Best of the Month: October 2024

It is colder. It actually isn’t that much colder. I am wearing short sleeves for the second consecutive day and it is October 31! It is darker. The year is almost over. Races are becoming fewer and fewer for this calendar year. Many championships have been awarded. A few more will be handed out over the next 30 days. One will be decided in two. It is getting a little sad, but it is natural. Seasons end. More will start soon enough. There is plenty to be excited about. There is plenty to celebrate already. That is what we will do to end October 2024.

It is Nice to See Marc Márquez Doing Well

This will not end in a championship, but for Marc Márquez possibly finishing third in the championship on a year-old Ducati after making the switch away from Honda when the Japanese manufacturer was at an all-time low, and Márquez was hoping to find fitness he has not had in nearly five years, third in the championship would be a tremendous result. 

Ever since 2020, Márquez has been fighting injuries more than he has been fighting riders for MotoGP victories. He had won eight world championships in the previous ten seasons including six MotoGP titles in seven seasons. When the delayed 2020 season was starting at Jerez, it felt inevitable Márquez would take a ninth title and fifth consecutive. With one fall, the next four years were lost. 

Most of this struggle is on Márquez's shoulders, attempting to rush back from injury only to make it worse. It did not help that Honda's slide coincided with Márquez's injuries. The speed was there at times, and he did win three times in 2021 though he missed four races and retired from four more, but he could not shake the injury bug. Over the last four seasons, Márquez missed 29 races.

It became clear Honda was not going to field a proper contender. In the previous two seasons, Márquez extracted more out of that bike than anyone could imagine. Wins would not be coming his way if he stayed, but as damaged goods his options were limited. Gresini Racing and a year-old Ducati was going to be better than most other options, and this season was a gamble Márquez took on himself. 

It has worked out.

Some of it could be down to Márquez recognizing he must remain on the bike. He cannot push the limit like he once did. The greatest ability is availability, and missing races, especially with the introduction of sprint races, are only going to extinguish championship sooner rather than later. 

For the first half of this season, we saw a rider lurking in the background. Márquez was there. He wasn't coming out on top, but he was right behind the new Ducatis. There was a threat breathing down their necks. In the second half of the season, we have seen Márquez flex his muscle.

Three victories, five podium finishes, and seven top five finishes in nine races since the summer break, Márquez will have a fight for third in the championship over the final two races with another rejuvenated rider Enea Bastianini only ten points back. Even if Márquez finishes fourth in the championship, this has been a promising season where more positives can be drawn from the results than negatives. 

This gamble has paid off in a promotion to the factory Ducati team alongside Francesco Bagnaia in 2025. Other than a championship, the results of 2024 have gotten Márquez all he could have wanted from this season. He will be on the best bike and equal playing ground as the riders that have dominated the championship the last three seasons. 

The rest of the grid is in trouble.

Antonio García's Streak Continues

The IMSA season ended nearly three weeks ago now, and somehow one of the strangest streaks in motorsports is still alive, and it is one prediction I will mark as wrong in a few weeks time when we review how the 2024 predictions played out. 

For the 13th consecutive season, Antonio García has finished either first or third in the championship. García was third in the IMSA GTD Pro championship with his #3 Corvette co-driver Alexander Sims. The streak now looks like this:

Third

First

Third

Third

Third

First

First

Third

First

First

Third 

Third

Third

Entering the 2024 season finale at Petit Le Mans, it felt like this was going to be the year García wound up in an even-numbered championship finish or worse than third. 

The #3 Corvette was fifth in the championship on 2,646 points, 13 points behind the #14 VasserSullivan Lexus of Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth, and 22 points behind the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW of Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow. As good as García and Sims are, and as tight as 22 points might be, it felt like we were bound for a weekend where the #3 Corvette would not make up that ground. That is not saying the #3 Corvette would do poorly, but with this streak on the line, it was bound to go against García. It could still be a good finish but not good enough.

How did this happen? 

The #3 Corvette took fourth in class in qualifying. Paul Miller Racing was 11th and the VasserSullivan was 12th. That made up over 60% of the gap to the Lexus and nearly half the gap to Paul Miller Racing right there. In the race, the #14 Lexus fell out of the race barely over a quarter of the way through and was classified 13th in class. The #3 Corvette was fifth while the #1 BMW was seventh. In the race, the Corvette outscored the Paul Miller Racing BMW by 20 points and the Lexus by 80 points. 

There you have it. Right when it looked destined to end, this streak continues and Antonio García has one of the remarkably consistent runs of form currently in motorsports. Nothing lasts forever, but perhaps we shouldn't believe this will until we actually see it end.

Formula One's Run-In

This might have been hard to fathom to write at the start of the calendar, but on the final day of October, only 47 points separate first and second in the World Drivers' Championship, four drivers remain alive for the title and Red Bull is third in the World Constructors' Championship with four races remaining. 

It has been a season that has taken a turn. 

Max Verstappen had seven victories in the first ten races. At the midway point in the season, Verstappen was up 84 points over Lando Norris. However, since the summer break concluded, Verstappen has finished behind Norris in five of six races. Verstappen hasn't won since Spain, and though it feels unlikely, the chance remains that the championship could change hands in about six week's time in Abu Dhabi.

Mathematically speaking, four drivers still have a chance at the championship. Charles Leclerc is 71 points back with 120 points remaining on the table. Oscar Piastri is 111 points back.

At this time last year, the championship had already been decided for two rounds entering the final four rounds. The general expectation this season was Verstappen would walkaway handily with maybe a little more competition but not enough to knock him off his perch. There is a good chance Verstappen will hold on to this title, but one poor result and it could swing to Norris. 

