Musings From the Weekend: Is the "Dale Coyne Rule" a Bad Thing?

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...

Formula One returned with a sprint weekend, which saw Max Verstappen winning the sprint race from Austin, but Ferrari went 1-2 in the race with Verstappen taking third over Lando Norris after Norris was given a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits. A tear-off nearly sabotaged a rider's Australian Grand Prix, but it set up one of MotoGP's best battles of the season. The World Rally Championship remains undecided heading to the finale by a single point. A few championships were decided. NASCAR has a finalist. There was some more promotion, and people continued to be easily impressed. However, we will talk about a rule, and whether or not its implication is greatly exaggerated.

Is the "Dale Coyne Rule" a Bad Thing?

There are multiple aspects to IndyCar's new charter agreement with the teams that require some time to analyze. Not everything will come to light immediate, but there are some parts that are apparent and understandable. There are pieces we will not be entirely understandable as well. 

We get the limit of three charters to a team and 25 total charters. We understand the 25 charter entries will compete for the 22 Leader Circle spots, though it isn't clear why the Leader Circle is still around. Everyone can wrap their heads around a 27-car limit to every race outside the Indianapolis 500 with two spots for non-charter entries even if they don't like. 

But there is another part to the charter agreement that should be explored because a majority of people have dismissed its inclusion. Each entry is limited to using three drivers during a season. It has affectionately been called the "Dale Coyne Rule."

The belief is this rule will prevent drivers from getting opportunities in IndyCar in one-off entries. Last year, Dale Coyne Racing ran six drivers in its #51 Honda. DCR's #18 Honda ran four different drivers. Coyne wasn't the only team the ran at least three drivers in one entry. Arrow McLaren had three drivers participate in the #6 Chevrolet while Meyer Shank Racing had three drivers run the #66 Honda and Juncos Hollinger Racing ran three drivers in the #78 Chevrolet.

This was an unusual season for midseason driver changes. Between injuries, lack of sponsorships, death threats and poor performances, IndyCar couldn't keep the same drivers on the grid week-to-week. In 2023, two entries had at least three drivers start a race. In 2022, no entries ran at least three different drivers. Two entries ran three drivers in 2021, but only one of those was a full-time entry. The other was Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's part-time #45 Honda. 

Truth be told, three drivers in one entry is not unheard of, but it is rather uncommon and usually unplanned. Prior to this season, two of the three full-time entries in the previous three seasons to use at least three drivers did it after a driver injury. None of those entries surpassed three drivers. In fact, the last entry to use at least four drivers was Dale Coyne Racing's #18 Honda in 2017 after Sébastien Bourdais fractured his pelvis and hip during Indianapolis 500 qualifying. DCR had James Davison, Esteban Gutiérrez and Tristan Vautier split that seat while Bourdais recovered. 

There had not been a seat shared four ways without a cause of injury since 2016 when, well, you guessed it, Dale Coyne Racing had Luca Filippi, Gabby Chaves, R.C. Enerson and Pippa Mann all drive the #19 Honda.

As you can see, this is a very Dale Coyne Racing specific problem. Five drivers split the teams #18 Honda in 2015 while three drivers split the #19 Honda that year. Five drivers also split the #18 entry in 2013. The last non-Dale Coyne Racing entry to feature at least four different drivers also came in 2013, when Panther Racing had four drivers in the #4 Chevrolet. After J.R. Hildebrand was fired after the Indianapolis 500, Ryan Briscoe and Oriol Servià split the seat, and Carlos Muñoz was a late substitute for the second race of the Toronto doubleheader after Briscoe broke his wrist.

If you want the last time a non-Coyne entry was split four ways with no injuries involved you must go back to 2011 when AFS Racing and Sam Schmidt Motorsports had four drivers run the #17 entry between Raphael Matos, Martin Plowman, Hideki Mutoh and Wade Cunningham. And even that season there was an injury-related driver carousel as Justin Wilson's back injury would lead to five drivers running Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's #22 entry. 

With over a decade of multi-driver entry history in front of you, it is pretty clear it isn't a problem. It isn't a problem except for one team.

To be fair to Dale Coyne Racing, it only occasionally runs three or more drivers in a single entry in a single season. It is the only team to regularly do it, but it ran only two drivers in four of the previous five seasons, and in 2021 it had Romain Grosjean and Pietro Fittipaldi split the #51 Honda with Fittipaldi taking the first three oval races. In 2018, it had Zachary Claman DeMelo and Pietro Fittipaldi splitting the #19 entry and Santino Ferrucci got to run the Belle Isle doubleheader after Fittipaldi was injured in a sports car accident. 

Coyne would have run only two drivers in 2017 if Bourdais had not gotten hurt either. For the better part of the last decade, DCR was focused on its pair of drivers. It had the resources set aside for those drivers to run for the championship. There were no doubts if a driver was going to see out a season. When Dale Coyne Racing tries its hardest, it is a proper team. But it is the only team that will become an open auction on a near weekly basis when that is the best business strategy for the team.

It has kept the lights on at Dale Coyne Racing for 40 years, but in this new era of IndyCar, that strategy is not what is best for the series. 

There is no value in having an entry be a rotating cast of drivers with no ties beyond one race weekend. The grid is not at its strongest when each week there is one car with a driver that has next to no testing in the car and that driver is still learning how to turn the car on. For all the drivers DCR rotated through its lineup in 2024, none of them stepped in and made an impression on IndyCar.

The #51 Honda started outside the top twenty in 15 of 17 races. It didn't crack the top twenty until the 14th race at Portland, which was also Toby Sowery's third race in the car. The #51's best starting position was 18th in the first Milwaukee race, Katherine Legge's fifth race in the car, and four of the drivers that started behind her in that race were serving nine-grid spot penalties for engine changes.

As much as Dale Coyne Racing is praised for the opportunities its gives drivers, this is not the launching pad we make it out to be. Ninety-two drivers have made an IndyCar start for Dale Coyne Racing. Dale Coyne Racing has given 51 drivers their IndyCar debuts. However, of those 51 drivers, 24 of those drivers made fewer than ten career starts. Twenty-five of those drivers only ever drove for Dale Coyne Racing, and 32 of those drivers made majority of their IndyCar starts for DCR. If we expand beyond those that debuted with Coyne, 43 total drivers had majority of their starts come at Coyne.

Only nine DCR debutants reached 50 career starts. Seven DCR debutants only made one IndyCar start. Three seasons with 17 races a year is 51 starts. Basically one in five DCR debutants complete three full seasons in IndyCar. More telling is of the 51 drivers to make their IndyCar debuts with Dale Coyne Racing, only four went on to win an IndyCar race. Paul Tracy, Robbie Buhl, Carlos Huertas with a car that failed post-race inspection for having an illegally large fuel cell in a race that was determined by fuel mileage, and Álex Palou. 

Dale Coyne does deserve credit because he has given some good drivers opportunities, but he doesn't have the Midas touch. There is not a trail of champions that starts at Dale Coyne Racing. There have been some nice stories. When this team tries, it can be competitive, as we have seen with Bourdais and Justin Wilson. Mike Conway stepped in and immediately won a race. Coyne is responsible for Mauro Baldi's only IndyCar start when Baldi was fresh off winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1994. He gave André Lotterer his only IndyCar start years before Lotterer became a sports car ace. The problem is most of these drivers are not flipping into IndyCar stars. These are opportunities that rarely lead to anywhere. 

