind.

It was only a battery issue, but it still cost him precious laps. However, Palou plugged along and with a high attrition rate, plus Will Power spinning on his own while in the running for at least a podium position, 19th at Milwaukee turned out to be not so bad a result, and Palou maintained a healthy points lead into the finale.

Álex Palou's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 1st (544 points)
Wins: 2
Podiums: 6
Top Fives: 13
Top Tens: 13
Laps Led: 263
Poles: 3
Fast Sixes: 6
Fast Twelves: 7
Average Start: 8.411
Average Finish: 6.5294

Scott Dixon

In the later stages of his IndyCar career, Dixon may have found the one driver that can beat him at his own game. Not entirely of course, as fuel mileage continues to be the New Zealander's specialty, but the sheer unshakability of Palou's form is something we had only seen from Dixon, especially at this rate. As great as he has been, we have known Dixon is human this entire time. He looked more human this year than in others.

What objectively was his best race?
Dixon was the first driver to two victories this season, and they were both street races. He won at Long Beach and Detroit.

What subjectively was his best race?

Long Beach became another race of legend on what is an already long list for Dixon. Stretching his fuel to 34 laps over each of the final two stints, Dixon pulled off a stunning drive from eighth on the grid to win this race despite having Josef Newgarden, Colton Herta and Álex Palou all charging him down in the closing laps. 

Dixon never lost his cool and kept his calculated nature on point, not pushing too much to run out of fuel, but pushing enough to keep the competition at bay. Dixon wasn't the only one to use this strategy, but he finished over 15 seconds ahead of Will Power doing the same thing, and Power was ahead of Dixon after the first round of pit stops.

What objectively was his worst race?
Dixon did not complete a lap at Portland after contact with Pietro Fittipaldi sent Dixon into the barrier on the outside of turn eight. This came after Dixon went off course battling Kyle Kirkwood in turn seven. 

What subjectively was his worst race?

Portland was bad, but Mid-Ohio was worse because Dixon had the foreshadowing electrical issues that we saw trip up Palou at Milwaukee. Dixon's car died on the pace laps and instead of trying to win from 13th in the debut hybrid race, Dixon lost 20 laps and pretty much ran a 40-lap test session to claim 27th. This result signaled the downfall for his season. After six top ten finishes in the first eight races, Dixon would finish outside the top ten in four of the final nine races including two results outside the top 25.

Scott Dixon's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 6th (456 points)
Wins: 2
Podiums: 5
Top Fives: 8
Top Tens: 11
Laps Led: 98
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 2
Fast Twelves: 8
Average Start: 11.352
Average Finish: 9.6471

Marcus Armstrong

The reigning Rookie of the Year was back for something new in 2024: A full season! Armstrong got to run all the ovals in combination with the road and street courses he was familiar with. There were some growing pains as Armstrong had a sophomore slump of sorts. He made mistakes at some unfortunate times, but he showed good pace and kept up with his senior teammates. 

What objectively was his best race?
Armstrong picked up his first career podium finish in Detroit. Running the same strategy as his teammate and fellow countryman Dixon, Armstrong clung to a podium result with a 44-lap stint to close the race. He was able to hold off Kyle Kirkwood, but Armstrong ran out of fuel on the cool down lap. 

What subjectively was his best race?

Detroit deserves strong consideration for being Armstrong's best race, but he also held his own in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis when the two senior Ganassi cars were quick. e started eighth while Palou was on pole position and Dixon was starting sixth. Armstrong ran with Dixon the entire race and both drivers went forward. This ended up being a triple top five day for Ganassi with Palou winning while Dixon was fourth and Armstrong was fifth.

What objectively was his worst race?
Armstrong lost his engine only six laps into the Indianapolis 500. It wasn't even six laps in anger. The caution came out after the first turn accident with Tom Blomqvist, Pietro Fittipaldi and Marcus Ericsson. Armstrong lost his engine on a caution lap, an awful way for his first Indianapolis 500 to end after a lengthy rain delay. With three cars out, at least he was 30th.

What subjectively was his worst race?

Armstrong had two races where he started third this season. In both races, Armstrong ran over the pole-sitter, ending his race before it started and leaving him 26th in the final classification. 

The first one was Road America, where Armstrong punted his teammate Linus Lundqvist from pole position in the opening corner of the race. This didn't end Armstrong's race, but it got him a penalty. The mechanical issues ended his race. The next one was the second Milwaukee race where Armstrong had Lundqvist plow into the back of him when the start was waved off and this sent Armstrong into Josef Newgarden in pole position. 

Milwaukee was less his fault than Road America. Road America was likely worse of the two, but on two occasions it looked like Armstrong was poised to have a great day from a great starting position, and both times, he had trouble before he could complete a corner. 

Marcus Armstrong's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 14th (298 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 1
Top Fives: 4
Top Tens: 8
Laps Led: 4
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 3
Fast Twelves: 8
Average Start: 11.0588
Average Finish: 14.529

Linus Lundqvist

After making his IndyCar debut last year as a substitute, Lundqvist was back for a full season with Chip Ganassi Racing. The Swede had sparks of success, but he also stumbled along the way. For portions of the season, he was rather hidden in the field, but he did have a few standout performances against a splintered rookie class.

What objectively was his best race?
Lundqvist had two third-place finishes this season. The first one was at Barber Motorsports Park and the second one was at Gateway Motorsports Park. Maybe Lundqvist has a thing for "motorsports parks."

What subjectively was his best race?

I give the edge to Barber over Gateway because Gateway saw Lundqvist really benefit from other cars getting knocked out of the race. It was still a good run, but he probably should have been fifth or sixth. At Barber, Lundqvist had to stretch his fuel 34 laps while other quicker cars were around him and there was a late restart. Strategy gave him track position from 19th on the grid, but he pulled it off in a intense environment. 

What objectively was his worst race?
Lundqvist's first Indianapolis 500 ended after 27 laps when his car walked up the track from the inside of a four-wide situation in turn one. Somehow, he did not collect any other cars. Lundqvist did all he could to save it, but he slapped the barrier when he could not keep it straight on the sixth attempt. This placed him 28th.

What subjectively was his worst race?

It might sound harsh because it wasn't his fault, but Road America was a massive disappointment. Lundqvist couldn't control being hit from behind, but for your maiden pole position to be see you spun in the first turn is deflating. Lundqvist did a good job recovering to finish 12th, but there is no silver lining when you are starting on pole position.

Linus Lundqvist's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 16th (179 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 2
Top Fives: 2
Top Tens: 4
Laps Led: 27
Poles: 1
Fast Sixes: 1
Fast Twelves: 2
Average Start: 14.941
Average Finish: 15.353

Kyffin Simpson

Simpson came into the IndyCar season with low expectations after a rather underwhelming two seasons in Indy Lights. His saving grace was the sports car success he had along side his open-wheel form. This was never going to be a year where Simpson was challenging Palou and Dixon for best in the team. He had some bad days, but there more impressive days than complete disasters. 

What objectively was his best race?
Simpson's best result in the record book is 12th at St. Petersburg, which was actually 14th on the road, but improved to 12th after Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin were disqualified for the push-to-pass manipulation that was found over six weeks after the race.

What subjectively was his best race?

There are two contenders here, and both were 14th-place results. 

Barber Motorsports Park, where Simpson drove a smart race and climbed from 23rd to 14th. 

The first Iowa race, where Simpson didn't do much wrong and went from 27th to 14th. 

No one did anything all that impressive at Iowa. It was pretty much came down to smart strategy, good pit stops and not losing ground on restarts. Simpson was ahead of Dixon and Josef Newgarden at Barber. Neither of those drivers had their best days, but they didn't have accidents or broken cars. They were just slow. Simpson wasn't blisteringly quick either, but he was better on this day than two of IndyCar's best.