It will require Norris outscoring Verstappen by more than 11.75 points over the final four rounds for him to beat the Dutchman. It is long odds, but considering this Formula One season has seen four different teams each win at least three races for the first time since 1977, and this is the first season where six drivers have won at least twice since 1981, why couldn't wee see this season capped off with the absolute unthinkable?

November Preview

While Formula One is in the middle of a title fight of its own, the FIA World Endurance Championship has a championship that will be decided this weekend. 

Three teams have a shot at winning the World Endurance Drivers' Championship this weekend in the 8 Hours of Bahrain. Thirty-nine points remain on the table in the finale. 

The #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche of Kévin Estre, André Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor has 150 points after victories at Qatar and Fuji. Thirty-five points back is the Le Mans-winning #50 Ferrari of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen. Thirty-seven points back and clinging to title hopes are Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries in the #7 Toyota, which won at Imola. Mike Conway, the third driver in the #7 Toyota, missed the 24 Hours of Le Mans after a cycling accident and Conway is not alive for the championship.

Porsche also leads the manufacturers' championship with 161 points, ten more than Toyota and 27 points ahead of Ferrari. 

A Toyota team has won five consecutive championships in WEC's top class. Kobayashi is a two-time champion. The only other past champion in the top class still alive is Lotterer, who won the first World Endurance Drivers' Championship in 2012 with Audi. Estre won the World Endurance GT Drivers' Championship in 2018-19. Nielsen won the Endurance Trophy for GTE Am Drivers twice.

The 8 Hours of Bahrain will begin at 7:00 a.m. ET on Saturday November 2. 

Other events of note in November:

After the Brazilian Grand Prix, Formula One will return for another Las Vegas round.

MotoGP has two final rounds in Malaysia and Valencia.

NASCAR ends its season with Martinsville and Phoenix.

Supercars will end in Adelaide.

Super Formula concludes at Suzuka. 

The World Rally Championship crowns a champion in Japan.

The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup finishes in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 

IndyCar Wrap-Up: Team Penske's 2024 Season

Our penultimate IndyCar Wrap-Up has us at Team Penske, and we could spend a few days talking about Team Penske's 2024 season. From technical infractions to contract negotiations, teammates bickering and uncharacteristically poor results, disqualifications and accidents to another Indianapolis 500 victory, Team Penske was a soap opera in its own right. However, it was still Team Penske. Despite all of its issues, it still won the most races this season, but the team was not clinical enough to claim the title.

Scott McLaughlin

Expectations are always high at Team Penske, but McLaughlin entered his fourth full season in IndyCar expecting to continue his ascension in IndyCar. After finishing fourth and third in the championship the previous two years, McLaughlin was looking to assert himself as the best at Team Penske, and he made a great case for it.

What objectively was his best race?
McLaughlin won three races. He won at Barber Motorsports Park, the first Iowa race and the second Milwaukee race. Iowa and Milwaukee were his first career oval victories.

What subjectively was his best race?

Milwaukee stands out the most because McLaughlin had the best car, but the way the strategies played out, he could not just rely on being the best car. He had to hold off the strategic drives of Will Power, Colton Herta and Scott Dixon. A late restart only added to the pressure, but McLaughlin was able to keep the field at bay and pick up his third victory of the season.

What objectively was his worst race?
It is the race where McLaughlin was disqualified. The push-to-pass violation found after St. Petersburg relegated McLaughlin from a third-place finish with 35 points to 27th and no points. That would prove to be costly. 

What subjectively was his worst race?

In combination to the St. Petersburg race, McLaughlin lost a gearbox in the second race at Long Beach. At that time in Long Beach, we thought it was a third combined with a 26th, two results that effectively canceled each other out. Once the disqualification was announced, it went from a third and a 26th and 41 combined points to a 27th and a 26th and a combined five points. 

It felt like it was season over at that point, but credit to McLaughlin to do all that he could to remain alive. Sadly, McLaughlin lost 39 points. The St. Petersburg penalty was a 39-point swing to Álex Palou as Palou gained four points in combination with the 35 points McLaughlin lost. If St. Petersburg's results remained unchanged, McLaughlin would have won the championship on tiebreaker.

Scott McLaughlin's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 3rd (505 points)
Wins: 3
Podiums: 7
Top Fives: 8
Top Tens: 11
Laps Led: 637
Poles: 5
Fast Sixes: 4
Fast Twelves: 9
Average Start: 6.411
Average Finish: 9.1765

Will Power

Power entered 2024 after experiencing the highest of highs and the lowest of lows over the previous two seasons. In 2022, Power was champion. In 2023, Power was winless for the first time since the 2006 Champ Car season. Add to it health concerns for his wife, 2023 was a much tougher season away from the track than on it. With his wife's health restored, Power found his old spark in 2024.

What objectively was his best race?
Power also won three races this season. The first came at Road America in a race that Team Penske dominated, but Power was the third-best of the three drivers until he leaped forward in the final round of pit stops. Power again found fortune in a pit cycle when Power had yet to stop when the caution came out in the second Iowa race. He was the only driver yet to stop and this put him into the lead for the remainder of the race. At Portland, he pounced at the start and led from second on the grid, and he went on to lead 101 of 110 laps.

What subjectively was his best race?

Considering how the Road America race was turning into Scott McLaughlin vs. Josef Newgarden and Power was an after-thought, this victory was far more impressive than the others. It felt inevitable the race would be decided during the final round of pit stops between McLaughlin and Newgarden. During the final round of pit stops, Power went the longest before making his final stop, and running long was the better strategy, as Power emerged clear of his teammates. Power was able to keep the other two Penske cars behind him and he ended up taking the victory, ending a 33-race winless streak.

What objectively was his worst race?
Power had two finishes of 24th, the Indianapolis 500 and Nashville.