Take the four drivers that split DCR's #19 Honda in 2016. For Luca Filippi, those were his final starts in IndyCar, and Filippi only made 23 starts in his career. Gabby Chaves would get another chance at Harding Racing, but he would be booted in the middle of 2018 after being the darling in 2017 for the upstart team. R.C. Enerson made his IndyCar debut and ran well, finishing ninth in his second career start, but Enerson would go nearly three years until his next shot in IndyCar. Pippa Mann attempted the Indianapolis 500 three more times after that season. 

Of the five drivers that ran the #18 Honda in 2015, for two of those drivers, it was their final IndyCar starts. One of those drivers was Huertas. The other was Rodolfo González. Did any of you honestly remember Rodolfo González made six starts in 2015?

The "Dale Coyne Rule" is being viewed as a negative because it will limit opportunities, but I would argue it protects drivers and gives them more than a lose-lose one-off. It provides a driver more leverage to negotiate for more races than to live on a race-by-race deal where it could come down to whether or not another driver shows up with more money. It also incentivizes a team to invest in a driver and give him or her testing time to make sure he or she is best prepared for making a race appearance. 

Once a driver is in the car, he or she is one of the three options for the entire season. If that entry has two more drivers rotate through in the following two races, that team is tied to those three drivers. No one else can come in. There is no longer the possibility of 17 drivers for 17 races. Those three are only competing against one another for seat time and those drivers could end up getting more than if it was open to every driver under the sun. 

Five drivers were able to make their IndyCar debuts this year with Dale Coyne Racing, but were any of those drivers given the best opportunities to thrive in IndyCar? Colin Braun was given the opening weekend almost as a case of charity for one of the most under-appreciated talents of the last two decades. Coyne made no serious investment in Braun adjusting to open-wheel racing after two decades out of open-wheel racing. Hunter McElrea was given one race and who knows if McElrea would have gotten that if Jack Harvey had been healthy. Luca Ghiotto received no favors coming in completely blind. Toby Sowery was Coyne's star of the season, but even after his impressive runs, all he got was three races, and we aren't sure if anyone will call Sowery for a serious chance in 2025. 

It would be better for the drivers to get more of an opportunity than a one-off or living by whether or not Coyne calls them back between races. That strategy is not putting the best drivers on the grid. For the best of IndyCar, its teams should take a genuine interest in the talent on track. That means investing in the talent and making sure a driver has tested and is aware of the car before racing. That effort is a good thing for IndyCar. If a team must split an entry, it should be maximizing getting drivers that can do the best over seven or eight races. That is a greater opportunity for a driver than a one-off with no testing time.

A counterpoint to this will be, "Well, if Dale Coyne isn't getting the deal he wants, he will just go to the highest bidder even if it is worse talent." Coyne just might do that, but when has any entry in IndyCar that has seen four or five or six drivers rotate through been all that competitive? We have never seen an "all-star car" in IndyCar that has four different drivers in it over four consecutive races wind up finishing in the top ten once let alone all four times. That car is going to be finishing 18th or worse if it a driver who scraped together every penny he or she could find for a one-off at Mid-Ohio or some son of a billionaire who bought a full-time ride after not finishing better than 15th in Formula Two. 

Even if Coyne takes the paycheck, we know those deals don't last long, and with how the Leader Circle works, there is an incentive to at least hire a driver who can compete for the top 22. It isn't transformational wealth, but that money does make a difference for an organization. 

Not much is lost with the "Dale Coyne Rule." Teams don't run more than three drivers in an entry on a regular basis anyway. If it has happened, it is usually due to an injury. Very few drivers would lose out due to this rule, but drivers are more likely gain with such provisions. This rule makes it more likely a driver will get more than just one race. A team cannot wait and see who will bring the most money before each race. There is a limit. Once a team runs three drivers in an entry, those three drivers have an available seat for the remainder of a season. They have negotiating power they have never previously had. 

With the Leader Circle spots still limited to 22 entries, it incentivizes teams to be wise when hiring drivers and do their best to hire the best drivers available. A team has only have two mulligans in the hiring process. 

There is no point in hating this change because it is different from previous ways of operation. History shows nothing serious will be lost. A few drivers might not make one start in an IndyCar season or career, but we are not losing race winners. We are not losing drivers competing for top ten results. If the talent is there, one of the other ten teams in IndyCar will hire that driver. The grid is not weaker because of such a rule. This change should only strengthen IndyCar even if we don't get to see the likes of Colin Braun make one IndyCar start every four or five seasons. 

Teams will be forced to carefully consider their hiring decisions. It will require more than a check clearing on a Tuesday morning.

Champions From the Weekend

The #14 AO by TF Oreca of Louis Delétraz, Jonny Edger and Robert Kubica clinched the European Le Mans Series LMP2 championship with a runner-up finish at Portimão.

The #15 RLR MSport Ligier-Nissan of Nick Adcock, Michael Jensen and Gaël Julien clinched the ELMS LMP3 championship with a runner-up finish.

The #63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini of Andrea Caldarelli, Hiroshi Hamaguchi and Axcil Jefferies clinched the ELMS LMGT3 championship with a victory.

Mikro Bortolotti clinched the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters championship with finishes of fifth and second form Hockenheim.

Toprak Razgatlioglu clinched the World Superbike championship with a second-place finish in the first race from Jerez.

Adrián Huertas clinched the World Supersport championship.

Winners From the Weekend

You know about United States Grand Prix, but did you know...

Marc Márquez won MotoGP's Australian Grand Prix, his third victory of the season. Jorge Martín won the sprint race. Fermín Aldeguer won the Moto2 race, his third victory of the season. David Alonso won the Moto3 race, his 11th victory of the season.

Nicolò Bulega (race one and SuperPole race) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (race two) split the World Superbike races from Jerez. Stefano Manzi swept the World Supersport races.

Kelvin van der Linde and Luca Engstler split the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters races from Hockenheim.

The #37 COOL Racing Oreca-Gibson of Lorenzo Fluxá, Malthe Jakobsen and Ritomo Miyata won the 4 Hours of Portimão. The #17 COOL Racing Ligier-Nissan of Miguel Cristóvão and Manuel Espírito Santo won in LMP3.

Joey Logano won the NASCAR Cup race from Las Vegas, his third victory of the season. A.J. Allmendinger won the Grand National Series race, his first victory of the season. 

The #39 TGR Team SARD Toyota of Yuhi Sekiguchi and Yuichi Nakayama won the Super GT race from Autopolis. The #88 JLOC Lamborghini of Takashi Kogure and Yuya Motojima won in GT300.

Ott Tänak won the Central European Rally, his second victory of the season.

Coming Up This Weekend

Formula One remains busy in Mexico. 

MotoGP remains busy in Thailand.

NASCAR rolls into Homestead. 

Supercars are at Surfers Paradise.

IndyCar Wrap-Up: A.J. Foyt Racing's 2024 Season

We have moved into the final half of our IndyCar Wrap-Ups and we are starting to click off the drivers that finished in the top ten of the championship. Little did we expect to wait this long to get to A.J. Foyt Racing, but the team had its best season in a long time. Victory did not occur, but for the first time in 22 years, the team had a driver finish in the top ten of the championship. Results were a little one-sided in this organization, but the first year of the Team Penske technical partnership yielded great fruit.

Santino Ferrucci

Year two with A.J. Foyt Racing could not have gone much better for Ferrucci. After a year where he was third in the Indianapolis 500 but that was his only top ten finish in the entire 2023 season, Ferrucci became a regular top ten finisher in 2024. He showed pace at many different circuits with ovals still being his comfort zone. He wasn't closer to victory, but he was more competitive across the board.