What objectively was his worst race?
Simpson was spun off course on lap six at Road America after contact with Christian Rasmussen. It was entirely on Rasmussen and Simpson was hard done by such a turn of events. This placed Simpson in 27th.

What subjectively was his worst race?

Simpson did not tear up much equipment this season. Laguna Seca was not good when he spun on his own in turn five and spun into the path of Graham Rahal. This left him in 23rd. He also had a lazy spin on his own at Gateway that left him to finish 25th as well. He slapped the wall in turn eight at Toronto. He didn't make minor errors this season, but he made a few as you would expect any rookie would.

Kyffin Simpson's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 21st (182 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 0
Laps Led: 3
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 1
Average Start: 22.4705
Average Finish: 19.471

An Early Look Ahead

Palou and Dixon will continue, and we found out tw days ago Kyffin Simpson will continue with the team in the #8 Honda.

The third car is irrelevant to the team's success. Palou and Dixon are fine. Considering the form we have seen, we aren't going to see Ganassi fall off. Palou will continue to be a race winner and be running at the front. Even a few off days are not enough to throw Palou off championship pace. Dixon continues to pull out good results, but there are a few worrying signs from Dixon. 

In the final six races, Dixon's best starting position was ninth. He started outside the top fifteen in three of those races. His average starting position of 11.352 was the third-worst in his career. He hasn't started on the front row in 32 consecutive races. Five of his last six victories have been from starting positions outside the top five. Dixon has still been getting good results, but we aren't seeing Dixon as the man to beat on a regular basis. You could make the argument his last five victories have all come down to strategy and not speed. You could say it is six straight when you consider how he won at Nashville in 2022. Dixon is running better than most, but he has been beatable.

It doesn't help when your teammate is Palou. Palou makes everyone look pedestrian. In 2023, Dixon was in the top ten of every race but one. If it wasn't for Palou, Dixon would have controlled that championship. Ganassi still has the best 1-2 punch in IndyCar. 

The charter rules are forcing Ganassi to downsize to three cars. You must wonder what Ganassi could do if it put three serious drivers in its seats. Simpson could improve next year but he was 69 points off 18th. He was 115 points outside the top fifteen and 184 points behind tenth. Simpson only scored 182 points last year. He would need more than double his output to be in the consideration for the top ten. Simpson turned 20 years old last month, but how long a leash does he get considering how far he has to go? Even the richest sons have a limit. 

Armstrong was the best of the rest when it comes to the Ganassi drivers in 2024. He could be capable of winning races, but Ganassi could have hired Alexander Rossi, a past winner. Ganassi could have hired Théo Pourchaire, arguably the best rookie from the 2024 season. Callum Ilott was sitting out there basically the entire year. Ganassi could have done what it was once known for and hire one of the top drivers from Europe not in Formula One. It tested 2022 Formula Two champion Felipe Drugovich at Barber Motorsports Park in September. If you are talking about winners, there are better ones out there, and Ganassi allegedly likes them. 

Even with a weak third driver, Ganassi will remain a top team. It has won four of the last five championships. With Palou and Dixon still in the line up, you cannot write off another one being added in 2025.

2024 IndyCar Team Preview: Chip Ganassi Racing

We have reached the end of our 2024 IndyCar team previews, and with 16 days to spare from the St. Petersburg season opener. The only team that remains is the defending champions. Chip Ganassi Racing is coming off a historic season, one where a Ganassi driver locked up the championship with races in hand for the first time in over 15 years. However, it wasn't just one driver that made a splash for Ganassi. It was a triumvirate that carried Ganassi in 2023, but one of those drivers is gone and the lineup has been shaken up, though the big guns remain.

At First Glance... How does Ganassi follow up 2023?

It wasn't just Álex Palou's championship that Ganassi has to be proud about from 2023. It was a total team beat down in IndyCar. 

Nine victories was the most for Ganassi since 2009. Ganassi had three top ten finishers in every race last season. It had multiple top five finishers in 11 races. The team went 1-2-6 in the championship, and it claimed rookie of the year with a driver that didn't contest any of the oval races. Last year, I wrote that Ganassi was ready to win now, and it did. Ganassi was undoubtedly the best team in 2023 and enters 2024 as the team to beat. 

All of those marks will be tough to match. Everyone will raise their game to try and usurp Ganassi from the top spot. Team Penske will look to continue its oval dominance while improving on road and street courses. Arrow McLaren had about five races it felt it should have won last year, won none, and a number of those went the team of Ganassi. Andretti Global is looking to reclaim former glory and it will do it with a former Ganassi driver. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing looks to build upon what it accomplished in 2023 despite plenty of adversity. 

The road only becomes tougher for Ganassi, and the lineup has changed. Palou is still there. Scott Dixon is still there. The third bullet is gone. Marcus Ericsson has moved to Andretti. Ericsson wasn't some average driver. He had 47 top ten finishes in 64 starts with the team over four seasons. That is 73.4375%. He was sixth in the championship in three consecutive seasons. Oh, and he won an Indianapolis 500. Those are numbers that will be daunting to duplicate. 

Ganassi has hope primarily spread over two drivers. Marcus Armstrong will be full-time after running all the road andstreet course races in 2023. Linus Lundqvist replaces his fellow Swede Ericsson in the #8 Honda after Lundqvist made three starts last season substituting for the injured Simon Pagenaud. These are two drivers that showed promise last season. Filling the absence of Ericsson and trying to keep up with Palou and Dixon will test the ability of both. 

Ganassi will win races. With its top two drivers, it will likely have at least one driver contending for the championship, but this team has taken a significant swing into the youth, especially when you include the 19-year-old Kyffin Simpson in a fifth Ganassi entry. This is a team still looking to win now, but has an eye on the future. 

Considering the changes in the team, it will likely not be as good as last year, but it should still be a competitive season for the Ganassi gang.

2023 Chip Ganassi Racing Review

Wins: 9 (St. Petersburg, Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Detroit, Road America, Mid-Ohio, August IMS road course race, Gateway, Portland, Laguna Seca)

Poles: 2 (Indianapolis 500, Detroit)

Championship Finishes: 1st (Álex Palou), 2nd (Scott Dixon), 6th (Marcus Ericsson), 20th (Marcus Armstrong), 29th (Takuma Sato)

Kyffin Simpson - #4 Journie Rewards Honda

Numbers to Remember:

10.8461: Average finish in 13 Indy Lights starts last year.

17.8461: Average number of starters in the 13 Indy Lights races Simpson ran last year.

3.5714: Average finish in 14 LMP2 starts over IMSA, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series in 2023.

What does a championship season look like for him?

IndyCar falls on major financial hardship that strikes the teams immediately and in a way to raise funds the series switch to LMP2 cars with three-driver pro-am lineups. Simpson has a familiar pair of drivers drafted in and he is able to continue his LMP2 success but this time in IndyCar and takes another championship.

What does a realistic season look like for him?

Of all the drivers competing in IndyCar this season, Simpson has been the hardest to project. 

Based off his Indy Lights results, this shouldn't be a good season. Simpson had a few good races last season, but it was not regular time spent at the front. He went from ninth in the Indy Lights championship in 2022 to tenth in 2023, and he was averaging about a half point fewer per start last season compared to the year before.

However, Simpson has done well in LMP2 competition. It is a multi-driver class, but ELMS is a stout series and all three drivers must be contributing to win. Simpson is also driving for Chip Ganassi Racing. This isn't going to be a cheat code that automatically puts Simpson at the front, but it is a car that is better than over half the grid.

This does feel like too much too soon for Simpson. He is only 19 years old. When you consider how much Sting Ray Robb and Benjamin Pedersen struggled, Simpson will likely race in that territory. However, Ganassi should give him a little more of a boost. It is isn't going to be a difference between eight or ten spots in the championship, but it likely could be worth two to four spots. 