What subjectively was his worst race?

Nashville should be viewed as a disaster because the most self-inflicted wound ended Power's championship hopes. His seatbelts were not properly fastened prior to the start of the race and Power had to come in to get that rectified 15 laps into the contest. The championship ended right then and there. It took five laps for Power to get his belts fixed and it was a race where he had to finish third or better. The remainder of the race was wondering what could have been.

Will Power's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 4th (498 points)
Wins: 3
Podiums: 7
Top Fives: 7
Top Tens: 11
Laps Led: 367
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 6
Fast Twelves: 9
Average Start: 6.705
Average Finish: 8.6471

Josef Newgarden

No driver was more vocal during the offseason about personal changes made than Josef Newgarden. After a good but not great year in 2023, Newgarden was set to re-focus his career and he worked on getting the most out of on-track results. Dropping off-track concerns like his YouTube series with McLaughlin and unfollowing everyone on social media, Newgarden was ready to return to the top of IndyCar. Newgarden could not have prepared for a more unconventional season than the one he experienced in 2024, and he ended up heading in the wrong direction.

What objectively was his best race?
The history books will credit Newgarden with two victories for the 2024 season. The first was the Indianapolis 500, his second consecutive time winning IndyCar's most famous race, and it put Newgarden in esteemed company. The second was Gateway Motorsports Park, a race where Newgarden overcame a spin and where he had a tight battle in the closing stages with McLaughlin.

What subjectively was his best race?

It is Indianapolis. Off the back of the push-to-pass controversy, Newgarden had been marred leading into Indianapolis. His results after the disqualification were poor, and he needed a bounce back. For it to come at Indianapolis, but not just in the form of a good run, but a daring passing to the outside of Patricio O'Ward in turn three of the final lap was the statement most drivers wish they could make in their careers. 

Any doubt over talent or ability was cast aside with Newgarden flying around the outside. With it all on the one, Newgarden took a gamble and it stuck. He stole it from the fingertips of another exceptional driver, and it could leave little doubt over Newgarden's greatness.

What objectively was his worst race?
Because he was run over when the start was waved off of the second Milwaukee race, Newgarden was classified in 27th with only five laps completed though he started on pole position. That was a dagger to what was a difficult season.

What subjectively was his worst race?

It wasn't one race, but the number of mental errors we saw from Newgarden all year. He made some blunders, and if it wasn't for the Indianapolis 500 victory, it would be the defining characteristic of his 2024 season. In some ways, it still is. 

He was woeful at Barber Motorsports Park and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. He spun on his own at Detroit and it cost him dearly. He spun out from fifth late at Laguna Seca and he was flat uncompetitive at Mid-Ohio, attempting a three-stop strategy that was never going to work. The track change at Iowa caught him out, though he stilled pulled out two good results. He coughed up a top ten finish at Toronto. Then he had the Milwaukee weekend from hell, tangling with Marcus Ericsson in the first race while looking for a top five finish and having Marcus Armstrong run over him before the second race even began. 

Newgarden had eight finishes outside the top fifteen this year, his most since eight in 2014. This was a stunningly poor season or Newgarden, and that isn't even taking into consideration he was disqualified from victory at St. Petersburg. And he was still eighth in the championship.

Josef Newgarden's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 8th (401 points)
Wins: 2
Podiums: 6
Top Fives: 7
Top Tens: 8
Laps Led: 137
Poles: 2
Fast Sixes: 6
Fast Twelves: 9
Average Start: 7.294
Average Finish: 12.765

An Early Look Ahead

We cannot think Team Penske will be this dysfunctional again in 2025. There is a very good argument that if the St. Petersburg penalty never comes, this season looks very different, and I am not talking about McLaughlin winning the championship on tiebreaker. 

After St. Petersburg, it felt like Newgarden was going to be the driver to beat this year. Even after fourth at Long Beach, it appeared Newgarden was at a level to match the consistency of Álex Palou. Once the penalty came down, it shook the organization. It shook Newgarden more than the rest.

Whether we will ever know who knew what about the technical infractions on the push-to-pass system, an otherwise steady organization was in turmoil. It clearly rocked the confidence of Newgarden. All three driver lost key crew members early in the season. The team was able to right the ship at the Indianapolis 500, and McLaughlin did win at Barber Motorsports Park, but it is fair to say this group was the most disjointed in IndyCar at the start of May. 

I cannot envision Penske being that off again. It isn't going to break the rules in such a manner that is for sure. 

Either way, it has McLaughlin entering 2025 riding a great wave of confidence and arguably the best in the team. Power is revived after a difficult 2023, but for all the speed we saw from Power, he wasn't clean now the stretch with five finishes outside the top ten in the final nine races. Newgarden had his worst year at Team Penske by a considerable margin. He could not string together three consecutive good weekends to save himself. 

McLaughlin and Power may have the easiest move into the new season, but Newgarden has work to do. Newgarden vowed to make changes for the better in 2024, and he went in the wrong direction. An Indianapolis 500 victory softens the blow, but too often the #2 team struggled to get into contention or Newgarden took them out of contention. They cannot afford a repeat of that next season, and Newgarden must figure out what is the best mindset for him outside the race car.

Everyone should get better, or at least be in a better headspace in 2025. If all three of these drivers are focused, Team Penske will improve from where it was in 2024, which is already a pretty great position despite the minor chaos that happened behind the scenes.

Musings From the Weekend: Did We Expect to be Here Four Years Ago?