What objectively was his best race?
Ferrucci's only two top five finishes were both fourth place finishes and both were at Milwaukee. In the first race, Ferrucci went from 19th to fourth and was making up five to six spots on every restart. In the second race, he went from 12th to fourth, again making aggressive passes all over the place.

What subjectively was his best race?

It is probably the first Milwaukee race, but the second one also deserves a mention. In both races, he kept taking the outside and flying pass other cars. Barber Motorsports Park also deserves a mention because Ferrucci went off strategy at that race and ran a three-stop strategy. It saw him lead 14 laps and he finished seventh in a race where if he ran a two-stop strategy he likely finishes 15th at best. 

What objectively was his worst race?
At the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Ferrucci was 27th, retiring after completing only 55 laps after he damaged his own car when running Romain Grosjean of the road. Ferrucci's aggressive was his own downfall in this race.

What subjectively was his worst race?

It is the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, but some of the antics carried over the entire season. In the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, it was pretty deliberate the driving he did to Grosjean, and this was after the two had a run-in during practice. It was a theme this season where Ferrucci was stepping on toes in practice and unnecessarily so. He ended up having a good season, but there were still things where Ferrucci could work on. 

Santino Ferrucci's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 9th (367 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 2
Top Tens: 11
Laps Led: 21
Poles: 1
Fast Sixes: 2
Fast Twelves: 3
Average Start: 14.764
Average Finish: 10.941

Sting Ray Robb

Expectations were not that high for Robb's sophomore season. After failing to score a top ten finish and never starting inside the top twenty as a rookie for Dale Coyne Racing, minimal gains were expected. Robb had some rough days and repeated many of his 2023 performances, but he did make strides in other areas, though was still well off his Foyt teammate.

What objectively was his best race?
Robb got his first career top ten finish at Gateway Motorsports Park. He was ninth after starting 24th, and his first career top ten finish came in the 30th start of his career.

What subjectively was his best race?

It is Gateway, though this ninth-place finish wasn't all due to a phenomenal drive from Robb. Robb benefitted from the misfortune of others. Patricio O'Ward lost his engine early. Marcus Ericsson had mechanical problems. Kyle Kirkwood had damage after contact with Conor Daly and Romain Grosjean. David Malukas, Will Power, Alexander Rossi and Jack Harvey all were caught in accidents. Robb probably should have finished 15th or 16th but he kept his nose clean.

Robb's Indianapolis 500 should also get a mention because he finished 16th, but he went off-strategy early in an attempt to pull off some unthinkable strategy to leap ahead of the front runners. It put him in the lead and at the front for a bit, where he held his own, but as the race played out, he settled into the middle of the field.

What objectively was his worst race?
Robb had an accident at Barber Motorsports Park leave him 26th.

What subjectively was his worst race?

Top ten finish aside, this year was a slight improvement from 2023 from Robb, and he didn't have many horrible days. Barber is probably his worst race in terms of on-track performance, but he didn't have many other races where he made notable mistakes. He did have two spins in the second Milwaukee race. 

Sting Ray Robb's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 20th (185 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 1
Laps Led: 31
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 0
Average Start: 23.882
Average Finish: 19.176

An Early Look Ahead

There will be a slight change in the Foyt line in 2025, as Ferrucci will stay but David Malukas will join the organization and take over the #41 Chevrolet from Robb. 

Expectations are high and might have unreasonably shot through the roof. 

Ferrucci had a great season by Foyt's standards. He set a personal-best for top ten finishes in a season. He won a pole position at Portland. He finished better than his starting position in 13 of 17 races. He did something no Foyt driver had done since 2002, finishing in the top ten of the championship. Foyt hasn't had the greatest list of drivers ever, but it has had some good names. None of Vitor Meira, Mike Conway, Takuma Sato, Tony Kanaan nor Sébastien Bourdais could do it. Ferrucci did.

It appears the alliance with Team Penske has benefitted A.J. Foyt Racing, but every other team will be making improvements into 2025. Chip Ganassi Racing will focus in on its three cars after spreading resources over five teams. Andretti Global is coming off its best season in a few years, and Marcus Ericsson is bound to rebound. Meyer Shank Racing is now in cahoots with Ganassi and that lineup has only gotten better with Marcus Armstrong joining Felix Rosenqvist. Arrow McLaren added Christian Lundgaard. Alexander Rossi moved to Ed Carpenter Racing. 

It will take a lot of work just to get back to ninth in 2025 for Ferrucci and Foyt. Let's not forget Lundgaard was eighth in 2023, was the surprise of that season, and then he and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing came back down to earth in 2024. It was not a disastrous season for Lundgaard and RLLR, but it wasn't as good as the year before.

We do not have a long track record of sustained success for Foyt. Prior to 2024, Foyt had gone four consecutive years without a driver finishing in the top fifteen in the championship. Ferrucci was only the third Foyt driver since 2012 to finish in the top fifteen in the championship, and that isn't including 2013, the most recent year a Foyt driver won a race and was leading the championship entering the Indianapolis 500 with Sato. 

Excitement is understandable, but history tells us to settle down. 

Even with Malukas coming in, we should adjust emotions accordingly. For all the buzz Malukas has generated in three seasons in IndyCar, his results haven't been as flawless as they have been made out to be. 

Malukas might have been on the path to a podium finish at Gateway, but his average points per start this year was only 14.8. That would have put him 18th in the championship, practically level with Graham Rahal. It actually down from Malukas' first two seasons when he averaged 17.941 points and 15.588 points per start. 

Head-to-head with Felix Rosenqvist over the final ten races of 2024 with Meyer Shank Racing, Rosenqvist beat Malukas 6-4 in races and 7-3 in qualifying. They were nearly identical in average finish with Rosenqvist having the slight edge at 15.8 to Malukas' 16th. Malukas did have the edge in qualifying at 8.7 to Rosenqvist's 8.9. 

There were positive signs from Malukas, but in three seasons his entire career is built upon three Gateway races. That should not make up for the ten finishes outside the top twenty in 44 career starts. He has finished outside the top fifteen in 21 of those starts. Malukas only has 11 top ten finishes in his career. He should be an improvement over Robb, but let's pump the brakes before thinking A.J. Foyt Racing is about to have two drivers finish in the top ten of the championship and each will be race winners. We have plenty of evidence to suggest that is unlikely no matter what fantasy we can create in our heads.

IndyCar Wrap-Up: Meyer Shank Racing's 2024 Season

We hit the halfway of the IndyCar Wrap-Ups, and out of the cellar is Meyer Shank Racing. After a year to forget in 2023, which saw MSR lose its top driver due to injury, the team came into 2024 with a new lineup. There were concerns if this new duo could produce better results than the tried-and-true experience of Simon Pagenaud and Hélio Castroneves. The good news is the speed was there, and MSR was at the top immediately. However, an experiment was aborted early, but the early choice to make a change might have proved to be poignant and earned the team at least $1 million when this season was said and done. 

Felix Rosenqvist

After three good but not great years at Arrow McLaren, Rosenqvist moved to the third organization in his IndyCar career. It was a new situation for everyone. Rosenqvist became a team leader after taking secondary roles at his first two stops. Meyer Shank Racing had hired a driver with a somewhat unproven track record. The pace had been there and he had gotten good results, but not with great consistency. For where things were for each driver and team coming into this season, 2024 was a promising sign for the future.

What objectively was his best race?
Rosenqvist's best finish this season was fourth at Barber Motorsports Park after sticking to a two-stop strategy. Rosenqvist was able to pass Álex Palou late in the race to take fourth after spending the entire race in the top ten and competing for a top five for most of that time.