Consider that in Jimmie Johnson's one full IndyCar season he was 21st in the championship with 214 points and he had a fifth and a sixth at Iowa and Texas respectively, and in Johnson's 2022 season when he just ran 12 road/street course race, he scored 201 points, an average of nine points per race with his best finish being 17th. That is the bottom for Simpson to clear. That feels more than likely.

Any top ten finishes will be impressive. He should have a few top fifteen finishes, but there will be days he is firmly in the bottom third of the field.

Linus Lundqvist - #8 American Legion Honda

Numbers to Remember:

9.34375: Average finish for Marcus Ericsson over four seasons in the #8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

8: Lundqvist is one of eight Swedish drivers to start an IndyCar race

50: Percentage of Swedish drivers that have started an IndyCar race to have driven for Chip Ganassi Racing once Lundqvist starts his first race with the team

What does a championship season look like for him? 

Lundqvist starts his season better than any of us expect and he is the top Ganassi finisher in the opening round with a podium result. He follows it up with another race as the top Ganassi finisher and on the podium for a second time. What does he do for his third act? Wins at Barber Motorsports Park directly ahead of Scott Dixon to add insult to injury. 

With this start, Lundqvist finds himself out front and everyone is already chasing him. A pair of top ten finishes in Indianapolis with a tough day in Detroit has everyone thinking all the air has been let out of the balloon, but Lundqvist response with a Road America victory and a podium at Laguna Seca. Another top five finish comes at Mid-Ohio.

He has one bad Iowa race, and one Iowa race like Álex Palou had last year where Lundqvist ends up eighth but that is about four spots better than where he ran the entire race. The Swede takes a top five finish at Toronto to head into the Olympic break on a high note.

When competition resumes, it is a top ten at Gateway with a top five in Portland. He is on the podium in one of the Milwaukee races with at least a top ten in the other. Lundqvist finishes the season with an emphatic victory in Nashville to take an improbable championship.

What does a realistic season look like for him?

Somewhere between sixth and 14th in the championship.

That is a wide net, but that is where Ericsson finished in this car the past three seasons and right around where Marcus Armstrong's average points per start (more on that in a moment) would have placed him in the 2023 championship had Armstrong run all the races. 

In his three cameo appearances last year, Lundqvist had some head-turning runs, even if the results didn't go his way, and that was driving for Meyer Shank Racing, which spent the entire 2023 season lost. He was likely the best driver MSR had last season. Instead of driving a car that was barely able to crack the top fifteen with someone else driving it, Lundqvist is now driving a car that has won in each of the last three seasons and was first and second in the last two Indianapolis 500s. 

A respectable season would be about eight top ten finishes, a couple top five runs and ending up around the top ten in the championship. Performing above expectations should plant him solidly in the top ten, but if he has a handful of rookie days it shouldn't nosedive his championship position. 

Scott Dixon - #9 PNC Bank Honda

Numbers to Remember:

14: Consecutive top ten finishes to close out the 2023 season

4: Consecutive podium finishes to close out the 2023 season, the longest podium streak since the 2019 season finale through the first three races of the 2020 season

5.3529: Average finish in 2023, second best in IndyCar

What does a championship season look like for him?

Dixon has won the championship six times before. He has had a handful of other seasons where he was there and just fell short, last year included. We know what Dixon has to do. In this case, it might be his hardest task yet, beating Álex Palou.

Dixon had one of his best seasons in IndyCar last year, it likely wins the championship nine times out of ten, and yet Palou clinched the championship a race early and the Catalan won the title by 78 points over Dixon. 

There was only one race where Dixon finished outside the top ten. Even with that result, his average finish was better than sixth. If you dropped the 27th from the Grand Prix of Long Beach, Dixon's average finish in the other 16 races is fourth! Palou's average finish for the 2023 season was 3.7059, and, in the sake of fairness, if you dropped Palou's worst result as well, it would be 3.4375. 

Dixon didn't do much wrong last year to lose a championship. Palou did that much more to win it.

What does a realistic season look like for him?

Last year was really a tale of two seasons for Dixon. 

In the first 13 races, he had no victories, two podium finishes, he had led only 13 laps and he had yet to be the best Ganassi finisher in a race. 

In the final four races, he won three times, was on the podium for all four events, and he led 192 laps. 

We entered August really thinking 2023 would be the year Dixon did not win a race. He ended up winning three. It should not surprise us, and yet, for the first five months of the season, Dixon didn't look all that close to victory despite having only one finish worse than seventh. 

A realistic season is something between his first 13 races and his final four races. Good runs with a victory or two spread in-between, but not necessarily being the driver controlling the championship. 

Palou has proven to be Dixon's toughest teammate since Dario Franchitti. Dixon can do everything right and that still not be enough. No one dominates forever, and we must remember Palou almost went winless in his season following his first championship in 2022. Like Dixon, Palou is human. 

In 17 of the last 18 seasons Dixon has ended up in the top five of the championship. I think that is where we start. Dixon will be somewhere in the championship top five. Is it first with three victories, eight podium finishes and over 300 laps led or is it fourth with a victory and four trips to the podium, but two untimely retirements? 

Álex Palou - #10 DHL Honda

Numbers to Remember:

9: Victories in 50 starts with Chip Ganassi Racing

24: Podium finishes in 50 starts with Chip Ganassi Racing

42: Top ten finishes in 50 starts with Chip Ganassi Racing

What does a championship season look like for him?

The man has the blueprint. With his first championship, Palou won early and was frequently on the podium even though he had a few down results. A fortunate caution at Portland after an unfortunate caution in the same race saw him swing from losing the title to controlling his destiny in the final two races. 

With his second championship, Palou strangled the competition. He lived in the top five, won three on the spin and four in five races. His worst finish was eighth and nobody could keep up. 

For three seasons, Palou has been one of the most reliable drivers in IndyCar. He does not drive over the car. He has finished 35 of the last 36 races. His lone retirement is when a teammate drove into him. This might be unfathomable for some of you to accept, but Palou is the number one driver at Ganassi at this moment. He was the rabbit no would could catch last year, and he won his championship earlier than anyone since 2007. If he has done it once, he could do it again.

What does a realistic season look like for him?

In all likelihood, Palou will come back down from earth. That doesn't mean he will not be the driver to beat, but it also doesn't mean he will finish in the top eight of every race again. The Catalan driver has 18 consecutive top ten finishes dating back to 2022. That streak will not last forever. 

He is going to win races, he is going to stand on the podium. In all likelihood, his title defense will go deep into the season, if not all the way to the season finale. Palou has had the upper hand on Dixon for the better part of three seasons. If the first step to winning a championship is beating your teammates, Palou has that covered. 

Outside of the Dixon, none of the other Ganassi drivers are a threat to Palou. When it comes to other teams, there are plenty of drivers that could match Palou, but they will have to be near flawless. Palou is not going to give them much to capitalize on. 

A title is realistic. A half-dozen victories are realistic. Another historic season is not out of the question.

Marcus Armstrong - #11 Ridgeline/Root Insurance Honda

Numbers to Remember:

17.833: Average points per start last season, on pace for 13th in the championship last year

5: Top ten finishes in 2023, more than nine full-time drivers

9: Times as the top rookie finishers in 12 starts

What does a championship season look like for him?

A quiet start with a string of top ten finishes to open the season. Nothing earth-shattering but something respectable, and in a few races he is, unexpectedly, the top Ganassi driver. This good start has everyone impressed, which includes the New Zealander taking Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year, but they aren't considering Armstrong a championship contender through the first third of the season. 

That changes with a victory at Road America, which starts a run of three consecutive podium finishes, ending with a second victory at Mid-Ohio. He has some struggles at Iowa, but he is back on the podium at Toronto. When IndyCar returns from its Olympic break at Gateway, Armstrong pulls out a top ten finish. 

In Portland, Armstrong is on the podium. He gets two top ten finishes in Milwaukee before he caps off the season with a podium finish that puts him just over the line for the championship.