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

This was a brilliant weekend for motorsports. MX-5 Cup's race at Martinsville happened, and Jared Thomas won the exhibition race. Blood boiled in the Formula One world as those two world championships got a little tighter in Mexico City. There were six legitimate contenders for the NASCAR Cup Series victory at Homestead. Weather added suspense for MotoGP in Buriram. Supercars is set up for a two-driver title fight in Adelaide next month. This is the final weekend of October, and as I finish up the IndyCar Wrap-Ups this week, I thought about how much has changed in a short period of time, and if we saw this coming.

Did We Expect to be Here Four Years Ago?

The end of this October has not featured any on-track action that means anything for IndyCar (testing doesn't count), but at this time four years ago, we were only days removed from an IndyCar finale that felt relieving. IndyCar made it through 2020 with a respectable season of 14 races held over the first weekend in June through the final Sunday in October, and there was a championship battle to boot.

Despite a number of canceled events, a number of delayed events, doubleheaders galore and an Indianapolis 500 in August, IndyCar made it and we could feel satisfied. We saw a championship that went to the wire despite the uncertain timeframe for the final race and that race not featuring double points. It was also a surprise this championship was not claimed early after Scott Dixon opened the season with three consecutive victories. Josef Newgarden put up a fight to defend his championship but ended a valiant second behind Dixon as two of IndyCar's best kept each other honest to the final lap at St. Petersburg.

It was the fourth consecutive season one of either Dixon or Newgarden won the championship. After this one, Dixon found himself one championship away from tying A.J. Foyt's record of seven titles. Newgarden fell just short of a third title, and his second consecutive. 

In those days after the 2020 season, we all had a thought of what would happen in the future and what the next four seasons would look like. Did any of us expect it playing out this way? 

After Dixon and Newgarden alternated titles, after Colton Herta was third in the 2020 championship in his sophomore season directly ahead of Patricio O'Ward in his sophomore season, and after Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing had its drivers finish sixth and seventh in the championship and win the Indianapolis 500, did we expect the last four seasons would see Álex Palou win three titles in four year, Scott McLaughlin become a legitimate title contender and a threat on all circuits, Meyer Shank Racing have an Indianapolis 500 victory, and RLLR to be unable to put a driver better than 18th in the championship? 

Honestly, I cannot say I did. 

Thinking about how the last few seasons have played out, no one can say they saw it playing out exactly this way. 

Looking back on what I wrote after the 2020 season, at no point did I write about Palou winning the championship the following year let alone winning three of the next four. 

In the Dale Coyne Racing wrap-up that year, I acknowledged how a handful of results did not reflect Palou's ability and he showed something was there for his sophomore season, but I also said he was streaky and Coyne should want someone who is a step better. What a foolish thought that appears to be in hindsight?

When it came to looking ahead for Chip Ganassi Racing, I compared Palou's rookie seasons to Marcus Ericsson's rookie season in 2019, the year before Ericsson joined Ganassi. I even said, "no one is expecting Palou to immediately be a race winner."

Oops. 

That is exactly what Palou did, winning his first race with Chip Ganassi Racing, and the rest is history. 

But in 2020, I think what was written were realistic expectations for Palou, a driver who had a podium finish as a rookie but only three top ten finishes in 14 races. Palou wasn't even Rookie of the Year. He was 61 points off Rinus VeeKay, who had a podium finish of his own, three top five finishes and a pole position. Palou scored 62 points fewer than his Coyne teammates Santino Ferrucci and 63 points fewer than Ericsson in his sophomore season. Thinking Palou could replicate Ericsson's sophomore output in his sophomore season wasn't a crazy thought. It was sound thinking. After all, we had not seen a sophomore champion since Sébastien Bourdais in 2004, and that was during the split when neither IRL nor Champ Car grid was not at its strongest. 

More oxygen was spent on Jimmie Johnson joining Ganassi and IndyCar than Palou in those days, and that was understandable. A seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion was joining IndyCar. I don't think anyone thought Johnson would be a contender running only the road and street course races, but it was a seismic shift the likes IndyCar had not seen since Nigel Mansell in 1993 even if we all knew the results would not be spectacular and even if we knew Johnson would not be in IndyCar for long. It was apparent then that it would be a two-year experiment, and it didn't get extended for a third year.

But it is more than Palou. Could we really have expected McLaughlin to be a championship contender in 2024? At Team Penske, anyone can be a contender, but McLaughlin was only days removed from his IndyCar debut. Delayed due to the pandemic, McLaughlin jumped in cold and months after he showed up at preseason testing and ran well, but testing is different than a race weekend. McLaughlin showed growing pains, but that was expected then. He still was going to have Newgarden and Will Power. To be the best in IndyCar, McLaughlin would at least have to beat those two, a mighty ask of any driver and even more substantial for someone who was not coming from a single-seater background.

At the conclusion of 2020, when considering who would be the next new champion, the two title-less drivers in the top five in the championship were the leading contenders. Colton Herta turned a corner. Patricio O'Ward looked very competitive. Four years later and they still combine for zero championships. They have won their races and had their fair days, but each has shown flaws. Both were winless in 2023. Too often do Herta and O'Ward show vulnerability, something we rarely see from Palou. 

No titles in the last four seasons does not mean it is over for Herta and O'Ward. They are 24 years old and 25 years old respectively. They each have a lot of time left. As crazy as it seems to write this, but there is a good chance both will win a championship in their IndyCar careers. Maybe within the next four seasons, maybe in the next decade, maybe one has to wait until the twilight of a career at 43 years of age, but the last four years show how rare things can go the way we expect it. 

At the end of 2008, did we really expect Will Power to become the all-time leader in pole positions, one of the top five drivers in victories and have two championships with an Indianapolis 500 victory? Did we think Ryan Hunter-Reay would win a title before Hélio Castroneves and have an Indianapolis 500 victory of his own? Did we think Castroneves would end his career without a title? Did any of us see Simon Pagenuad becoming a champion and Indianapolis 500 winner? Were we sure Dario Franchitti was about to win three consecutive championships? 

