One final chance to close out a season looking at what was accomplished. As we have covered Formula One and NASCAR, now it is time to cover IndyCar. It was a rather historic season in IndyCar this year. For the first time since reunification, the championship was decided prior to the finale. For the first time since 2005, the series whose roots are the Indy Racing League was decided prior to the season finale.
But beyond the championship, we saw a few other records broken. A few veterans reached a few notable milestones. Some reached some less known marks. There are things that happened that you probably did not realize occurred. This is why we do this exercise, to hopefully leave you a little more informed.
Scott Dixon: Most Consecutive Starts
This was on our radar from the start of the season and when it comes to a consecutive starts streak, you never really know when it will end. If everything goes as planned, a driver should start every race with no problems. But little things pop up, and a streak can end on a down note.
Dixon started 2023 with 305 consecutive starts. He had not missed a race since July 2004. Nothing lasts forever, but when the record is in reach, you just hopes it lasts a little longer. Dixon had to start 14 races to break the record Tony Kanaan set from 2001 to 2020.
Fortunately, nothing bad or unforeseen occurred, and Dixon was able to make it to the 14th race of the season, the second race from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, and took this record for himself. Of course, he did it in incredible fashion, overcoming an opening lap accident to win through incredible fuel conservation. It was a victory only Dixon could pull off and he did it on such a historic occasion.
Dixon did start every race this season, meaning he enters 2024 having made 322 consecutive starts.
Dixon: Most Top Five Finishes
This wouldn't be an end-of-year IndyCar milestone recap without a handful of Scott Dixon accomplishments. We got two more for you.
This one is Dixon again reaching uncharted territory. It isn't so much the record for most top five finishes, but the plateau he reached. The record was likely always going to fall this season. Dixon entered 2023 on 192 top five finishes, one behind Mario Andretti's record.
I even said at the start of the season Dixon would likely claim this record by the second race of the season, and he did after finishing third at St. Petersburg and fifth at Texas. Once Dixon was on 194 top five finishes and the record was his, the next goal was 200 top five finishes, and it felt highly probably he could reach that mark before the season started.
He only needed eight top five finishes this season, and he had scored at least eight top five finishes in six consecutive seasons entering this year. Dixon had six top ten finishes in the first ten races. He was fifth at Nashville and then his victory in the second IMS road course race, his record-breaking 319th consecutive start, was Dixon's 200th top five finish. What a day!
Dixon ended the season with three more top five finishes, leaving him on 203 in his career.
Dixon: Second Most Laps Led
This is another record that feels increasingly more likely to end up as Dixon's before his career is over.
Dixon started 2023 with 6,519 laps led in his career, fourth all-time. He was 102 laps behind A.J. Foyt for third and 174 laps behind Michael Andretti for second. For most of this season, it did not look likely Dixon would reach second.
Through the first 13 races, Dixon had only led 13 laps. Then, starting with that August IMS road course race, Dixon went on to lead 192 laps in the final four races, surpassing Andretti for second in the final race of the season at Laguna Seca.
With 6,724 laps led entering 2024, Dixon is 871 laps behind Mario Andretti's record. He isn't likely to come close this season. Over his last three seasons, Dixon has led 783 laps. At best he could be three seasons away, but he is 43 years old and turns 44 in July 2024. It will be close. The 7,000 laps led milestone is certainly achievable, maybe even next year.
Will Power: 5,000 Laps Led
Speaking of laps led milestones, Power led 180 laps, leaving him with 5,015 laps led in his career. He reached 5,000 laps led in the second Iowa race, and in doing so became the seventh driver in IndyCar history to lead at least 5,000 laps in a career.
Like Dixon to Mario Andretti, there is some breathing room from Power to the next guy in the record book. Al Unser is sixth all-time with 5,802 laps led. Power will likely not lead 788 laps in 2024 and remain seventh for at least another season if not two, but there is a chance he could end his career with at least 6,000 laps led. That is not out of the realm of possibility.
Josef Newgarden: 52 Podium Finishes
When you win the Indianapolis 500, it is difficult to look at a season and call it a disappointment, especially when you won four times and had the second most victories in the season, but Newgarden's 2023 season just doesn't quite feel great. Perhaps it was the disjointed nature where he started rather slow and then ended on a dud with three finishes outside the top twenty in the final four events. This dropped him to fifth in the championship.
However, Newgarden did have five podium finishes this season, which made him the 21st driver in IndyCar history to reach the 50 podium finish milestone. The Tennessee-native entered the year with 47 career podium finishes. With his second-place result at Road America, he hit 50. Then he won both Iowa races and he ended the year on 52 podium results, 19th all-time, just ahead of Tom Sneva and Gil de Ferran, who both ended on 50.
Newgarden turns 33 years old on December 22 and he is already over 50 podium finishes and on the doorstep of 30 victories. There is easily another decade ahead of him, perhaps even 15 years. It isn't a matter of if Newgarden ends among the all-time greats, but where among the all-time greats.
Newgarden: Sixth Time Leading the Most Laps in a Season
Due to his oval mastery, Newgarden ends up leading a lot of laps every season. This year, he raised the bar even for himself, leading a career-high 602 laps. It was the ninth consecutive season Newgarden has led more than 300 laps in a season. But that isn't the only thing Newgarden did in 2023.
For the sixth time in his career, Newgarden led the most laps in a season. It was the fifth time in the last six seasons, Newgarden ended the year with the most laps led. It is quite the accomplishment.
How many other drivers have led the most laps in a season at least six times?