What does a realistic season look like for him?

Armstrong should make a push for the championship top ten. His points pace was in that ballpark last year. His race results were far better than any of the other rookies last year. He had a few other good races get away from him and not necessarily because it was his fault. 

Eight to ten top ten finishes are realistic. Three or four top five finishes are realistic. Armstrong should probably be on the podium at least once and he is with the right team that he could pull out a victory. If the results are on the better end of expectations, Armstrong will be in the top ten of the championship, possibly pushing for the top five and he could fill in sixth in the championship where departed Ganassi driver Marcus Ericsson made a living for the last three years. 

That would be a great season for Armstrong. Anything between eighth and 13th will be a successful year in his first full campaign.

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.

IndyCar Wrap-Up: Chip Ganassi Racing's 2023 Season

The final IndyCar Wrap-Up brings us to the champions. It was only two years removed from its most recent title, but Chip Ganassi Racing not only ended up on top. It had one of its most complete seasons as an organization, and it accomplished it under conflicting circumstances. After legal turmoil over its driver lineup and what appeared to be an inevitable breakup, not only did Ganassi win a championship, it salvaged a relationship. 

Álex Palou

Palou made plenty of news leading into the 2023 season. After not being granted a release to Arrow McLaren, Palou still earned a reserve role for the McLaren Formula One team, and it looked certain he would be moving to McLaren in 2024. With a lame-duck season on paper with Ganassi, Palou shattered all expectations, on and off the track.

What objectively was his best race?
Palou won five races. The first was the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in May. Then Palou won three consecutive times, Detroit, Road America and Mid-Ohio. His victory at Portland clinched him the championship with a race remaining.

What subjectively was his best race?

None of his victories! Yep! Believe it because Palou's best race was the one he probably was the best driver. The Indianapolis 500. Palou was leading and under caution when he came in for a pit stop, Palou looked set to resume the race in the top five, but Rinus VeeKay lost control exiting his pit box, collided with Palou, and damaged the Catalan's car. 

The damage was not excessive, but it cost Palou ground and with the race around halfway done, it was a mighty setback. However, Palou went forward, driving from outside the top twenty to fourth by the time the checkered flag came out.

This could have been a bad race. This could have been a race where all Palou could have scored was a 16th-place finish and we all knew it didn't match his ability on the day. But Palou was launched out of a cannon and ended up getting just outside the mix for the victory. It also was a big swing in points because it could have been many points lost and the championship could have turned against him. Instead, he corrected course and came out on the right side.

What objectively was his worst race?
Palou had two eighth-place finishes. The first was at St. Petersburg where Palou was anonymous, one of the few days where he wasn't toward the front. The other was the first Iowa race. That was actually a little better than where Palou had run most of the race. Unfortunately, Palou was off the lead lap.

What subjectively was his worst race?

Palou didn't have any bad races this season. St. Petersburg gets this spot because it was the only one where he wasn't mentioned at any point. Sometimes not being mentioned can be a good thing. The first race was Palou's worst race of the season. It was all uphill from there.

Álex Palou's 2023 Statistics

Championship Position: 1st (656 points)
Wins: 5
Podiums: 10
Top Fives: 13
Top Tens: 17
Laps Led: 379
Poles: 2
Fast Sixes: 10
Fast Twelves: 12
Average Start: 6.0588
Average Finish: 3.7059

Scott Dixon

While Ganassi was juggling the future of one driver, it had the capable hands of Scott Dixon guiding one of its machines through the season. The veteran faced stiff competition from within the organization, and even on his best day, Dixon was still a distant second in the intra-team battle. It appeared Dixon was set to have one of his worst seasons in a long time during the middle of the summer. Then he did the remarkable.

What objectively was his best race?
Dixon pulled out not one, not two, but three stunning victory in the final four races of the season.

It was a speechless drive to victory in the August race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Dixon qualified 15th. He was spun in turn seven on lap one. He made his first pit stop on lap five. He restarted 23rd. He ran a 27-lap stint and emerged as a top five driver. He ran another 27-lap stint, leap-frogging himself to the lead, and then he drove a methodical 27-lap stint to hold off Graham Rahal. It was staggering, but a performance only fit for Scott Dixon.

That was one thing, but then Dixon did it again two weeks later at Gateway. This time, he committed to a three-stop strategy, breaking the race into 65-lap segments, while everyone else flaked and jumped to a four-stop race. Dixon had to start 16th after taking a nine-spot penalty due to an unapproved engine change. Dixon's consistency allowed him to smash the field, winning by over 22 seconds! 

Twice is one thing, but then Dixon overcame a six-spot grid penalty, contact at the start, a penalty for that contact at the start and an untimely caution to win at Laguna Seca. Dixon ended up in the right spot when the caution came out for contact between Colton Herta and Hélio Castroneves. He inherited the lead and won with relative ease.

What subjectively was his best race?

Did you not just read what I wrote above? Nobody else could have pulled out one of those races and yet Dixon did it three times! If I had to pick one, the IMS road course victory is the most impressive. 

Dixon wasn't the only other driver to stop on lap five. Three other drivers stopped. The next best finisher was Colton Herta in 13th. David Malukas and Romain Grosjean both were outside the top fifteen. Herta and Grosjean aren't slouches. Neither came close to pulling off what Dixon accomplished.

What objectively was his worst race?
Dixon was put in the turn eight tires at Long Beach after contact with Patricio O'Ward. It felt like a 50/50 incident. Dixon wasn't happy with O'Ward afterward. The feeling was understandable.

What subjectively was his worst race?

Long Beach was Dixon's only finish outside the top ten. It isn't something Dixon did. It is really the only race that got away from him.

Scott Dixon's 2023 Statistics

Championship Position: 2nd (578 points)
Wins: 3
Podiums: 6
Top Fives: 11
Top Tens: 16
Laps Led: 205
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 7
Fast Twelves: 11
Average Start: 8.4118
Average Finish: 5.3529

Marcus Ericsson

Often overlooked, Ericsson was ready to emerge as more with Ganassi. Always a reliable driver, Ericsson again showed top-tier form and spent more time in the top ten than most. However, he had a teammate that would not falter, and while the results remained impressive, they were not leading the way for the organization. Add to it, Ericsson was in a contract year and was looking for a pay-raise. The Swede did not quite find what he was looking for when this season was over.

What objectively was his best race?
Ericsson won the season opener at St. Petersburg. It wasn't really a race where Ericsson was the driver to beat. He was running well, competing for a top five result, but the Romain Grosjean-Scott McLaughlin contact gave the Swede two spots for free. Then Patricio O'Ward had a plenum event in his engine cause O'Ward to lose power for a moment off of the final corner, and Ericsson was there to pounce and take the lead with four laps remaining, which the Swede turned into victory.

What subjectively was his best race?

It is not his victory. It is Ericsson's runner-up finish in the Indianapolis 500. Just like 2022, Ericsson stayed in the picture for the first for the first 300 miles and then he made his move to the front. He looked like the strongest car down the stretch. With the cautions and the red flags, it became a disjointed finish, a bit of a mess. Ericsson looked like he was going to steal a second consecutive Indianapolis 500 triumphant. Then he beat himself as much as Josef Newgarden beat him.

What objectively was his worst race?
An opening lap incident with fellow Swede Felix Rosenqvist at Mid-Ohio left Ericsson with a 27th-place finish. Ericsson clipped Rosenqvist in turn six. Ericsson made a bad move to the inside. Not the worst move in the world, but a costly one in this circumstance. 

What subjectively was his worst race?

Mid-Ohio was bad, but Toronto was a race where Ericsson had to make a pit stop on the final lap because he was out of fuel. This cost him a top ten finish. He still finished 11th, but he lost at least four or five spots due to this unscheduled stop.