The answer is probably no to all of that. Heck, at the end of 2020, I don't think anyone was certain we were going to see Castroneves win a fifth Indianapolis 500. It only took seven months for that to be proven wrong. Four years ago, I thought Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing would be fine. Whoops! 

As much as we expect and predict for the future at one moment in time, it rarely ever goes exactly as we envision in our heads, even if these thoughts are led with reason. Emotions can get in the way, but if a person remains true to empirical data to set expectations, we are doing it in the most honest way possible, using what we have seen to set the bar for the future. Anyone can throw something crazy at the wall but we all know in that moment it will not stick, but a person sitting down and crafting a logical set of events for the future can still be equally as wrong even if this person has generated significantly more thought. 

And then that leads to where we are now. Four years later and Palou is a three-time IndyCar champion. Nobody had that coming on October 28, 2020. Nothing had happened to lead us to believe that the first half of this decade would become known for the Catalan driver's dominance, and here we are. 

We are all sitting here thinking we know exactly what will occur between now and October 28, 2028, but we really have no clue. A few things will happen that make sense, but there are plenty of surprising things to come, no matter how much thought we put into what we think will come next.

Champion From the Weekend

Ai Ogura clinched the Moto2 World Championship with a runner-up finish at Buriram.

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Jared Thomas, but did you know...

Carlos Sainz, Jr. won the Mexican Grand Prix, his second victory of the season.

Francesco Bagnaia won MotoGP's Thai Grand Prix, his ninth victory of the season. Enea Bastianini won the sprint race. Arón Canet won the Moto2 race, his third victory of the season. David Alonso won the Moto3 race, his 12th victory of the season.

Tyler Reddick won the NASCAR Cup race from Homestead, his third victory of the season. Austin Hill won the Grand National Series race, his fourth victory of the season. Grant Enfinger won the Truck race, his second consecutive victory.

Cam Waters and Brodie Kostecki split the Supercars races from Surfers Paradise.

Coming Up This Weekend

The FIA World Endurance Championship finale from Bahrain. 

MotoGP's penultimate round from Malaysia. 

NASCAR's penultimate round from Martinsville.

Super GT's penultimate round from Motegi.

The Brazilian Grand Prix with a sprint race.

IndyCar Wrap-Up: Andretti Global's 2024 Season

We are entering the final stretch of the IndyCar Wrap-Ups, and we move to another race-winning organization, one that saw a shot upward. With a new name and one fewer entry, Andretti Global made a stride back to where it once was. Renewed speed produced more competitive entries. Colton Herta and Kyle Kirkwood each had their best seasons in IndyCar. Marcus Ericsson had some good days but experienced some growing pains at his new home.

Colton Herta

Entering 2024, Herta had not won since May 2022. It had been quite the rough spell for the one that was seen as IndyCar's next great driver. Victory had not been all that close either in 2023. He was more known for letting good results get away from him over the previous year-and-a-half. This season started different, and it was clear this season was not going to be same as the recent past.

What objectively was his best race?
After going more than two years without a victory, Herta won twice in the final six races, a dominate victory from pole position at Toronto and a drive to the front with a late pass for the victory at Nashville Superspeedway, the first oval victory of Herta's career.

What subjectively was his best race?

Toronto should get a mention because Herta led 81 of 85 laps, but the most impressive part of Herta's season was his oval form. He spun in the Indianapolis 500 while running in the top five, but Herta probably should have won one of the Iowa races. If he didn't get caught on pit lane in the first race when Álex Palou spun, he could have won. Herta overcame starting at the back at Gateway to finish fifth. An unsecured tire on his final pit stop cost him in the first Milwaukee race, and he had another great drive forward in the second Milwaukee race.

It felt like Herta should have won an oval race this season, and the fact it came at Nashville, another race where he started in the middle of the field and worked forward, was fitting. It is more incredible when you consider Herta had to run down Patricio O'Ward and then pull off a daring pass while splitting the lapped car of Sting Ray Robb. Sticking to the inside of turn two, Herta was able to carry speed into turn three and pass O'Ward, running away from there to close the season with a victory.

What objectively was his worst race?
Herta was in second when he spun exiting turn one in the Indianapolis 500, leading to a 23rd-place result. It was getting into the final stages of the race, and at that point Herta was running better than he had been all race. 

What subjectively was his worst race?

Indianapolis was crushing, but there was a lot of time left and there is a chance Herta would not have been battling for the lead in the closing laps. Detroit is a race he should have won. He led from pole position and the way the cautions fell shuffled Herta back and put him in a precarious position. It was not long before Herta made an aggressive move on a damp track and wound up in the tires.

Colton Herta's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 2nd (513 points)
Wins: 2
Podiums: 6
Top Fives: 10
Top Tens: 13
Laps Led: 305
Poles: 3
Fast Sixes: 7
Fast Twelves: 8
Average Start: 8.647
Average Finish: 7.4118

Kyle Kirkwood

Coming off a two-win season in his sophomore year, Kirkwood was looking to build upon what was somewhat of a surprising season. Though he won, great results were still limited. This year, Kirkwood took a step forward. Results improved and Kirkwood showed more speed. In three years, Kirkwood has gone from stepping over the edge to living in the top ten.

What objectively was his best race?
Kirkwood was in Herta's shadow for the entire race at Toronto and Kirkwood made it an Andretti Global 1-2 after the two drivers started first and second.

What subjectively was his best race?

Starting on pole position at Nashville, Kirkwood led early but he was caught on pit lane when Felix Rosenqvist suffered a tire puncture and hit the turn two wall. Kirkwood was waved back onto the lead lap immediately, but he went from first to 11th. However, Kirkwood drove forward and ended up finishing fourth in what was an impressive recovery drive.