What subjectively was his best race?

It is tough to say St. Petersburg is anyone's best race because the results are a tad misleading. The record book will say Rosenqvist was fifth, but he really finished seventh on the road. Regardless of the finish, this was a great statement to start the season for him and the MSR organization. He qualified second and he was hanging with pole-sitter Josef Newgarden over the opening stint. Rosenqvist struggled on the primary tire and that cost him, especially on restarts. He still got a top ten result, which turned into a top five after the fact, and it was a positive start.

What objectively was his worst race?

Twice did Rosenqvist finish 27th this season. He was 27th in the Indianapolis 500 after losing his engine while running in the top ten. He suffered a tire puncture while running in the top ten at Nashville.

What subjectively was his worst race?

Overall, we could say the let down of Rosenqvist's season was finishing so far behind where he started. Too often would he start sixth or seventh and finish outside the top ten or he would start in the top five and then finish eighth. His 23rd at Toronto was not entirely due to a driver fault. The hybrid let him down, but Rosenqvist was running in contention for a top five result. He had a bad pit stop cost him time and he went off in turn three before the hybrid issue ended his race.

Felix Rosenqvist's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 12th (306 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 2
Top Tens: 6
Laps Led: 5
Poles: 1
Fast Sixes: 5
Fast Twelves: 7
Average Start: 9.411
Average Finish: 13.882

David Malukas

Nobody had a more chaotic season than David Malukas. Set to drive for Arrow McLaren, coincidentally to replace Felix Rosenqvist at the organization, Malukas suffered a wrist injury in a mountain biking accident less than a month before the start of the season. The injury was so severe that it kept him out for an extended period of time. After the Barber Motorsports Park round, McLaren released Malukas from his contract. It wasn't until there was an opening at MSR did Malukas get his shot to race in 2024, returning for the final ten races of the season. 

What objectively was his best race?
While Toronto was one of Rosenqvist's worst races, Malukas had his best race in Canada, starting and finishing sixth, but Malukas did catch a break avoiding all the chaos in this race and he made up spots us other drivers fell out. For a portion of this race, it wasn't certain he would finish in the top ten.

What subjectively was his best race?

Malukas probably should have been on the podium at Gateway Motorsports Park. After starting on the front row, Malukas was holding his own batting at the front with Josef Newgarden, Will Power and Scott McLaughlin. Malukas was the best Honda for majority of this race before he was squeezed in turn two by Power, taking Malukas out of the race and placing him 21st.

What objectively was his worst race?
On the opening lap in the first Iowa race, Malukas spun exiting turn two and he was out of the race before completing a lap.

What subjectively was his worst race?

It is Gateway because this felt like Malukas' best chance at victory. He was in the picture for the entire race and he was probably going to finish on the podium if it wasn't for the contact. Malukas did nothing wrong, and it was surprising Power did not receive a penalty for what looked to be avoidable contact. 

David Malukas' 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 24th (148 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 2
Laps Led: 19
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 2
Fast Twelves: 3
Average Start: 8.7
Average Finish: 16

Tom Blomqvist

The Tom Blomqvist experiment had already been put into motion in 2023. Blomqvist ran three races as a substitute for the injured Simon Pagenaud. Those were some rough days, but Blomqvist was returning to open-wheel competition after having been away from it for practically a decade. Expectations were low, and Blomqvist looked more comfortable than his IndyCar sampling the year before, but the results were not good enough and pressure forced MSR to make a difficult decision.

What objectively was his best race?

Blomqvist's best result was 15th in the season opener at St. Petersburg. It was better than any of his first three results in IndyCar from the previous season. It was an improvement of two spots from his starting position.

What subjectively was his best race?

It was St. Petersburg, though Blomqvist had a good showing at Barber Motorsports Park. He made a surprise appearance in the second round of qualifying at Barber, and he did well though he slid back to 19th. Blomqvist did complete all the laps.

What objectively was his worst race?
It was 31st in the Indianapolis 500 after Blomqvist spun in turn one after getting a little too low on the opening corner of the race.

What subjectively was his worst race?

It is Indianapolis because Blomqvist's season ended right then and there. His best finish through five races was 15th, his average finish was 22nd, he had only scored 46 points, and he was 24th in points as was the #66 Honda 24th in the entrants' championship. Meyer Shank Racing could not afford to have this entry not be in the Leader Circle for a second consecutive season, and a change had to be made. 

Tom Blomqvist's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 30th (46 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 0
Laps Led: 0
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 1
Average Start: 19
Average Finish: 22

An Early Look Ahead

We know the 2025 lineup. Rosenqvist is staying and Marcus Armstrong is being farmed out to the #66 Honda from Chip Ganassi Racing as Meyer Shank Racing will form a technical alliance with Ganassi after having run in partnership with Andretti Global since its IndyCar debut in the 2017 Indianapolis 500.

MSR should be feeling significantly better than it did at this point last year. Last year, MSR was coming off a year where nothing went right and it didn't appear the team could do anything right. This year, MSR look competitive and had good days, but there is still another step this team must take. 

The qualifying pace is there, but the race pace was notably absent. That hurt the team on a consistent basis. The team must work on having better cars over entire races and also employing correct strategies to yield the best result. Too often did we see the MSR cars go backward after everyone was enthused to see them at the front at the end of qualifying on Saturday. 

Before this season, I questioned if Rosenqvist could be a leader. He did a great job qualifying and putting MSR at the front, but the race results must follow in 2025. Not all his bad days were entirely driver error. MSR is a team that has struggled to maximize strategy to get a result and Rosenqvist is a driver that has struggled to maximize turning single-lap pace into a result. It is a rough combination when neither side's strength can make up for the other's weakness. 

Considering how 2023 went, 12th in the championship is a great result for Rosenqvist and MSR. This team was not going to leap into the top five in the championship, but this was the step it had to see. Top ten in the championship looks reasonable, especially if it can have its race finishes more close match its qualifying efforts.

Marcus Armstrong will lift this team and Armstrong will push Rosenqvist. These are two drivers that should be able to work off one another. Armstrong had some teething moments in his sophomore season, but he had flashes and if he can have a car that is regularly starting in the top ten and occasionally making the Fast Six, Armstrong could be lined up to improve from his second season. 

The Ganassi relationship should help. Rosenqvist has history with the team and it seems he is still well regarded at that organization. This could feel like a five-car team even if these are two separate entities. Top ten in the championship is possible, but MSR could reach new heights. This could be the sleeper team that wins a race or two in 2025. All the pieces are there on paper. It is a matter of what they do in reality starting March 2. 

Musings From the Weekend: Looking For Relevance

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...

IndyCar did some testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Arlington was confirmed. Some promos were run. People are easily impressed. Elsewhere, it was a good weekend for a Pink Cadillac. Some hardware was awarded. NASCAR officiating had a weekend. Parker Kligerman deserved better. World Superbike had its closest finish. The Bathurst 1000 occurred, but that wasn't the biggest news out of Australia this weekend, and it is time to ask, what the hell are we doing?

Looking For Relevance

While Supercars had its 2025 schedule released the previous week, a new championship format was confirmed ahead of the Bathurst 1000. Coming next year will be a format that resembles something the United States has become all too familiar with.

In 2025, the Supercars championship will be broken up into three parts. The first eight rounds will comprise the sprint championship. The next two rounds will be the Enduro Cup, a 500-kilometer race at The Bend Motorsport Park and the Bathurst 1000. After Bathurst, the sprint champion and Enduro champion along with the next best eight drivers in the championship will advance to the Finals, a three-round title-decider.

