Like last year, not every IndyCar competitor will be competing full-time and that is a good thing! While IndyCar has a solid grid of two-dozen full-time entries and a few other additional cars from full-time teams, there are two operations that will only run a handful of races in 2020 and this is where we will preview those teams.
One team is making a long-awaited return to an expanded schedule. The other team is hoping to run more races after its 2019 season ended prematurely and could have at least one new driver in the seat.
2019 DragonSpeed Review
Wins: 0
Best Finish: 18th (St. Petersburg)
Poles: 0
Championship Finish: 30th (Ben Hanley)
2020 Drivers:
Ben Hanley - #81 DragonSpeed Chevrolet
DragonSpeed made its IndyCar but and it brought its trusted ace Hanley for the season opener. The team caught a bit of fortune in its opening race weekend. After ending up at the bottom of the timesheet for every practice session, a timely red flag for Santino Ferrucci's off-track excursion during the first group of the first round saw Hanley advance to round two, as Hanley was sixth when time ran out on the session and many drivers had yet to put in a hot lap. This allowed Hanley to start 12th on debut but in the race true pace became apparent and Hanley dropped down the order. Though he did not get in any incidents, Hanley and DragonSpeed ended its first race in 18th.
The team returned for Barber, qualified 24st, dead last on the grid, and in this race he moved forward, finishing 21st. Hanley had never ran an oval before the Indianapolis 500 and despite lack of expectations of making the race, Hanley made it on the first day of qualifying, ending up 27th at 227.482 MPH, ahead of full-time drivers Zach Veach and Felix Rosenqvist while James Hinchcliffe, Max Chilton, Patricio O'Ward and Fernando Alonso all had to qualify on the second day. Hanley's Indianapolis 500 debut lasted only 54 laps as a broken driveshaft ended the team's race.
DragonSpeed had planned to run at Road America, Mid-Ohio and Laguna Seca to round out a six-race season but visa issues with crew coming over from Europe prevented the team from entering any races after the Indianapolis 500.
Numbers to Remember:
1: Scheduled race for Hanley in 2020, he is scheduled to run St. Petersburg.
4: Other races DragonSpeed plans to contest in 2020 (Long Beach, Indianapolis 500, Texas, Mid-Ohio and Laguna Seca).
250: Laps completed out of a possible 400 laps.
2: Hanley was two laps down in two of his three starts in 2019 (St. Petersburg and Barber).
Predictions/Goals:
Finish better than 18th and complete at least 109 laps at St. Petersburg.
St. Petersburg is the only race on Hanley's IndyCar schedule and considering that he had not run a single-seater car in nearly a decade when he showed up at St. Petersburg last year, the fact he was only two laps down at St. Petersburg, two laps down at Long Beach and qualified for the Indianapolis 500 when many penned Hanley to miss the race because he had no oval experience and was racing for a team with no oval experience, 2019 was a remarkable year for Hanley.
I am not sure how much more Hanley can get out of his ability in an IndyCar. I think he can improve. The results can get better but it is hard to see him turning into a driver competing for top ten finishes. There is nothing wrong with that. Hanley is a top-notch sports car driver. He has had plenty of success in LMP2 and has done well in LMP1 this FIA World Endurance Championship season.
I think the big goal for Hanley is to get a shot at one of DragonSpeed's other four scheduled races. That is not a guarantee and Hanley has a lot of sports car commitments. Laguna Seca clashes with the European Le Mans Series races at Spa-Francorchamps. Hanley will do St. Petersburg and that will be it but if he gets another shot then good for him.
Colin Braun - #81 DragonSpeed Chevrolet
The 2019 season saw Braun run another year for CORE Autosport in IMSA's prototype class with Jon Bennett as his co-driver. CORE Autosport switched from its Oreca-Gibson LMP2 car, which earned the team vice-champion honors in 2018, to the Nissan Onroak DPI. After winning two races and having five podium finishes in 2018, the team's best finish in 2019 was fourth at Daytona and the team failed to finish in the top five in the final eight races of the season.
CORE Autosport shut down after the 2019 season and Braun moved over to DragonSpeed for the 2020 24 Hours of Daytona. Sharing a car with Hanley, Harrison Newey and Hendrik Hedman, Braun and DragonSpeed won the LMP2 class at the 24 Hours of Daytona, Braun's second class victory in the famed event.
Numbers to Remember:
5,447: Days between Braun's most recent single-seater race at Mid-Ohio in Pro Mazda on May 21, 2005 and this year's Long Beach race.
3: Other 2020 IndyCar drivers were in that 2005 Pro Mazda race at Mid-Ohio: Marco Andretti, James Hinchcliffe and Graham Rahal. Raphael Matos won that race.
19: Victories between Grand-Am, American Le Mans Series, WeatherTech Sports Car Champion and the NASCAR Truck Series.
Predictions/Goals:
Braun is not confirmed for any races but he has been heavily rumored to be a potential driver for this program and this would be his long-awaited IndyCar shot. Cutting to the chase, Braun does have a ride in the GT World Challenge America series this year and GTWCA (that is a long acronym) will be at Virginia International Raceway when IndyCar is at Texas and Watkins Glen when IndyCar is at Laguna Seca. I do not know how deep Braun's commitment to GTWCA is but it could mean he will not be able to participate in those two races.