What objectively was his worst race?
At Gateway, Kirkwood was running high in turn two when he made contact with Conor Daly and Romain Grosjean. This took Kirkwood out of contention for a top ten result or better, and he spent most of the race running 30 laps down. He was classified in 22nd.

What subjectively was his worst race?

Kirkwood lost a top ten result in the second Iowa race spinning to avoid the Alexander Rossi and Sting Ray Robb accident. Kirkwood collected Ed Carpenter in the process. It was the final lap of the race and instead of finishing seventh or eighth, Kirkwood ended up 16th, his worst finish of the season up to that point.

Kyle Kirwood's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 7th (420 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 1
Top Fives: 5
Top Tens: 13
Laps Led: 121
Poles: 1
Fast Sixes: 5
Fast Twelves: 8
Average Start: 10.176
Average Finish: 8.7059

Marcus Ericsson

Coming off a successful four-year stint at Chip Ganassi Racing, Ericsson moved to his third IndyCar team with hopes of repeating his form at a new outfit. It was going to be a challenging ask to step down from Ganassi, an organization that had won three of the previous four championships, and the Swede did experience a few more tougher days than he was accustomed to at his previous team. 

What objectively was his best race?
Though he spent most of the Detroit weekend as the third of the three Andretti cars, Ericsson ended up finishing second after all the cautions and pit strategies shook out. Ericsson had fresher tires and more fuel in the final stint than leader Scott Dixon, but Ericsson could not overtake the New Zealander in the closing laps.

What subjectively was his best race?

At Long Beach, Ericsson basically ran in a position to finish fifth the entire race. It wasn't anything special or spectacular, but after the tough start to the season, he needed a good day and he got it in Long Beach, putting two Andretti Global cars in the top five as Herta ended up finishing second.

What objectively was his worst race?
It is 33rd in the Indianapolis 500. Ericsson survived the Last Row Shootout after he suffered an accident in practice and lost his best car. Starting on the last row, Ericsson was collected when Tom Blomqvist spun. After finishing first and second in the previous two years at Indianapolis, this race was done before he even completed a corner. 

What subjectively was his worst race?

Expanding on Indianapolis, it is the ovals across the board for Ericsson. In seven oval races, Ericsson scored 81 points. That is ten fewer than Nolan Siegel, who did not qualify for the Indianapolis 500, and  only three more than David Malukas, who was not even entered for the Indianapolis 500. The only drivers that ran every oval race that had fewer points than Ericsson were Kyffin Simpson (73), Pietro Fittipaldi (72) and Katherine Legge (61).

It wasn't for a lack of speed. Some of it was poor fortune. Ericsson had the accident at Indianapolis after a trying practice week. He and Josef Newgarden got together while battling inside the top five in the first Milwaukee race. Ericsson brushed the wall on his own at Nashville. He had five finishes outside the top twenty in seven oval starts. That wasn't down to some lack of ability but more unlucky days than anything else, and that happens on ovals. The smallest mistakes can be greater amplified on ovals. That is what we saw for Ericsson in 2024.

Marcus Ericsson's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 15th (297 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 1
Top Fives: 4
Top Tens: 8
Laps Led: 14
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 3
Fast Twelves: 6
Average Start: 13.294
Average Finish: 15.176

An Early Look Ahead

Nothing is changing on the driver front for Andretti Global in 2025. The team found something in 2024. Herta looked like the driver we saw in 2020 and 2021 and who felt like he was inching closer to being a possible champion. Kirkwood picked up his form. Ericsson wasn't as clinical as we have seen, but the program did make a move forward. 

In 2023, the Andretti organization had only three races where it had multiple cars in the top ten. In 2024, that number increased to 12 races. In six of those races, all three cars finished in the top ten. Only once in 2023 did Andretti have three cars in the top ten. Andretti Global had seven races with multiple top five finishers in 2024. That happened only once in 2023. 

The problem with the Andretti organization is it has lacked that year-to-year consistency. It hasn't really pushed for the championship since Alexander Rossi in 2018 and 2019. The team hasn't won more than three races in a season since 2018, which was the most recent season it had multiple cars finish in the top five of the championship. 

Andretti Global has lacked pace over every track discipline. Over the last few seasons, it can be good in one area but weaker in others. At one point, Andretti was the best team on short ovals, but it did not have competitive pace on road and street courses. It was once the team to beat at Indianapolis but it hasn't been in the conversation the last few years. Recently, the team has looked better on street courses but its oval form took a turn. 

This past season felt like the first time in a while Andretti had good oval cars while its street course performances remained strong, but its road course form took a dip. It must find a way to be strong everywhere if it hopes to return to championship form. The drivers are there. Herta is the favorite, but Kirkwood has what it takes as well. Even Ericsson could carry the Andretti flag if called upon. The driver lineup is not a weak point for the organization. 

Considering how this season ended, Andretti Global should remain in the picture for 2025. However, the team ended on an upward trend in 2021 and by the end of 2022, its best driver in the championship was ninth. 

Álex Palou will remain the most consistent driver in IndyCar with an outstanding Chip Ganassi Racing. Team Penske will bounce back after a chaotic 2024. Patricio O'Ward is carrying confidence into next year. Andretti Global does not have its work cutout for itself, but the team ended 2024 heading in the right direction. Herta earned second in the championship through a strong finish to the season with two victories and eight top five finishes in the final ten races. That form is not accidentally. It will take more of that for Andretti Global to usurp the championship from the Penske-Ganassi tandem that has been controlling IndyCar for over a decade. 

Everyone is improving, and Andretti Global must continue working to pick up on where it left off at the end of this season.