Like NASCAR's playoffs, there will be eliminations. After the first round of the Final at Surfers Paradise, three drivers will be eliminated from the championship. Three more drivers will be eliminated after the penultimate round at Sandown. The Adelaide finale will feature four drivers competing for the championship. The driver with the most points after the three races over the Adelaide weekend will be the champion. 

NASCAR made its switch to effectively a playoff format 20 years ago. While a few other championships have dabbled in resets and playoffs, it is still a rather rare in the motorsports world. Other than some double points and the inclusion of sprint races, full season aggregates are still the norm. Championships are still occasionally decided before the final weekend around the world, the biggest championships included. Yet, Supercars has decided it is time for something different. The only explanation is relevance. 

For all the competition Supercars has, tight championship races are not rather common. Last season was the first time in five years the championship was undecided entering the final round. Though there was a stretch of four-year stretch of title races that went to the wire before that, like NASCAR at the turn of the 21st century, Supercars knows it is better if every race means something toward the championship than to have nothing to play for late in the season. Whether changing the format to ensure the championship goes to the final race works in keeping an audience's attention remains a matter of debate, it is hard to argue against having something to play for even if it is in a convoluted system. 

It is a battle for relevance. 

Even if it seems like this is something the current audience does not want, it is looking to attract the audience that is not there. Like NASCAR in the United States, Supercars is not the biggest fish in the Australian sporting pond. Competition is a good thing. People understand what it means to have a championship on the line. A great number of Super Bowl viewers are not die-hard football fans. They care more about commercials than pass coverage, but the thrill of watching a sporting event and the greatest unscripted spectacle there can be is what makes the entire show as popular as it is. 

The commercials, the halftime show, the festivities are nothing without the game, without the competition. Even if it is not natural to motorsports, a championship final, win-take-all, is understandable to the common viewer. Though, as we have seen with NASCAR, it doesn't appear that is really drawing viewers.

But something must be done. 

Formula One has grown without a playoff format filled with resets and changing point systems, but it is tougher to grow following the way Formula One has, by making the drivers relatable to people who otherwise they did not know existed. The racing takes a backseat because people are watching for the people participating. There is also a finite appetite for racing docuseries. Not every Netflix series is going to turn a motorsports series into the hottest thing on the planet. It actually looks like it is only going to work for one. With that out of the mix, the next thing to do is try and make the competition worthy of consideration.

The drivers and teams will go with it. They have too much invested to walk away with nothing due to a change in the championship structure. Existing fans will have a choice to stay or go. Nothing says a championship must be awarded the same way as it always has been just because it has always been that way. Maybe a full-season aggregate is like democracy, the best of all the bad options.

If you love the series, you do not get any other choices. You can always find another hobby, but how strong is that love if all you are going to do is runaway when change comes knocking? That is the bet Supercars is making. They are hoping those who are around will remain because where else are they going to go? 

That bet has arguably not worked out for NASCAR, as viewership declined for a decade and has since plateau far from where it was when playoffs were first introduced. Each place is different, and Supercars might be able to do change differently, and in a way that does not constantly feel alienating. 

For all those that are upset, there is no proof that a full-season aggregate is really what people want. People didn't flock to IndyCar or sports cars when NASCAR introduced and constantly tweaked its playoff format to what we have today. If that is what people wanted and those other series grew due to their commitments to the long-held way of deciding champions, then playoffs would have become a dead concept a long time ago. 

There was plenty of noise from upset people, but it will require a significant shake to the foundation for anything to revert back. Supercars highly doubts it will all go to hell. People will leave but it is gambling more will come in and increase relevance. It is willing to take a short-term loss for a long-term gain.

Champions From the Weekend

The #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Penske of Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr clinched the IMSA GTP championship with a third-place finish at Petit Le Mans. 

The #52 Inter Europol by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca-Gibson of Nick Boulle and Tom Dillmann clinched IMSA's LMP2 championship with a fourth-place finish in class at Petit Le Mans.

The #77 AO Racing Porsche of Laurin Heinrich clinched IMSA's GTD Pro championship with an 11th-place finish at Petit Le Mans. 

The #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG of Philip Ellis and Russell Ward clinched the GTD championship with a eighth-place finish at Petit Le Mans.

The #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG of Lucas Auer and Maro Engel clinched the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup championship with a finish of third and fourth in Barcelona.

Winners From the Weekend

You know about some champions, but did you know...

The #01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac of Renger van der Zande, Sébastien Bourdais and Scott Dixon won the 27th Petit Le Mans. The #11 TDS Racing Oreca of Mikkel Jensen, Hunter McElrea and Steven Thomas won the LMP2 class. The #19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini of Mirko Bortolotti, Jordan Pepper and Franck Perera won in GTD Pro class. The #34 Conquest Racing Ferrari of Albert Costa, Manny Franco and Cédric Sbirrazzuoli won in GTD class.

Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood won the 67th Bathurst 1000.

Kyle Larson won the NASCAR Cup race from Charlotte, his sixth victory of the season. Sam Mayer won the Grand National Series race, his third victory of the season. 

Sho Tsuboi swept the Super Formula races from Fuji.

Toprack Razgatlioglu (race one and two) and Nicolò Bulega (SuperPole race) split the World Superbike races from Estoril. Yari Montella and Stefano Manzi split the World Supersport races.

The #9 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG of Maximilian Götz and Jules Gounon and the #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche of Sven Müller and Patric Niederhauser split the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup race from Barcelona.

Coming Up This Weekend

Formula One returns to competition with the United States Grand Prix, the first of a triple-header.

MotoGP will be at Phillip Island. 

World Superbike ends its season at Jerez.

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters ends its season at the Hockenheimring.

The European Le Mans Series ends with the 4 Hours of Portimão.

NASCAR is in Las Vegas.

Super GT competes at Autopolis.

IndyCar Wrap-Up: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's 2024 Season

The fourth IndyCar Wrap-Up has us looking at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, a team that won in 2023 and showed competitiveness despite some shortcomings in the organization. Those shortcomings came to the forefront in 2024. The speed was not quite there. A few races saw the team stand out but most of the races had RLLR cars fighting from behind. The team was not close to the same level, and it was a long season.

Christian Lundgaard

Last year, Lundgaard had a breakout season and scored his first career victory at Toronto. The expectations were high for 2024, as Lundgaard looked to take RLLR to the next level. There were some good days early, but the speed was not there at the same consistent level. Lundgaard was not the surprise frontrunner, he was not nearly as much of a frontrunner as he was the year before. 

What objectively was his best race?
His only top five finish of the season, Lundgaard was third in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, and he was in contention for the race victory. Lundgaard led from the start and led much of the first third of the race, but he was caught out in pit strategy when he was caught behind Felix Rosenqvist, who made an early second pit stop. This traffic caused Lundgaard to lose time and he fell back to finish third behind Álex Palou and Will Power.

What subjectively was his best race?

Sadly, the only race where Lundgaard looked like Lundgaard from 2023 was the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. If he stops a lap or two earlier, he might win this race as he avoids losing time in traffic and he could have kept Palou and Power behind him. He led 35 of the first 39 laps and only did not lead during the pit cycle over that portion of the race.

What objectively was his worst race?
Lundgaard had a top ten running going in the Grand Prix of Long Beach until he was penalized for an unsafe release on his final pit stop after he made contact with Kyle Kirkwood in pit lane. Then Lundgaard had to make a stop for a splash of fuel on the final lap as his car was not full. This led to a 23rd place finish for the Dane.

What subjectively was his worst race?