A.J. Foyt (1961, 1963-65, 1975, 1979 USAC)
Bobby Unser (1968, 1971-74, 1979 CART)
Mario Andretti (1966-67, 1969, 1984-85, 1987)
That's it. That's the list.
When it is you, Foyt, Andretti and Bobby Unser, you have done something special.
As I mentioned before, Newgarden will only be 33 years old next season, plus there are two races at Milwaukee. Newgarden has a great chance at making IndyCar history and doing something none of the other three did.
Hélio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan: 25-Year Careers
This was always going to be a sentimental year for two of IndyCar's most notable drivers. For Tony Kanaan, this was set to be his final Indianapolis 500. For Hélio Castroneves, this was likely to be his final full season in IndyCar, again. The 2023 season was going to mark the turning of the page for these careers, which started in the 20th century.
Castroneves and Kanaan started their IndyCar careers on the same day, March 15, 1998. For Kanaan, his final start will be May 28, 2023. For Castroneves, he has at least one more planned Memorial Day weekend at 16th and Georgetown in 2024. Either way, they both surpassed the 25-year mark in their IndyCar careers. They became the 19th and 20th drivers to have a career span a quarter-century.
They were only the third and fourth drivers to reach the 25-year milestone in the 21st century, joining Al Unser, Jr. and Buddy Lazier. It could be a while until the next driver hits this mark. If Juan Pablo Montoya returns for another Indianapolis 500, his career will span 25 years. Scott Dixon will likely reach this mark. After that, it s unclear who could be next. Few have the staying power of Castroneves and Kanaan. We all know that.
Katherine Legge: Ten Years Between Starts
Legge was once a full-timer in Champ Car, hung around IndyCar with the introduction of the DW12 chassis and then she was gone. To sports cars, but she was out of IndyCar circles for the most part, except for a failed program known as Grace Autosport.
This year, Legge had the support to run an additional entry with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing at the Indianapolis 500. She ended up being the top RLLR qualifier for a team that struggled and failed to get all four cars into the race. It was the first time she had started an IndyCar race since 2013, more specifically, it was ten years and two days between starts.
Legge became 12th driver to have at least a decade between IndyCar starts. She joined a select list of "wows" and "whos" to have gone at least ten years between starts. From the likes of Jacques Villeneuve and Juan Pablo Montoya to Jack Hewitt and Steve Kinser and John Andretti and then a collection of drivers from decades ago (Raúl Riganti, anyone?), Legge is now a part of that company.
Here's to it not being another decade between Legge appearances.
Santino Ferrucci: Five Top Ten Finishes in First Five Indianapolis 500 Starts
We were onto this at the start of the year because Ferrucci had the chance to do something that only two other drivers had ever done before. Only two other drivers had finished in the top five in their first five Indianapolis 500 starts. Ferrucci entered this May having finished seventh, fourth, sixth and tenth in his first four appearances.
Only Harry Hartz and Hélio Castroneves had started five-for-five in their Indianapolis 500 careers. History was not necessarily on Ferrucci's side, and yet, he had his best Indianapolis 500 to date as A.J. Foyt Racing had its best race in over a decade.
Ferrucci qualified fourth and spent much of the race at the front. He led 11 laps. A slight stumble on a pit stop cost him some time, but Ferrucci was in the mix in the closing laps and ended up finishing third, the best result of his IndyCar career.
Among drivers with at least five Indianapolis 500 starts, Ferrucci's now ranks fourth all-time in average finish at 6.0 behind only Bill Holland, Ted Horn and Jimmy Murphy. Heading into 2024, Ferrucci has a chance to make some more history, and do something never done before.
Álex Palou: 3.7059 Average Finish
We end with our champion. Palou locked up his second championship a race early something IndyCar had not seen in over 15 years. The Spaniard won five races, his worst result was eighth, he completed 2,258 of 2,260 laps. In four seasons, Palou has two championships. He already has nine career victories in 64 career starts. He is already leaving an impression on the record book and have his named littered across many different categories before his time is up.
With how he ran this season, it should be no surprise Palou's average finish was 3.7059. Imagine your average day being better than a fourth-place finish. That is extraordinary to do. How extradorinary? Since 1946, it was only the 19th time the champion has had an average finish below four. Nineteen times might not sound that exclusive, but let's put Palou's finish into greater context.
It was the best average finish for a champion since reunification. The previous best was Scott Dixon's 4.2 in 2018. Of those other champions with an average finish better than fourth, ten of those occurred during some kind of split, whether it be the USAC-CART split or the CART-IRL split. Not to take away from those championship performances, but Palou has been competing in one series with all the competition for American open-wheel racing in one place. This was the best average finish for a champion during a period of IndyCar stability since A.J. Foyt had an average finish of 3.5 while taking the 1975 championship.
We were used to the championship going to the wire and even when a driver had an exceptional season, someone remained close enough or was perhaps equally as good. We don't know when we will see another season like Palou's. I don't expect it to be the norm for a driver to win a half-dozen races and finish on the podium over ten times a season from here moving forward. IndyCar might have been due for an early championship claim, it might be due for another as well, but I don't think after almost two decades of finale drama we are going to see a decade of contests decided with races to spare.
IndyCar is going to remain competitive. We are going to have tight contests that could see three, four or even five drivers with a chance at the championship in the final race. There will be years where it will be Team Penske vs. Chip Ganassi Racing to the final day, and who knows? Maybe even Andretti Autosport and Arrow McLaren can get a driver in the title fight!
For 2023, we had Palou, a driver who had been the talk of IndyCar off the racetrack for the entire offseason, force us to continue to talk about him for what he did behind the wheel of a race car. That might not change in 2024, and might not change for quite some time.