IndyCar Wrap-Up: Arrow McLaren's 2024 Season

We are getting into the final IndyCar Wrap-Ups, and we are getting into the race winning teams. After not winning a race in 2023, Arrow McLaren had a significant bounce back, winning three times. One of those might have been a gift, but McLaren still had strong days. It did have rough patches. Its season started rather slow. Too often did it feel like all the success came from one driver. When the team was off, everyone was off. It was not a bad season, but McLaren was not really pushing for a championship, something it expects to be doing.

Patricio O'Ward

After four runner-up finishes in 2023, it did not take long for O'Ward to get a victory. He technically won the first race, but it wasn't on the road and weeks after the checkered flag had flown. However, good days would come for the Mexican driver. He had some stellar outings to show he still has what it takes in IndyCar. Mechanical issues did befall his season, as well as a few mental errors. This was better than the year before, but it is ok to be wishing for more.

What objectively was his best race?
O'Ward won three races, one of three drivers to win three races this season. O'Ward won at St. Petersburg, Mid-Ohio and the first Milwaukee race. The St. Petersburg victory was awarded to O'Ward after Josef Newgarden and Team Penske was disqualified for a rule infraction of manipulating the push-to-pass system. The Mid-Ohio victory came after leap-frogging Álex Palou in the final pit cycle. At Milwaukee, O'Ward drove a splendid race and won over Will Power.

What subjectively was his best race?

Mid-Ohio was probably his best drive of the season as O'Ward and Palou went at it for the final third of the race and neither could give an inch, but the most satisfying victory must be Milwaukee. Days after being disrespected when IndyCar CEO Mark Miles suggested O'Ward was not popular enough for a race in Mexico City, O'Ward beat down the entire IndyCar grid. It was a statement victory at the best possible time.

What objectively was his worst race?
O'Ward lost an engine at Gateway after only 42 laps and he finished 26th.

What subjectively was his worst race?

No one was more heartbroken after a race than O'Ward after finishing second in the Indianapolis 500. He was less than a mile from victory entering turn three when Josef Newgarden made a daring pass around the outside in turn three and it stuck. Newgarden was gone. O'Ward could not counter, and for the second time in three years, he was runner-up. It was an outstanding drive, and in no ways a bad performance, but we only saw one driver truly heartbroken after losing a race this season. This was crushing. O'Ward might have won over the crowd, but glory again escaped him.

Patricio O'Ward's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 5th (460 points)
Wins: 3
Podiums: 6
Top Fives: 6
Top Tens: 10
Laps Led: 189
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 4
Fast Twelves: 8
Average Start: 8.529
Average Finish: 10.118

Alexander Rossi

After a good first year for Arrow McLaren, Rossi needed to make a big step forward in 2024. That didn't really happen. He more or less matched his 2023 output, which was good, but not great. While O'Ward won races, Rossi wasn't really in the conversation. There wasn't a race where Rossi was the clear McLaren leader and leading the entire field. He could finish in the top ten, but not be a regular in the top five, and now changes are coming for 2025.

What objectively was his best race?
Rossi's only podium finish was third at Laguna Seca. Pit strategy looked to be in his favor before it wasn't and the team made a pit stop under caution, gifting control of the race to Palou.

What subjectively was his best race?

Indianapolis was again one of Rossi's best races and it looked like he had a real shot for his second Indianapolis 500 victory. He was the best Arrow McLaren driver for most of the race. A decision to stop the earliest on the final round of pit stops proved to be costly. Rossi had to watch his fuel in the sprint to the finish. He couldn't keep up with the leaders, and he was fortunate to finish fourth.

What objectively was his worst race?
An unsecured tire on a pit stop at Barber Motorsports Park took Rossi out of the race and he finished 25th.

What subjectively was his worst race?

It is the race Rossi missed. A broken wrist in Friday practice at Toronto took him out of the car, ending a streak of 142 consecutive starts to begin a career. Worst of all, Rossi finished one point outside of ninth in the championship. If he starts at Toronto, he gets at least five points.

Alexander Rossi's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 10th (366 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 1
Top Fives: 3
Top Tens: 9
Laps Led: 109
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 2
Fast Twelves: 5
Average Start: 10.625
Average Finish: 10.438

Nolan Siegel

Nobody saw the 2024 season playing out like this for Nolan Siegel. Committed to Indy Lights, Siegel was looking to be in a title fight with Jacob Abel and Louis Foster. The door opened for a handful of IndyCar races with Dale Coyne Racing, and Siegel was set to run on all the weekends that did not have Indy Lights races. However, the driver carousel at McLaren opened up an opportunity, and his relationship with Zak Brown saw him end up making the move to IndyCar earlier than expected.

What objectively was his best race?
Through the mess at Gateway Motorsports Park, Siegel ended up finishing seventh as a number of drivers fell out of the race. He benefitted from more than the accidents. The cautions also fell in his favor that allowed him to finish seventh.

What subjectively was his best race?

It is Gateway, and it was a race going well even before the accidents. Siegel was on a conservative strategy, and he was in the thick of it, but a pit lane speeding penalty took him out of the running. The cautions allowed him to get back on the lead lap and finish in seventh.

What objectively was his worst race?
Siegel did not qualify for the Indianapolis 500. Driving for Dale Coyne Racing, Siegel had an accident in practice and that set him behind the eight-ball. He made an attempt to qualify, but Coyne could not get the car up to speed. Siegel spun on his final qualifying run, the final run of the Last Chance Qualifying session.

Siegel's actual worst finish in a race he participated in was 25th in the second Milwaukee race after his gearbox broke only 24 laps in.

What subjectively was his worst race?