Ovals were not Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's strong suit in 2024, and Iowa wasn't fair to anybody, but Lundgaard spun on the opening lap in the first Iowa race and he needed repairs. He was able to rejoin the race, but he was only able to complete 178 of 250 laps and he finished 22nd.

Christian Lundgaard's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 11th (312 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 1
Top Fives: 1
Top Tens: 5
Laps Led: 53
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 4
Fast Twelves: 8
Average Start: 14.529
Average Finish: 13

Graham Rahal

In his 17 seasons in IndyCar, Rahal has been all over the place. He has competed for championships, he has been at the bottom, he has been in the middle. This year, Rahal was back toward the bottom, and it was continuing a trend backward. Rahal took another slip back and he was not close to the level we saw the year before. 

What objectively was his best race?
Ovals were tough for RLLR, but Rahal qualified eighth and finished eighth in the second Iowa race. The nature of Iowa meant as long as you did nothing wrong, you were not going to fall down the running order. Rahal didn't make a mistake. The pit stops were clean. Rahal ended up finishing where he started, benefitting from the misfortunes of others.

What subjectively was his best race?

RLLR has the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course figured out, and Rahal had a good run in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. He lost time on the primary tire but he was still able to finish ninth and he spent the entire race in the top ten. He didn't quite get to the same level as Lundgaard.

What objectively was his worst race?
Rahal was collected when Kyffin Simpson spun exiting turn five at Laguna Seca, and this ended up putting Rahal in 24th in the final results, but the race was not going that well prior to that accident.

What subjectively was his worst race?

Fifteenth in the Indianapolis 500 should be a decent day, especially since Rahal started 33rd, but this was another case of Rahal being in the Last Row Shootout and facing being bumped from the Indianapolis 500 for a second consecutive year. RLLR had Takuma Sato qualify tenth, but its other three cars started 28th, 30th and 33rd. Rahal had a better race car than a qualifying car, but it was another long week in May and there were few moral victories to take from this experience. 

Graham Rahal's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 18th (251 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 5
Laps Led: 7
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 1
Fast Twelves: 5
Average Start: 17.235

Average Finish: 15.588

Pietro Fittipaldi

RLLR was looking for a jumpstart in its third entry after two years of struggling to get all three cars competing at a high level. Enter Fittipaldi, a driver who had dabbled in IndyCar, but had yet to compete full-time. Full-time competition was rather rare for Fittipaldi over the last five years. IndyCar was a change of pace for the Brazilian. In his first foray in IndyCar, Fittipaldi had some impressive results and hopes were high. Reality did not live up to it.

What objectively was his best race?
Fittipaldi had two finishes of 13th. He was 13th in the season opener at St. Petersburg and he was 13th at Detroit. It was a 13-spot improvement at St. Petersburg and a two-spot improvement at Detroit. Two of those spots at St. Petersburg came from the disqualification of Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin.

What subjectively was his best race?

Even if you don't consider the disqualification of the two Penske cars, Fittipaldi still made up 11 spots at St. Petersburg. However, I don't think Fittipaldi had a good race all season. Even at Detroit, he mostly just stayed in-between 13th and 15th. He wasn't a threat at any race.

What objectively was his worst race?
Fittipaldi was caught in the opening lap accident in the Indianapolis 500 when Tom Blomqvist spun in turn one and this left Fittipaldi in 32nd of the final results.

What subjectively was his worst race?

There were many rough days. Barber Motorsports Park was particularly tough. Fittipaldi was run into by Patricio O'Ward and this knocked Fittipaldi off the course when he was doing nothing wrong. Fittipaldi had a steering rack failure in practice. It was a tough weekend across the board, and it ended with a 27th-place result.

Pietro Fittipaldi's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 19th (186 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 0
Laps Led: 2
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 1
Average Start: 21.0588
Average Finish: 19.647

An Early Look Ahead

Lundgaard is gone. Rahal is around, but he has been talking about stepping away from competing recently. I don't know what the team does with Fittipaldi. At the end of 2021, it felt like RLLR was on the verge of breaking into a higher level. After last year, you could argue RLLR was IndyCar's fourth-best team over Arrow McLaren. At the end of 2024, it is difficult to see how much ground RLLR can gain in 2025, but it will at least have a promising young talent joining the team with Indy Lights champion Louis Foster signed to a multi-year contract.

It had a good thing with Lundgaard, but Lundgaard wanted more. Struggling to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 gets old quickly. If Lundgaard can win with RLLR and finish in the top ten in the championship, he must believe at a better team he can compete for more. We are going to see if that is the case at McLaren.

Where does RLLR go from there?

It has signed Foster, a driver that dominated Indy Lights, but Indy Lights has not been the great indicator for success in IndyCar. The previous ten Indy Lights champions have made an average of 37.3 starts in their IndyCar careers. Of those ten drivers, only Patricio O'Ward has surpassed 75 starts in IndyCar. Whether that is down to talent or ability or opportunity is a matter of debate. Either way, Indy Lights champions don't get a long leash. 

RLLR found a gem with Lundgaard. It felt like the team was ready to take on the big time. It will give Foster a chance but Foster is not entering with a buzz. It is hard to believe he will lift RLLR's level, especially considering the team's oval form. Foster has only made eight oval starts in his life, the largest being the 1.333-mile Nashville Superspeedway. Though RLLR has him on retainer, Jüri Vips is not at the level of Lundgaard. Vips could be a suitable driver, but it does not seem he can be the answer for something greater.

Though Lundgaard took RLLR to great heights, the perception of the team has taken a hit over the last few seasons. It drew some big sponsors. It found IndyCar's newest great partner in HyVee, but RLLR has kind of let HyVee down. At HyVee's big event at Iowa Speedway, RLLR has not been anywhere close to competitive. If a sponsor does not feel like it is getting the most bang for its buck, it will leave, either the series entirely or for another team. There are other more competitive teams out there.

This is a team whose leader is a driver close to completing two decades in IndyCar with one championship push and who is going on eight years without a race victory. It has hired the Indy Lights champion who was clearly best driver from that level. RLLR has gone from a team on the verge of breaking into that upper tier to a team on the decline with no sight of where this team will fall, but it is re-tooling and hoping for the best.

IndyCar Wrap-Up: Ed Carpenter Racing's 2024 Season

The third IndyCar Wrap-Up brings us to Ed Carpenter Racing, which came to a fork in the road in 2024. Entering its fifth season with with Rinus VeeKay, the team was looking to break out of the middle of the pack. The team also made a change and returned to splitting the #20 Chevrolet between Ed Carpenter on ovals and another driver for road and street courses. That other driver ended up being Christian Rasmussen fresh off of his Indy Lights championship. Unfortunately, a return to an old way did not lead to better results, and more changes are coming for the ECR organization.

Rinus VeeKay

This was the fifth season for VeeKay in IndyCar, all with Ed Carpenter Racing. He had established a pattern in his career with championship finishes of 14th, 12th, 12th and 14th in his first four seasons. This felt like a pivotal season for VeeKay to break above the middle, especially after not having a top five finish in 2023. Not much changed from his previous seasons, though some positives could be found.

What objectively was his best race?
Based on pit strategy and keeping his nose clean, VeeKay ended up finishing fifth in the first Iowa race after starting 13th. Just based on the nature of the race and the lack of passing, this wasn't VeeKay doing anything brilliant but mostly having better pit stops and making up spots on restarts.

What subjectively was his best race?

Managing his tires in the second Milwaukee race netted VeeKay a seventh-place finish. He was in the running for a top ten finish the entire race, but deciding to save his tires over the penultimate stint before stopping early in the final stint helped get a few more positions. VeeKay was able to keep the car in the top ten with this strategy and finish better than if he had not been on this strategy.