Marcus Ericsson's 2023 Statistics

Championship Position: 6th (438 points)
Wins: 1
Podiums: 3
Top Fives: 4
Top Tens: 14
Laps Led: 51
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 4
Fast Twelves: 9
Average Start: 10.588
Average Finish: 8.6471

Marcus Armstrong

It was a different season for Chip Ganassi Racing, as it split its fourth car between two drivers. For road and street courses, Ganassi fielded Armstrong, a rookie but veteran from Formula Two that showed good potential but could not shatter the European junior formula scene. The New Zealander found comfort in IndyCar and passed the audition.

What objectively was his best race?
In his first visit to Toronto, Armstrong was seventh. It was not a day where Armstrong did much, but on what can be a tricky circuit, Armstrong did not get flustered and saw the checkered flag without any issues.

What subjectively was his best race?

This is going to sound weird, but it is his 24th at Road America, because Armstrong spent much of the first half of that race in the top five. He looked like a podium contender. Then the team made a questionable decision not to bring Armstrong to the pit lane under caution for the David Malukas incident. It put Armstrong in a weird spot. He led five laps but after his pit stop he got stuck in traffic and was spun off course, which relegated him to 24th.

What objectively was his worst race?
Along with his 24th at Road America, Armstrong was 24th at the August IMS road course race after he was spun on the opening lap off the front wing of his teammate Palou. Armstrong was trapped a lap down and never got back on the lead lap. He was essentially racing to 24th after the opening lap.

What subjectively was his worst race?

Road America. He was a top five car that race. At worst that day should have been a top ten finish. This result wasn't on him. The team took a chance, and it could have worked out, but it didn't quite pan out.

Marcus Armstrong's 2023 Statistics

Championship Position: 20th (214 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 5
Laps Led: 5
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 6
Average Start: 13.333
Average Finish: 13.083

Takuma Sato

While Armstrong focused on the road and street courses, Ganassi drafted Sato to run the ovals in what was the first season without Sato as a full-time competitor since 2009. The veteran was one the team knew could earn results at the oval races, but from day one this was not a guaranteed ride for all five oval events. Though there was a little pressure, Sato saw the season through. There were good days, and there were bad days.

What objectively was his best race?
Sato was seventh in the Indianapolis 500, in a race where he was up in the top ten for a majority of the races.

What subjectively was his best race?

It is Indianapolis. Sato was the fourth best of the Ganassi cars at Indianapolis, but the fourth best Ganassi car was still worthy of a top ten finish. Even if Palou did not get caught in the pit lane incident with Rinus VeeKay, Sato wasn't going to beat Palou. Ericsson and Dixon both rightfully finished ahead of Sato. Sato led two laps. Seventh was an accurate outcome for Sato performance on this day.

What objectively was his worst race?
In his first race of the season, Sato had an accident at Texas and that left him with a 28th-place finish with only 46 laps completed.

What subjectively was his worst race?

It isn't one race, but all of the crashes. Texas was bad. It didn't help that the reports came out Sato was not assured to run all the oval races at the start of that weekend and an accident while in the top third of the field was not a great first outing. It worked out as Sato did run all the oval races, but it was not a promising start, and the rest of the season wasn't much better.

Sato retired from the second Iowa race after brushing the wall, but he spent his entire Gateway race trying to knock down the turn two wall. He hit it twice before knocking himself out of the race when he hit it a third time. He did get to run all the oval races, but retiring from 60% of them due to accidents, all of which can only be laid on his shoulders, is not how Sato wanted this abbreviated season to go.

Takuma Sato's 2023 Statistics

Championship Position: 30th (53 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 2
Laps Led: 3
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 1
Average Start: 11
Average Finish: 19

An Early Look Ahead

Chip Ganassi Racing is coming off its most dominant season ever. 

Nine victories is not the most for this team in a season, but Ganassi had at least three top ten finishers in every race. It had multiple top five finishers in 11 races. It took the top two in the championship for the first time since 2009. It was a season we have seen from Team Penske a few times in recent seasons but now completed with Chip Ganassi Racing.

And off of this historic stranglehold, Ganassi leans into the youth moment and only continues to make his team younger. 

Scott Dixon will still be around, but joining the soon-to-be 27-year-old Álex Palou will be the soon-to-be 25-year-old rookie Linus Lundqvist while the 23-year-old Marcus Armstrong become the full-time driver in the #11 Honda, and Indy Lights driver Kyffin Simpson will join a five-car Ganassi lineup in 2024 at the age of 19 years old. 

Ganassi has moved away from veterans. Three of its drivers have never raced an IndyCar oval race let alone completed a full schedule, but the team is making some wise decisions.

Armstrong was more than ready for full-time this season. Ganassi didn't wait a beat to snag Lundqvist after his cameo appearances with Meyer Shank Racing substituting for an injured Simon Pageanud. Ganassi's goal is to get young, and he has scooped up some pretty good talent. 

It will not remain roses for this team into 2024. Palou will eventually finish outside the top ten. Dixon will not have a fuel conservation run go his way. The three young drivers will all make mistakes. Armstrong and Lundqvist will still have some impressive days, but there will be lessons learned the hard way. Simpson isn't ready for IndyCar, but Ganassi isn't going to turn down a few million dollars. 

This will still be Palou and Dixon's team. Palou dominated but it should not overshadow what Dixon did. Even though his victories came late and came through methodical drives, Dixon had 16 top ten finishes. If it wasn't for Patricio O'Ward, it likely would have been the second 17-for-17 top ten finish season in 2023. Dixon ended the season with five consecutive top five results and he had 11 total top five finishes. In many seasons, three victories, 11 top five finishes and 16 top ten finishes is enough to win a championship. 

We are not completely clear of the contractual conflict. McLaren has sued Palou after all, but Chip Ganassi is firmly behind his driver. It should not provide much distraction, but this will yet again not be a drama-free offseason for Ganassi and its championship driver. However, if the team could win the 2023 championship after everything that happened in 2022 and the expectation this would be the end of the Palou relationship, it should find a way through this predicament. 

2023 IndyCar Team Preview: Chip Ganassi Racing

We are down to 25 days until the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series season opens from St. Petersburg. Back for another IndyCar campaign is Chip Ganassi Racing. The championship-winning organization will have four cars, three returning drivers and two new drivers splitting one entry. It introduces a rookie to North America's premier open-wheel racing series while also keeping a veteran on the grid, though in a reduced role after over a decade as a full-time competitor.

At First Glance... Forget the future, Ganassi is here to win now

Ever since Scott Dixon won his fifth title, I started wondering about Chip Ganassi Racing's future. After the 2018 season, Dixon had won five titles, three in a six-season stretch, and he was on top of the world. But Dixon had been Ganassi's lone bullet for a number of seasons. 

Up to that point in the DW12-era, Ganassi had won 20 races and Dixon was responsible for 17 of those victories. A Ganassi driver not named Scott Dixon had not won a race since the 2014 season finale. Dixon was 38 years old, plenty of years left in the tank, but it was time to start planning for the future. 

Ganassi tried to do that, but it didn't really stick. Ed Jones came in for a season before Felix Rosenqvist joined the team. Rosenqvist won a race in 2020, looked ready to take the torch, but he left for McLaren after only two seasons with Ganassi. At the end of 2020, Dixon had picked up another championship, and the New Zealander's share of Ganassi victories increased to 23 of 27. 

In 2021, it looked like Ganassi had finally found its future. In year one with the organization, Álex Palou won on debut, scored three victories total and took the championship. All appeared set... and then Palou openly rejected Ganassi's announcement to retain the Spaniard for the 2023 season, as Palou hoped to join McLaren in a role that would include a Formula One opportunity.

Lawyers gathered, and ultimately we will see Palou return to Ganassi for the 2023, but it will be likely his final season with the team, and Ganassi's future appears again to be uncertain. 