When you consider how long it has been since Braun has run a single-seater car and the team he could possibly be making his debut with the bar should be low. However, we have seen Braun find success in everything from a LMP2 car to a NASCAR Truck. That doesn't mean Braun is going to light the world on fire. That does not mean he is going to carry this team to podium finishes but I think he can get a grip on the car.
Braun was rumored to get an IndyCar test in 2018 with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and RLLR was hoping to run him at a third car at the Sonoma finale and last summer the report was multiple IndyCar teams were calling Braun for a potential opportunity. If the teams are sold on this guy, someone who hasn't even tested an IndyCar ever, they are hoping to find a diamond in the rough and run the risk of being fooled.
DragonSpeed is not an established IndyCar team and whatever opportunity Braun gets, if he gets one race, he needs to be at least on par with Hanley. He cannot be running much slower than him and his race results cannot be much worse. If Braun is DragonSpeed's driver of choice for Indianapolis the obvious objective is qualify for the race.
The good news is Braun has plenty of oval experience from his days of running in NASCAR. It will have been eight years, eight months and 22 days between Braun's most recent oval race, a Truck race at Atlanta on September 2, 2011 and the 2020 Indianapolis 500, but that experience doesn't disappear. He may need a little time to knock off the rust but it will come in handy.
2019 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Review
Wins: 0
Best Finish: 19th (Indianapolis)
Poles: 0
Championship Finish: 27th (Sage Karam)
2020 Driver:
Sage Karam - #24 Wix Filters Chevrolet
For the fourth consecutive year, Karam and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing partnered for the Indianapolis 500 in 2019. This year saw Karam and D&R face one of its tougher challenges.
Karam was unable to secure a top-30 spot during Saturday qualifying, ending up 33rd on the day at 226.951 MPH, and it forced him to go out in the Last Row Shootout on Sunday against James Hinchcliffe, Max Chilton, Patricio O'Ward, Kyle Kaiser and Fernando Alonso. With Chilton and Hinchcliffe full-time entrants, O'Ward being the highlight touted rookie and Alonso carrying the McLaren name, Karam was thought to be one of the drivers most likely to end up on the wrong side of the bubble but Karam put down the fastest average at 227.740 MPH and slotted himself 31st on the grid.
In the race, Karam never really factored into competing for a top ten position, but after having retired from his previous four Indianapolis 500 starts and averaging a finish of 29.5 over those fours years it was important for Karam to get mileage and he did that. He completed 199 laps and finished 19th.
While Indianapolis was Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's final race of 2019, Karam got two more opportunities to participate during the 2019 IndyCar season. With Carlin rotating drivers, Karam got a shot at Toronto, his first road/street course race since 2015. He qualified 21st and mechanical issues plagued his race, putting him six laps down and finishing 21st. Karam got another outing with Carlin at Iowa and started 14th but had a half spin exiting turn four on lap 16. He clipped Felix Rosenqvist and the damage was a set back. From there, Karam tried to hang on but had a run-in with Takuma Sato on lap 187 and that ended Karam's race and effectively his 2019 season.
Numbers to Remember:
12: Karam's best finish on a street course was 12th in the second Belle Isle race in 2015.
18: Karam's best finish on a road course was 18th at NOLA Motorsports Park and Barber in 2015.
16.4: Average starting position in the five road/street course races where qualifying was held.
3: Top ten finishes in 19 starts.
1,702: Days between Karam's most recent top ten finish in an IndyCar race, third at Iowa on July 18, 2015, and the St. Petersburg season opener.
Predictions/Goals:
Get a career best finish on a road course and get at least one top ten finish.
This will be the seventh IndyCar season Karam has participated and yet he has basically participated in one season worth of races and a third of his starts have been at one track. He is the most experienced inexperienced driver on the grid.
The numbers are not good but it is a small sample size. He got one season with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2015 in what was not a full-time but still a majority effort and it was the first season of the aero kits. Did Karam make mistakes? Absolutely. Enough mistakes that he did not deserved a second opportunity? No. Did he show promise? Yes.
That promise was mostly seen on the ovals but when looking at his rookie season and comparing it to Josef Newgarden's rookie season it seems a little shortsighted that Karam still has not had an opportunity at a full season. I am not saying Karam would have matched Newgarden's level success but he probably could develop to a point where he was putting up respectable results.
This is going to be tough not only for Karam but for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. The team has not run a race that wasn't the Indianapolis 500 since the 2013 São Paulo race. When Dreyer & Reinbold Racing pulled back from its road and street course results were exceptional. It was fourth with Oriol Servià at São Paulo and Servià finished sixth at Long Beach. In 2012, after getting Chevrolet engines starting at the Indianapolis 500, Servià had a fifth place finish at Belle Isle, fifth at Toronto and seventh at Mid-Ohio.
History suggests D&R can put together a competitive car but it has been a long time and the team is paired with a driver who has made one road/street course start in the last four seasons.
As much as Karam needs to finish better than 18th in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and get a top ten finish because it has been so long the biggest goal for Karam is to complete all the laps. If he finishes on the lead lap of every race then it at least a year where Karam does not have an accident being the most notable highlight of his season.
The 2020 NTT IndyCar Series season opens on Sunday March 15th with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. NBCSN's coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. ET
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