What objectively was his worst race?
Twice did VeeKay finish 26th this season. At the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, VeeKay had a slow pit stop and a drive-through penalty for an improper pit exit. This caused VeeKay to finish a lap down and the last car to finish the race. At Laguna Seca, the Dutchman spun on his own and an mechanical issue ended his race after 23 laps.

What subjectively was his worst race?

The Grand Prix of Indianapolis was a bit of a disappointment because VeeKay had qualified 12th and that was an advantageous position to start in.

Rinus VeeKay's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 13th (300 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 1
Top Tens: 7
Laps Led: 8
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 3
Average Start: 15.294
Average Finish: 13.706

Christian Rasmussen

It was not a full season, but Rasmussen got a healthy slate of IndyCar races after winning the Indy Lights championship. Along with the road and street course races, he was also given the Indianapolis 500 with ECR. An unexpected change ended up giving Rasmussen more races than originally thought. It definitely looked like a rookie season. There were some good days, but there is much to improve upon. 

What objectively was his best race?
Rasmussen's only top ten finish of the season was ninth at Mid-Ohio. The Dane spent the entire race in the top ten and did come back after losing a few spots on the first pit cycle. It was a clean day for him.

What subjectively was his best race?

It was the Indianapolis 500 where Rasmussen drove from 24th to 12th. Rasmussen made a number of notable passes and spent a good number of laps in the top ten. He was holding his own in the biggest race of his career. He looked like he was going to finish in the top ten but 12th was still good enough for best finishing rookie in the race. 

What objectively was his worst race?
In three races did Rasmussen finish in last, 27th position. Those races were Long Beach after he brushed the barrier and spun in turn four, Detroit after an engine failure 25 laps into the race, and Toronto after he was checked into the barrier exiting turn one and th contact ended his race before he could even get to turn two.

What subjectively was his worst race?

It is tough to separate these events from one another. When you cannot even complete a lap, that is a rough race. He started 13th as well at Detroit, a good position to get a good result. Toronto or Detroit. You decide which was worse.

Christian Rasmussen's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 22nd (163 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 1
Laps Led: 0
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 2
Average Start: 18.357
Average Finish: 18.929

Ed Carpenter

After a few seasons running a third car on the ovals, Carpenter went back to his familiar #20 Chevrolet for the ovals in 2024. He had not had a top ten finish in either of the previous two seasons, both in a third entry, but a move back to the #20 Chevrolet did not boost his results. Carpenter struggled to keep pace, and he ended up making a difficult decision before this season was even over.

What objectively was his best race?
In two races, Carpenter finished 17th, the Indianapolis 500 and at Gateway.

What subjectively was his best race?

None of Carpenter's races were all that good. Indianapolis was a little more work because Carpenter had to overcome Callum Ilott being punted into Carpenter's pit box, causing a significant delay for Carpenter to make his pit stop in the middle of the race. It was a recovery drive to 17th that day.

What objectively was his worst race?
Carpenter was collected in the final lap accident in the second Iowa race after Sting Ray Robb ran over the back of Alexander Rossi's car out of fuel, which also collected Kyle Kirkwood. This accident knocked Carpenter down to 22nd in the final results.

What subjectively was his worst race?

Gateway was also a recovery drive to 17th, but Carpenter being slammed into by Katherine Legge eight laps into the race did not lead to an easy day for him. He lost time and ended up climbing to 17th as others had trouble, but it was a rough weekend prior to that incident. This ended up being the race where Carpenter decided to step out of the car for the remaining three oval races and let Rasmussen finish out the season. 

Ed Carpenter's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 32nd (45 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 0
Laps Led: 3
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 0
Average Start: 22.25
Average Finish: 19

An Early Look Ahead

We already know the 2025 lineup for Ed Carpenter Racing. Alexander Rossi will take over the #20 Chevrolet and Rasmussen will be full-time in the #21 Chevrolet. Carpenter will only run the Indianapolis 500. 

We also know the team has added a new partner in Ted Gevlov, owner of Heartland Food Products Group, which is famous for its Splenda and Java House brands. 

Considering less than two years ago Rossi was saying he wanted to win a championship and that played into his decision to leave Andretti Autosport for Arrow McLaren, nobody joins Ed Carpenter Racing hoping to win a championship. 

The team hasn't had a top ten championship finisher in eight seasons. The team has one victory in eight seasons. It has only nine podium finishes during that time. It doesn't help that Rossi has one victory in the last five seasons in his own right and beggars cannot be choosers, but for a driver that has contended for a championship and believes he still has that ability, ECR isn't the team to choose if hoping to win a title. 

This move could come down solely to the Indianapolis 500, and ECR has had competitive cars in that race, but that speed has not regularly translated to cars being there at the end of the race. The cars look great in qualifying, but four-lap success does not equal 200-lap triumph. The team has only three top five finishes in the Indianapolis 500 in its 13-year history. It really is a case of this was the best Rossi could do at this point in his career and with the current IndyCar climate. 

For the last five seasons, Rossi has been either ninth or tenth in the championship. For the last five seasons, VeeKay was 12th, 13th or 14th in the championship. We know who Rossi is as a driver and we know what ECR is capable of. Something will have to break in 2025. 

Rasmussen will need to make a stride forward and clean up some of the mistakes. He at least knows he will have a full season. 

As much as we talk about the drivers, engineering plays a crucial role. The drivers are only as good as the cars they are given. Outside of Indianapolis, ECR hasn't really been good anywhere. This year ended on a positive note with VeeKay scoring five top ten finishes in the final eight races, but there needs to be more than that, and for the last few seasons ECR has not been consistently good anywhere.

ECR hasn't had a top five finisher on a road/street course since Mid-Ohio in July 2022. The team didn't have a car make the Fast Six on a road or street course this past season. These are two areas the team must improve upon if it wants to break into that higher level. 

Musings From the Weekend: Should IndyCar Award More Points for a Victory?

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...

The MotoGP championship lead did not switch hands, but it did tighten up, and the Moto3 championship was claimed. David Alonso clinched the Moto3 crown with his tenth victory of the season in Motegi. It was Alonso's third consecutive victory. Every winner at Talladega this weekend scored their first victory of the season, and accidents did happen. Two teams, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports filed an anti-trust lawsuit against NASCAR. Race of Champions is teasing it might be back. Let's see where that goes. There was an endurance race at Indianapolis, but the main series that calls Indianapolis home was on my mind, and I was thinking about points.

Should IndyCar Award More Points for a Victory?

During the final days of the IndyCar season, I was wondering if IndyCar needed to "Palou proof" its championship. 

Until his battery failed on the pace laps for the second Milwaukee race, it appeared Álex Palou would not only lock up his second consecutive championship but lock it up with a race to spare and after 15 years with every championship going undecided into the final race, IndyCar was looking at the second consecutive year with a dead-rubber season finale to cap off its season. 

As much as we should appreciate driving brilliance, brilliance doesn't draw the crowds. That might be unfortunate to hear, but people are not showing up to recognize clinical greatness. We do that when it is too late and wish we had done so earlier.

It also doesn't help when Palou's greatness is rather consistent. What Palou does is incredible, but no one is showing up to watch someone finish fourth or fifth every week. It wins a championship, but no one shares stories about how great it was to see someone finish fifth. 

If Palou was dominating, truly dominating, winning seven, eight, nine races a season and doing something we have done seen in decades, that might be one thing, but the suffocating nature of finishing fourth or fifth and making it difficult for the competition to claw any points back who cannot match Palou's consistency and he never has a bad day is not sexy. It is efficient, but it isn't why people tune in. 