But forget the future, Ganassi is ready to win now. Scott Dixon won two races last year and again went to the final race with a shot at the title before finishing third. Palou, even after all the tension within the Ganassi camp, still wound up fifth in the champion and won the 2022 season. Marcus Ericsson emerged as a stellar driver and won the Indianapolis 500, leading the championship for the middle chunk of the season before finishing sixth in the championship, only four points behind Palou. 

All three drivers are back and, frankly, they could all blow the doors off the competition in 2023. Dixon is still around, but he is no longer the lone bullet. In the last two seasons, he has accounted for only three of Ganassi's ten victories. Palou leads the way with four and Ericsson is level with three. 

This is the most balanced Ganassi team we have seen since the Dario Franchitti-Dixon partnership. After what could have been a sour divorce, Palou and Ganassi stuck through the 2022 season and ended on a high note. Ericsson keeps proving to be a capable set of hands. Throw in Takuma Sato on the ovals and the team will be four deep in five races. Consider what Palou did in year one with the team and Marcus Armstrong's road/street course focused rookie season could yield eye-catching results that leaves the competition flummoxed about how Ganassi found another gem. 

Any of Ganassi's three full-time drivers could end up as champion. All five drivers could win at some point this season. The future can wait for the moment. Ganassi has his group of winners ready to go. 

2022 Chip Ganassi Racing Review

Wins: 4 (Indianapolis 500, Toronto, Nashville, Laguna Seca)

Poles: 1 (Indianapolis 500)

Championship Finishes: 3rd (Scott Dixn), 5th (Álex Palou), 6th (Marcus Ericsson), 21st (Jimmie Johnson)

Marcus Ericsson - #8 Huski Chocolate Honda

Numbers to Remember:

5: Top five finishes in the first ten races of 2022

0: Top five finishes in the final seven races of 2022

19.047: Percentage of top five finishes in 63 IndyCar starts

What does a championship season look like for him?

Ericsson's 2022 season is the blueprint for a championship. The second half just has to be better. If you told Ericsson he would have the same results through the first ten races of 2023 that he had in 2022, I bet he would take it and bet on himself that he can improve in the final seven races to take the championship.

He led the championship by 35 points through ten races. Give him a do-over and Ericsson probably closes out that championship, but it would require him finishing in the top five and likely doing it at least four times, but probably needing five and at least one more victory, especially now that the Indianapolis 500 will not be double points. 

The strange thing is Ericsson did not driver poorly in the final seven races of the 2022 season. He had four top ten results, two 11th-place results and his worst finish was 14th. It would help to eliminate those non-top ten finishes but it would be helpful if those other oval races were also top five finishes. Change his final stat line to two victories, six podium finishes, 11 top five finishes and 14 top ten results, that could be enough for the championship. 

What does a realistic season look like for him?

Anything in the top ten is realistic, from championship with a half-dozen victories to tenth with underwhelming results. Ericsson has improved in each of his four IndyCar seasons. For most of the last two seasons we have seen a good driver. He won the Indianapolis 500 last year, but he probably only has about three races where he has been an actual threat for victory. Indianapolis is one of them and his other two victories aren't. 

He caught breaks to win at Belle Isle and Nashville in 2021. He was more of a contender at Mid-Ohio in 2021, pushing Josef Newgarden to the wire and coming home in second. Throw in Road America in 2022 and that is about it. We haven't seen Ericsson be a weekly threat yet in his IndyCar career. He has led more than 15 laps in a race only once. He has won three times but we have yet to see him be the man to beat in a race. We haven't had a weekend yet where entering it we have thought hands down Marcus Ericsson is the man to beat. That could happen this year but I am not sure it will be a regular thing. If it isn't a regular thing, at best he will be sixth in the championship for a third consecutive season.

Scott Dixon - #9 PNC Bank Honda

Numbers to Remember:

16: Top five championship finishes in the last 17 seasons

100: Percentage of laps completed in two of the last three seasons

128: Consecutive races ranked in the top ten of the championship. Dixon's last race outside the championship top ten was NOLA Motorsports Park in 2015.

114: Of those 128 races has seen Dixon ranked inside the top five of the championship

What does a championship season look like for him?

We have seen it six times before. Three victories or four victories or maybe five with possibly three on the spin to start the season or even Dixon can wait to win until July and still somehow emphatically take this championship convincing us it was a foregone conclusion. He will need about nine or ten podium finishes but make it look easy in the process, 12 or 13 top five results and top ten finishes in pretty much all the races, maybe he has one bad day all season, but it is still plenty to take home the championship. 

Dixon can win the title any of a number of ways. We know what he can do.

What does a realistic season look like for him?

The last two seasons were kind of uncomfortable to watch for Dixon, not because they were notably bad, but Dixon wasn't the clear lead Ganassi driver for most of that time, and after nearly a decade of counting on Dixon to be the Ganassi guy, it was jarring. He only won once in 2021 and then went over 14 months before he won again. We aren't used to seeing that. We saw Dixon discover his best form in the final half of 2022. He had six top five finishes in the final nine races with his worst result being 12th. He was the best Ganassi driver during that stretch by a long ways. 

Our concern is Dixon is 42 years old. He turns 43 in the middle of this season. Nothing lasts forever, and every driver has a fall off at an older age. A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti, they all had it. Dixon has appeared to be far from a drop off but it can sneak up on the best of them. The guy lives in the top five of the championship. That will remain the expectation, and until seen otherwise, we shouldn't think this is the season he heads in the wrong direction.

Álex Palou - #10 American Legion Honda

Numbers to Remember:

8.444: Average finish in the nine races prior to July 12, 2022

7.5: Average finish in the eight races after July 12, 2022

42.42: Percentage of podium finishes in 33 starts with Chip Ganassi Racing

What does a championship season look like for him?

It looks like Palou being the hardest man to beat in IndyCar. It is him starting strong and never releasing his grip. An early victory, early visits to the podium, another strong Indianapolis 500 and then repeating that throughout the rest of the season. An Indianapolis 500 victory would put Palou on a pedestal that will be daunting for anyone to topple. 

A championship season is going to require three or four victories, spread over ovals, road courses and street courses. Palou is going to be claiming residency in the top five. The bad days will not exist. That mistake isn't going to happen. It will feel inevitable around Nashville that the championship is Palou's. There will be one race that has us second guessing but then Palou responses with four ruthless finishes, no one is able to gain any ground and for the second time in three years, the title is his.

What does a realistic season look like for him?

Considering how Palou finished 2022 after it looked like he possibly ran himself out of a ride midseason, I don't think we are going to see a bad year from Palou, at least not a bad year because of his own ability. He isn't going to mail it in this year. He isn't going to quit on this team even if he will be turning in his ID badge after Laguna Seca. He is going for victories and likely will be a contender until the very end. 

Anything less than that will not be far off, almost identical to his 2022 season, good, much better than most, but not fantastic enough. In two years with Ganassi, Palou hasn't really put a wheel wrong. His worst results have been mechanical failures or being taken out by others. We are not going to see Palou start tripping over himself now. If he has a bad season it is because the rest of the grid nails it. At worst, Palou will be at the back of the top ten, between eighth and tenth, but if he finishes in any of those positions we will still be pointing out how little Palou did wrong.

Marcus Armstrong - #11 Ridgeline Honda

Numbers to Remember:

13: Average championship finish in three Formula Two seasons. Armstrong was 13th in the championship in all three of his seasons

1: Podium finish in 34 Formula Two feature race starts. It was the first feature race in the 2020 season opener at the Red Bull Ring, Armstrong's Formula Two debut

357.6364: Average number of points for IndyCar Rookie of the Year since 2012

29.803: Average number of points Armstrong would need to score per start to reach that 357.6364 point total.

30: Points paid for a fifth-place finish at all IndyCar races. 

What does a championship season look like for him?

