We start at the bottom and Harding Racing's first full season in IndyCar was not a bed of roses. The glorious day at Indianapolis and night at Texas in 2017 have long been forgotten and the team got a dose of the difficulty of IndyCar. A few changes were made in search for results as the team looked toward its sophomore season and things ended on a promising note.
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| Things likely did not go as planned for Gabby Chaves |
Chaves ran all three races for Harding Racing last year and he started 13 of 17 races before twice being sidelined.
What objectively was his best race?
Portland, where he finished 13th after starting 21st. He did benefit from a handful of front running drivers being taken out on lap one but Chaves held his own on this day and was keeping up with the middle of the field. Ironically, this was his final race of the season.
What subjectively was his best race?
He finished 14th twice but I will say 14th in the Indianapolis 500 is better than 14th at St. Petersburg, even though he started eighth at St. Petersburg. This team was born for the Indianapolis 500 and last year he benefitted from a load of cars retiring. This year was not much different but plenty of teams go to Indianapolis and struggle. I think some people were worried this team wasn't going to make the race after his string of results leading into May. He completely all 500 miles in a good showing for the young team.
What objectively was his worst race?
Iowa, his only retirement. It was a mechanical issue. It is only the second retirement of Chaves' IndyCar career and the other one was a retirement. His engine expired while running in the top five and after leading the most laps in the 2015 Pocono race.
What subjectively was his worst race?
I think Iowa fits this category but I think every race in a way was his worst race (very philosophical, I know).
Harding Racing wasn't expected to be competing for the championship or race victories but I don't think anyone thought it would be this tough. In his first 11 starts, Chaves only cracked the top fifteen once. Maybe the qualifying success in a drizzle at St. Petersburg was the worst possible thing for this team in its first street course race.
It never clicked but the team was working with scraps. At Pocono, it became public that the team was using eight-year-old springs and shocks. Chaves didn't have the greatest equipment underneath him and he was doing the best he could with equipment that the top team's stopped using almost a decade ago.
Gabby Chaves' 2018 Statistics
Championship Positions: 21st (187 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 0
Laps Led: 0
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 1
Average Start: 18.333
Average Finish: 16.846
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| Conor Daly had a cameo role for Harding Racing |
The Hoosier ran the Indianapolis 500 for Dale Coyne Racing but he made three starts in a substitute role at Toronto, Mid-Ohio and Pocono.
What objectively was his best race?
He finished 13th in his first race with the team at Toronto. At the time it was the team's best result It also came after the team made it to the second round of qualifying for the second time in this season in a wet-to-dry qualifying session. He held his own and stayed in the middle of the field for most of the race.
What subjectively was his best race?
It is still Toronto. Daly's move to Harding Racing wasn't planned out. It was spur of the moment. Street courses are physically rough and Toronto is a place where the bumps knock the steering wheel out of your hands He likely wasn't in the best racing shape and it was a late change. Daly held his own again and it is the not first time he has been thrown into a street race and came out with people pleased.
What objectively was his worst race?
Mid-Ohio. He ran out of fuel late and finished 22nd. He started 14th in this one but he wasn't as competitive as he was at Toronto.
What subjectively was his worst race?
I think we have to go with the one race he wasn't at Harding Racing and that was the Indianapolis 500. He barely made it and it was the perfect nightmare of a one-off effort. Not enough money, not enough time and not enough speed. He openly said he was racing for nothing. It is terrible but it is the state of IndyCar and it isn't that uncommon. His result was respectable, 21st and one lap down after being on the fence and nearly watching his career end at a place he holds much fondness for.
Conor Daly's 2018 Statistics
Championship Positions: 29th (58 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 0
Laps Led: 0
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 1
Average Start: 20.0
Average Finish: 17.75
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| Patricio O'Ward has everyone's attention after Sonoma |
The 2018 Indy Lights champion got his IndyCar debut a fortnight after taking the title. It was a pretty great outing.
What objectively was his best race?
Ninth at Sonoma after qualifying fifth on debut.
What subjectively was his best race?
Once again, Sonoma.
What objectively was his worst race?
Sonoma but he finished ninth, so it wasn't that bad.
What subjectively was his worst race?
Sonoma but to be specific and not to be a goof, he fell back during that first stint and after the first pit stop he settled into the race. It was a bit of an eye-opener. He didn't keep up with the likes of Hunter-Reay, Dixon and Power, which was not expected but the bottom didn't fall out. The first stint was tough but he rebounded a bit and kept it in the top ten. Bravo.
Patricio O'Ward's 2018 Statistics
Championship Positions: 31st (44 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 1
Laps Led: 0
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 1
Fast Twelves: 1
Average Start: 5.0
Average Finish: 9.0
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| IndyCar has another second generation driver in Colton Herta |
Like O'Ward, Herta made his IndyCar debut a fortnight after finishing second in the Indy Lights championship.
What objectively was his best race?
He only had the one race and he finished 20th at Sonoma.
What subjectively was his best race?
Sonoma.
What objectively was his worst race?
Sonoma
What subjectively was his worst race?
Sonoma. He is 18 years old. When the 2019 season starts he will still be 18 years old. Just because O'Ward was the darling of the finale does not mean Herta is a bum and he isn't good enough and he is the waste of a seat. He is 18 years old. Everyone develops at their own pace. Remember, we inflate the expectations of a driver and we set ourselves up to be let down.
Colton Herta's 2018 Statistics
Championship Positions: 37th (20 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 0
Laps Led: 0
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 0
Average Start: 19.0
Average Finish: 20.0
An Early Look Ahead
It seems like this will be the Andretti Autosport Junior Team with O'Ward and Herta in 2019. We are still awaiting confirmation and somehow this is going to happen and Andretti will straddle the Honda/Chevrolet line. This seems like it could be a problem that boils over and could be a bad thing for IndyCar... but we will deal with that later.
O'Ward and Herta arrived to Harding Racing with Andretti dampers and all of a sudden the team went from unlikely to making it out of the first round to a car making the Fast Six on pace. If Andretti's dampers are that good then send me a big box of that. If that is all it took to take this team to the next level then I think 2019 will be a much better season than 2018.
O'Ward and Herta seems ready for IndyCar. They are both teenagers and will be teenagers at the 2019 season opener. Motorsports is at a bad place where kids are rushed and quickly tossed aside if they aren't lighting the world on fire at the age of 22. IndyCar has had a few of those and the series has also had those who came in young, did well, struggle for eight years and are still here (looking at you Rahal and Andretti). I would rather see these two still developing and not having to race out of Indy Lights but the business doesn't allow for such a thing to take place.
On a side note, where will this leave Gabby Chaves? He went from Harding Racing's guy and will be around for at least two years to completely out of the picture. He has never had time to take root anywhere. He was good in his rookie season but Bryan Herta Autosport was dealing with the same kind of financial difficulties that Harding Racing had this season. He can bring a car home and that is an underrated trait of his. Where would Chaves fit in? Full-time seats are hard to find but wherever he goes he would get pleasing results and if he had a senior teammate to work with he could be cracking the top ten on a regular basis.
Finally, what about Conor Daly? Daly had a respectable full season with Dale Coyne Racing. He went to A.J. Foyt Racing and struggled a bit but who hasn't struggled at A.J. Foyt Racing? Daly started to get results at the end of 2017 and then was tossed to the curb. We have seen him do really well with little preparation. He likely isn't in the cards at Harding Racing and I don't know if any other team with an open full-time seat is considering him either.