Winning should matter, and we remember winners. We celebrate A.J. Foyt for winning 67 races in a career and his most memorable season was when he won seven consecutive races to open a season and ten of 13 races in 1964. Al Unser, Jr.'s 1994 season is not only remembered because he won the Indianapolis 500 with the most historic car of the last 30 years but because he also won half the races that year. Juan Pablo Montoya left an impression for winning seven races as a rookie while winning the championship.

Championships are good, but claiming a championship with two victories isn't really all that awe-inspiring. Palou is one of the best in IndyCar, but his style isn't enough to impressive outsiders.

This year's championship did go to the season finale, but despite two drivers having a shot at the championship in Nashville, this finale didn't really generate a buzz. The title was between Palou and Will Power, two drivers both looking for their third championships and they had each won the title in the previous two seasons. Power has been a name for a long time. It was a generational meeting for the championship, but it didn't really draw the viewers.

The race was against an NFL Sunday, but that hasn't stopped people from tuning in before, at least more than the 483,000 viewers that NBC drew for Nashville. It was slightly down from Laguna Seca the year before, 528,000 viewers for a dead-rubber on NBC, which was actually better than 507,000 viewers for the 2022 Laguna Seca season finale when the championship was undecided. This finale was also an oval race at Nashville, something that we are always told are more exciting and what people want to see. 

People want to see the unknown, but they also don't want to see the inevitable. It was Palou vs. Power, but it felt inevitable it would go to Palou. 

Palou had to finish ninth or better to clinch the championship, something that felt like a cinch for the Catalan driver to accomplish. It also felt inevitable because Power basically had to finish first or second to win the title. The only way Power could win the championship by finishing third was with at least three bonus points scored and that would mean Palou had to finish 25th or worse with no bonus points scored. 

There was a path for Power to claim the championship, though a rather narrow one. 

What should IndyCar do to make the championship more undecided in the finale? 

IndyCar did double points and it was met with backlash. A playoff is out of the question. A natural way to do it is to increase how many points are paid for a victory. 

There is nothing chiseled in stone that a victory must be worth 50 points. There is nothing that says second-place must be worth 80% of a victory. If you want drivers to care about winning, make winning worth more. If you want winning races to truly decide a championship, make winning worth more. 

This was not a season where Palou was crushing the competition. He only won two races. Entering the season finale, Palou was going to at best create a four-way tie for most victories this season. Power had three victories and had a shot at the title. Scott McLaughlin and Patricio O'Ward each won three times and their title hopes were extinguished before arriving to Nashville. 

This was the second time in three seasons the championship did not win at least three races. Power won the 2022 title with only one race victory. Prior to this period, every champion since 2002, regardless of if it was CART, Champ Car, the Indy Racing League or post-reunification, had won at least three races.

Here is my thought: Increase the points for first-place to 75 points. Also, increase the bonus points for the most laps led to three bonus points.

This makes a victory worth 50% more than it is now, and it makes second-place worth only 53.333% of a victory. There is a big incentive to go for a victory over finishing second. 

The increase in bonus points also makes the maximum a nice round number. Why is the current maximum points total 54? Make leading the most laps worth three points that way if a driver leads the most laps from pole position it would be a maximum of 80 points. It would also make the most points that could be made up in a race 75 points, another easy number to understand, much easier than 49. 

Increasing the points payout for a victory, opens the door. More must be done to clinch the championship early. It is unlikely a bunch of fifth-place finishes will be enough. 

Let's apply it to this season. Every race winner would be getting 25 more points. Each driver that led the most laps would get an additional point. 

Adjusting the points, Palou would still be the championship leader entering the season finale, but he would only be nine points ahead of Power, instead of 33. McLaughlin would be realistically alive as McLaughlin would only be 23 points behind Palou, instead of the 50 points he was trailing by and would be eliminated as soon as Palou started the Nashville race.

Two of the drivers that would enter the finale tied for the most victories would each have a great shot at the championship. And it wouldn't be the case of having to finish first or second just to have a prayer. 

Power could win the championship with a third-place finish and Palou finishing seventh. Power could win the championship finishing 15th and Palou finishing 25th. It wouldn't necessarily take Power needing a great day and Palou having his worst day for the championship to swing. Both drivers could have good days but for one driver it not be enough. 

Of course, Power had his seatbelt issue and that kept him from ever really competing for the championship in the finale, but the door opens up. Inevitability dissipates, and there would have still been the third option in Scott McLaughlin. McLaughlin could win the championship with a race victory, regardless of where Palou or Power finished. McLaughlin could finish fifth and take the championship in the scenario where Power finished 15th and Palou finished 25th. There would be plenty of possibilities to watch for. 

With these points-paying adjustments, Palou would have claimed the title by 12 points over McLaughlin. Any change in the system would make everyone race differently, but in the case of Nashville, McLaughlin would have had greater incentive to go for the victory. It would have been a more compelling finale to watch if a driver who could end the season with the most victories had a shot at the title as two of his championship rivals struggled.

The drivers that have won the most should have a shot at winning the championship. You need to make success in the first 16 races standout. People remember winners. That is who we celebrate and spray champagne for. Consistency is good, but winning should carry a little extra weight when it comes to deciding a championship. It is not perplexing as to why a driver who has won the most races in a season has a chance at the championship. That makes sense. There is nothing wrong in leaning into making it more likely the drivers that win the most have a better chance at the title.

Philosophy aside, with IndyCar entering a new television partnership, it is important to keep the series compelling. Making winning worth more only benefits the series and increases the incentives for drivers to take first over second or third or fourth. Palou should be commended for how he has won championships, but increasing the worth of a race victory would go a long way to making a more compelling championship each season. A race victory should feel momentous toward a championship, more so than finishing fourth or fifth for three consecutive races.

IndyCar should not be afraid to evolve and increase the reward for winning. Good finishes will still be good finishes, but there is nothing wrong with incentivizing finishing first even more.

Champions From the Weekend

You know about David Alonso, but did you know...

Charlie Weerts clinched the Intercontinental GT Challenge championship with a victory in the Indianapolis 8 Hour in the #31 Team WRT BMW with Dries Vanthoor and Sheldon van der Linde. 

The #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche of Adam Adelson and Elliot Skeer clinched the GT World Challenge America championship with a runner-up finish in the Indianapolis 8 Hour.

The #7 ACR Motorsports Porsche of Kay van Berlo and Curt Swearingin clinched the GT4 America Pro-Am championship.

Johnny O'Connell clinched the GT America championship.

Winners From the Weekend

You know about the Indianapolis 8 Hour, but did you know...

Francesco Bagnaia won MotoGP's Japanese Grand Prix and the sprint race. The grand prix victory was Bagnaia's eighth of the season. Manuel González won the Moto2 race, his first career victory. Moto3 race.

The #68 Smooge Racing Toyota of Tyler Gonzalez and Corey Lewis and the #89 RENNtech Motorspots Mercedes-AMG of Matheus Leist and Michael Auriemma split the GT4 America races from Indianapolis. Justin Rothberg swept the GT America races.

Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. won the NASCAR Cup race from Talladega. Sammy Smith won the Grand National Series race. Grant Enfinger won the Truck race.

Coming Up This Weekend

IMSA concludes the season at Petit Le Mans.

The Bathurst 1000.

NASCAR runs around the Charlotte roval. 

Super Formula will race at Fuji.

World Superbike will race at Barcelona. 

GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup runs at Barcelona.