This is where it gets tricky because Armstrong is only committed to run the 12 road/street course events. It is probably going to take about 540 points to win the championship. Split that over 12 starts and Armstrong will have to average about 45 points per start. That is basically alternating winning and second-place over his 12 starts. That is asking for a lot for any driver let alone a rookie that has never competed on any of these tracks before. If Armstrong does that, Ganassi will have McLaren poaching another driver from its organization.

What does a realistic season look like for him?

It is a bit of a hazy picture of Armstrong. He was good in Formula Two, but not really great. He never won a feature race, the races where the grid is set via qualifying speed. The sprint races, set via invert of either feature race results or qualifying speeds, are where Armstrong had his success, meaning he was either sixth, seventh or eighth in either the feature or qualifying and, when he was moved to the front, he hung on. 

In the feature races, we didn't see Armstrong regularly competing for podium results, suggesting that raw pace might not be there. His average feature race result in 2022 was 11th. Over 38 Formula Two feature races, his average improves slightly to 10.3421.

Testing results looked good at The Thermal Club. He adjusted well, ending in the top ten regularly and remaining in the ballpark with his mighty teammates. There will still be growing pains, like we saw with Christian Lundgaard. Between the circuits, the alternate compound tires and lack of driving components, there will be races Armstrong starts well but falls off, but there will also be weekends he is on point. 

Romain Grosjean did the road/street course only schedule (sans a late cameo at Gateway) and it got him 15th in the championship with a shot at rookie of the year into the finale. I don't think Armstrong will be that good. Grosjean also had three podium finishes that season. The top twenty in the championship is in play and I cannot rule out Armstrong hitting it on two or three weekends and finding his way into the top five. 

Takuma Sato - #11 Ridgeline Honda

Numbers to Remember:

207: Races started out of the last 208 races (missed the 2020 Texas season opener due to a qualifying accident)

39: Consecutive starts without a podium finish, Sato's longest drought since a 40-race stretch between São Paulo 2013 and Belle Isle II in 2015. It is the second longest podium drought in his IndyCar career

16.0: Average finish in 2022, his worst since averaging 16.0 in 2013

16.2: Average finish on ovals in 2022

14.959: Career average finish on ovals (74 starts)

What does a championship season look like for him?

Near impossible now that the Indianapolis 500 is no longer double points. Sato will only be running the five oval races. If he wins all five, and we still do not know how many points will be available in Indianapolis 500 qualifying (if any extra are awarded in the first place), and lets just say Indianapolis 500 pole position remains 12 points, the most Sato could score is 281 points. That would have only placed Sato in 17th in the championship last year. 

A championship season would mean either Sato becomes a full-time driver at some point during the season or every other driver comes down with a severe illness that prevent those drivers from running more than five races in 2023 and none of them win five times with maximum points each time. 

It is easier to say a championship isn't going to happen for Sato in 2023.

What does a realistic season look like for him?

Considering Sato is a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, many have high expectations for Sato in this role. It is a great team. It just won the Indianapolis 500. Pretty much the entire Ganassi organization was toward the front at Indianapolis last year. Sato is in the right place, but I think we have to take a step back and realize while Sato has won the Indianapolis 500 twice, in 13 Indianapolis 500 starts he has only three top ten finishes. The other was third in 2019. Yes, he nearly won in 2012 while battling Dario Franchitti, but his average finish in the event is 16.6923. We have seen Sato excel at Indianapolis, but we have also seen him be rather anonymous in the famed event more times than not. 

Sato could get strong results and none of it would be surprising. He ended the 2022 oval season with a tenth and a fifth in the second Iowa race and at Gateway respectively. There will be at least one or two races where Sato is around the front. It will not be all five races. There will also be at least one or two races where we forget he is in the field. As for where he ends up in the championship? He will score between 65-85 points. With the number of full-time drivers this season, Sato will be 28th or 29th. Somewhere just inside the top 30. 

The fun battle will be who is the best oval-only driver in 2023, Sato or Ed Carpenter?

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.

IndyCar Wrap-Up: Chip Ganassi Racing's 2022 Season

The penultimate IndyCar Wrap-Up looks at Chip Ganassi Racing. The team had won consecutive championships and was looking to add a third on the spin in 2022. It was a unrevised lineup except for the fourth car no longer being split between two drivers. The team performed at the highest level but had turmoil over its future driver lineup embroil the second half of the season. It was still a good year, but there were plenty of distractions although none appear to have cost the team.

Scott Dixon
The 2022 season started with Dixon in an unfamiliar position: on a slump and not the top dog in the Ganassi pack. A new season didn't spark much of a change either, and we even saw Dixon suffer one of the worst defeats in his IndyCar career on its biggest stage. But Dixon rallied and re-wrote the record book in the process. He showed he had not lost it and regained his rightful spot at the head of the organization. 

What objectively was his best race?
Dixon won two races. His victory in Toronto saw him go level with Mario Andretti on 52 victories. His victory in Nashville saw him ascend to second alone. 

At Toronto, he started second and took the lead from Colton Herta through the first pit cycle. From there, he really went unchallenged. At Nashville, he started 14th, but made his final pit stop before a caution, allowing him to take the lead and he held on for victory.

What subjectively was his best race?

It will be surprising to hear such history does not warrant such acclaim, because neither victory was Dixon's best race. Dixon's best was also his worst race. It was the Indianapolis 500. He started on pole position for the fifth time in the Indianapolis 500 and he led 95 laps ahead of his lap 175 pit stop. It was Dixon's race. He faced pressure all race long but kept holding it off and a second Indianapolis 500 victory was in his hand...

 

What objectively was his worst race?
... until he sped on pit entry and was forced to serve a penalty, relegating him to 21st, the second to last car on the lead lap.

What subjectively was his worst race?

Instead of scoring the maximum 115 points for an Indianapolis 500 victory, 100 for victory plus the 12 points for pole position plus the three bonus points for the most laps led, Dixon wound up scoring 33 points, an 82-point swing. Dixon only lost the championship by 39 points in third. This wasn't Dixon's greatest season. He left a lot of points on the table, mostly in this race. For a driver that had 15 top ten finishes from 17 races, not much can get worse than this, a phenomenal performance with only one mistake but a costly one at that.

Scott Dixon's 2022 Statistics
Championship Position: 3rd (521 points)
Wins: 2
Podiums: 4
Top Fives: 9
Top Tens: 15
Laps Led: 177
Poles: 1
Fast Sixes: 2
Fast Twelves: 7
Average Start: 11.059
Average Finish: 6.7059

Álex Palou
The 2021 champion looked poised to repeat in 2022. It wasn't long until Palou was back on top in the championship and ready to cause problems for the field. However, he ended up causing problems for more than the field and his own team as well as the summer was embroiled in a contract dispute between Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing. The disagreement ended up in court as the season wore on in a delicate situation. The off-track distraction did not carry over to the racetrack, but it will be what the 2022 season is remembered for.

 
What objectively was his best race?
Victory didn't come until the season finale, but Palou won at Laguna Seca in an authoritative fashion, over 30 seconds clear of the rest of the field and he did it from 11th starting position nonetheless.

What subjectively was his best race?

Laguna Seca was an historic victory. It was the largest margin of victory in an IndyCar race since Mark Dismore lapped the field in the 1999 Indy Racing League finale from Texas. It was the largest margin of victory in a race where the field wasn't lapped since Alex Zanardi won at Michigan in July 1997, and Palou won it from 11th. This wasn't a pole-sitter getting clear track and settling sail into the distance. Palou had to pass cars on track and then runaway.

What objectively was his worst race?
Palou and his teammate Marcus Ericsson came together in turn five on lap three at Road America, damaging Palou's suspension and causing him to finish 27th. Palou had qualified third. 

What subjectively was his worst race?

At the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Palou spun on lap six after switching to slick tires when the track was drying out. Though every driver was tiptoeing through the conditions, Palou was the driver to spin after dancing on the damp surface. He was in the grass but was able to pull out of it only to stall on the asphalt between turns ten and 11. This put Palou a lap down and he was trapped a lap down the entire race, ending up 18th at the checkered flag, wasting a front row starting position. 

He also didn't have a great car at Portland and took a gamble on strategy that didn't pay off, ending his championship defense in the Pacific Northwest.

Álex Palou's 2022 Statistics
Championship Position: 5th (510 points)
Wins: 1
Podiums: 6
Top Fives: 6
Top Tens: 13
Laps Led: 173
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 8
Fast Twelves: 11 
Average Start: 8.0588
Average Finish: 8.0

Marcus Ericsson
Back for his third season with Chip Ganassi Racing, Ericsson looked to improve upon his two victories and sixth-place championship finish in 2021. He improved in neither category, but he had a wonderful and memorable season. Being a championship leader for most of the year showed Ericsson is more than capable competing at a high level in IndyCar, though room from improve still exists. 

 
What objectively was his best race?
Ericsson won the Indianapolis 500.

What subjectively was his best race?

Ericsson won the Indianapolis 500. That is enough. In all seriousness, Ericsson looked good in every session on the 2.5-mile oval. He never showed he was the top driver, but Ericsson was always in the background and a threat. When Scott Dixon fell out of picture with his speeding penalty, Ericsson stepped up, drove to the front around the Arrow McLaren SP duo of Patricio O'Ward and Felix Rosenqvist, and Ericsson held off O'Ward in the late restart to take a career-changing victory.

 

What objectively was his worst race?
Ericsson was 22nd at Long Beach after slapping the barrier exiting turn four when in position for a podium result.

What subjectively was his worst race?

Long Beach is really the only bad race Ericsson had all year. The only other negative from his season is he didn't finish good enough to maximize the double points he scored at Indianapolis. After scoring three top five finishes in the first six races, he had only two in the next 11 races. He was a top ten regular but couldn't quite reach that championship level despite leading the championship after six of 17 races.

 

Marcus Ericsson's 2022 Statistics
Championship Position: 6th (506 points)
Wins: 1
Podiums: 3
Top Fives: 5
Top Tens: 11
Laps Led: 37
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 2
Fast Twelves: 8
Average Start: 11.647
Average Finish: 8.0855

Jimmie Johnson

After dipping his toes in the IndyCar waters running all the road and street course races in 2021, Johnson was ready for the full season and the ovals in 2022. Of course, the road and street courses made up majority of the season and Johnson had much room for improvement. There were some better days, but many looked similar to what we saw in 2021. He made notable gains and positive runs on ovals elevated his sophomore season.

 
What objectively was his best race?
Johnson took a fifth-place finish in the second Iowa race. He made some notable passes on the high line of the racetrack and used the top lane better than any driver that weekend at Iowa.

What subjectively was his best race?

The entire Iowa weekend was great for Johnson, but I was more impressed with his drive in the first Iowa race than the second. In the first race, Johnson spun early, avoided the barrier and came back to drive into the top ten and look ready for a top five result, but he didn't have the tire life at the end of the race and faded to 11th. That was not a fair representation of the race he had. 

What objectively was his worst race?
Strangely enough, his worst result was 28th in the Indianapolis 500 after having an accident with seven laps remaining.

What subjectively was his worst race?

The Indianapolis 500 wasn't good, especially when considering how he had done in practice and qualifying. Johnson was a top ten driver in practice, made the Fast 12, started 12th and he lost some spots at the start. The cautions didn't fall his way and his lost more track position. He may have led two laps but that was taking a gamble on strategy and trying to stop as late as possible in the race. Then he has an accident with the finish in sight. 

Johnson had some rough days on the road and street courses, but in the one race we had waited to see him drive the most, he had a bad day.

Jimmie Johnson's 2022 Statistics
Championship Position: 21st (214 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 1
Top Tens: 2
Laps Led: 21
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 1 
Average Start: 21.941
Average Finish: 18.588

An Early Look Ahead

We know Johnson will not return as a full-time driver in 2023. Whether he returns at all is a mystery, but Ganassi would be as good a spot as any for him to run the Indianapolis 500 again if he so pleases, and what Johnson decides to do could decide how Ganassi fills out that fourth car. 

It is a good seat and considering the other three full-time drivers won and they were third, fifth and sixth in the championship, that could fourth car is probably capable of vying for the championship if in the right pair of hands. The problem is does Johnson want to do more than Indianapolis? Does Ganassi have Johnson in a fifth car and drop Tony Kanaan, who just finished third in the Indianapolis 500 in that fifth Ganassi entry? Could we see Johnson complete a 180 and go from road/street course-only driver to full-time driver to oval-only driver in three seasons? If that is the case, then what happens with this car on road/street courses?

I would guess Chip Ganassi would rather have four drivers going for the championship then three with a rotating seat based on track discipline. But Ganassi also once had Sage Karam and Sebastián Saavedra split a seat, so what do I know? 

Regardless of the fourth Ganassi car, we also know it is likely 2023 will be the final season with Palou in the fold. Palou had a contentious situation over his contract for the 2023 season and Palou wanted to move to McLaren while Ganassi exercised the option to retain the driver for 2023. The two sides came to an agreement and Palou will stay, but Palou is a free agent for 2024. He will likely leave the team, and likely head to the Arrow McLaren SP program a year delayed. 

For the discord between a driver and car owner, Palou and Ganassi still performed in the second half of the season. It took a while for Palou to get a victory, but he still put up competitive results when the situation must have been tense considering Ganassi isn't known for his patience and understanding. If the 2022 season could end the way it did for these two, I don't see why 2023 will not be another successful season and possibly a championship push. 

But now we have Ganassi with an open seat and another seat that will likely be open soon. Ericsson should be set with this group. He definitely needs to find that next level but as long as Husky Chocolate doesn't mind sponsoring a car in a country it doesn't do business in, Ericsson should be at Ganassi. Dixon is fine. After a lengthy winless streak, Dixon found his form and turned what was only a good season into a championship contending year. Not many other drivers in IndyCar could do that. 

There is some pause that Dixon could hit such a rough patch again. For two victories and ending up third in the championship, there were plenty of races when Dixon looked like he could do no better than fifth or sixth. Those days were quite regular in 2022. But in one way, it wasn't a case of Dixon topping out in fifth or sixth while Palou and Ericsson were constantly winning races. Those two drivers started well but dropped off in the second half of the season while Dixon ascended above them. 

I think that points to a minor flaw in the Ganassi group. The team went from six victories in 2021 to four in 2022, a good season but still a decline. Team Penske also massive improved from 2021, going from three victories to nine. Things can be two things. Penske stepped forward while Ganassi took a slight step back. It isn't a cause for crisis, but it does show a deficiency that must be address ahead of the 2023 season for the Ganassi group. 

Whatever Ganassi decides to do with that fourth entry could speak volumes for the team's direction for the next three to five seasons. If the team decides to allow Johnson to run the ovals and split it with another driver it could tell us the team isn't worried about the next few years. If Ganassi makes a splashy signing, it could be the group setting the table for the future. Something in-between could be just that, a stop gap for a few seasons and then deciding where to go after that. 

The IndyCar grid is getting more competitive. Team Penske took three of the top four spots in the championship. Arrow McLaren SP is in the verge of constructing a super team with Patricio O'Ward, Felix Rosenqvist, Alexander Rossi and potentially Palou in 2024. It would be wise of Ganassi to stock up in this arms race for talent and not fall behind. That would mean filling that fourth entry with someone impressive now and prepare to do the same in 2024 should Palou leave. 

Ganassi is one of two teams that has won every championship over the last ten seasons. Anything it decides to do with drivers it worth our attention, but this feels like a regular thing where we are entering an offseason and have questions about Ganassi's future. It always seems to work out, but as IndyCar becomes more hotly contested, Ganassi faces possibly taking a big swing to keep its place at the top.