It doesn't get worse than failing to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. Siegel was put in a bad situation and Dale Coyne Racing was not best situated for the Indianapolis 500 this year. There can be positive to take away from that experience. Siegel still experienced what it was like to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 and a practice week. He is prepared for 2025 and there will be no surprises.

Nolan Siegel's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 23rd (154 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 1
Laps Led: 8
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 0
Average Start: 19.75
Average Finish: 17.5

Théo Pourchaire

Prior to the introduction of Nolan Siegel, Pourchaire was McLaren's squeeze. As Callum Ilott had scheduling conflicts with his FIA World Endurance Championship responsibilities, McLaren needed a driver. Pourchaire was loaned out from Sauber to race in IndyCar. Results were good and it looked like Pourchaire was going to run out the season. Unfortunately for the Frenchman, he signed with the most volatile IndyCar team when it comes to drivers, and Pourchaire was out for nothing he did wrong.

What objectively was his best race?
Pourchaire's only top ten finish in IndyCar was tenth at Detroit. It wasn't the cleanest race, as he had a run-in with Agustín Canapino that we will never forget. However, Pourchaire still took a damaged car and finished in the top ten on a weekend where he looked comfortable. He qualified seventh and was caught in the opening lap stack up, but he looked competitive and really looked good.

What subjectively was his best race?

His debut at Long Beach was pretty good. Pourchaire made his debut on short notice with no testing. It was always going to be a struggle, especially at a street course, but McLaren ran a smart race with Pourchaire. They didn't put him on a conservative strategy. They didn't try to make him save fuel. He was put on a strategy to run hard and he finished 11th coming in colder than most drivers before an IndyCar debut.

What objectively was his worst race?
Pourchaire was bulldozed late in the Barber race by his own teammate. Patricio O'Ward drilled Pourchaire and it cost both drivers as none of the three McLaren entries finished in the top twenty. Pourchaire was classified the best of the three but that was in 22nd position.

What subjectively was his worst race?

The race he didn't get to run, Laguna Seca. It was stunning when it was announced Pourchaire would be removed of the #6 Chevrolet ahead of the Laguna Seca race for Nolan Siegel. McLaren had practically confirmed Pourchaire would close out the season with the team, including the Frenchman running the ovals. Pourchaire tested at Gateway! But, suddenly, he was dropped for Siegel, and worst of all, Pourchaire had openly expressed his excitement for running at Laguna Seca. It felt like we were watching a young driver have his dreams come true, only for it to be ripped out from underneath him. It was a tough break. He got one more race substituting for Alexander Rossi at Toronto, but it was a harsh end to what was a positive part of this 2024 season.

Théo Pourchaire's 2024 Statistics

Championship Position: 28th (91 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 1
Laps Led: 0
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 1
Average Start: 19.1667
Average Finish: 14.833

An Early Look Ahead

McLaren needed this season. A second winless would not go over well. It is a team that clearly goes as far as Patricio O'Ward can take them. 

In the last five season, O'Ward is the only Arrow McLaren to win a race. O'Ward has 26 podium finishes in that time. Every other McLaren driver in that timeframe have a combined six podium finishes. While O'Ward has finished in the top five in the championship in four of the last five seasons, the next best championship finish for a McLaren driver during that time is eighth. 

For all the waves McLaren has made in creating a "Big Four" in IndyCar when there is really only a "Big Two," it is still far off from being a force in the series, and it is fair to wonder if McLaren is benefitting more from having O'Ward as one of its drivers than O'Ward is benefitting from driving for McLaren. 

We are heading into 2025 with McLaren about to add another promising young driver, and in each of the previous occasions, we have not seen that driver flourish at his highest levels while at McLaren. Felix Rosenqvist did not wildly outperform his time at Chip Ganassi Racing while driving for McLaren. Alexander Rossi did not become a championship threat again. Oliver Askew got one broken season, which was altered due to the pandemic and in which he was knocked out of a car due to a concussion. We should not be surprised if Christian Lundgaard is outstanding, but we also should not expect great things for Lundgaard. It is not because of talent but because of the team he is driving for. We should expect a bumpy road because every equal talent before him has experienced the same thing. 

From what we have seen from Lundgaard, he has the ability to be level with O'Ward. If you can finish eighth in the IndyCar championship with a victory at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing with a rather strong qualifying record, you should be able to move to Arrow McLaren and be more competitive, but we saw Rossi compete for championships at Andretti Global and not even come close to a victory in two seasons at McLaren. 

Lundgaard should experience an ease moving to McLaren where it has more resources and it is not woefully slow on ovals. He is a driver hungry for more after stalling out at RLLR. Maybe that is a hunger that was missing in Rosenqvist and Rossi, and with Lundgaard it can turn two McLaren entries in regular front-runners. Eventually, McLaren will hit on one of its hires and it will have multiple drivers threatening for victories on a regular basis. If that is the case, it is more likely Lundgaard completing the one-two combo than Siegel. 

Siegel had good results in Indy Lights, but there was nothing to suggest Siegel was some kind of can't-miss talent that teams were running to hire. Other than Dale Coyne Racing taking Siegel's money to run four events, people were not knocking down the door to hire Siegel, nor has anyone been rushing to hire anyone from Indy Lights and the Road to Indy system. There are no Oscar Piastris or Andrea Kimi Antonelli's in the Road to Indy system where you have multiple teams fighting for their service. 

Generally, top IndyCar teams let young talent go, see what they can do spending their own money at a mid-pack team, and then they will hire them at a favorable price. Chip Ganassi Racing could have hired Linus Lundqvist after his Indy Lights championship season, but it needed to see him run three races for Meyer Shank Racing before making its decision.

Let's put it this way. Siegel averaged 12.833 points per start. Prorate that over a 17-race season, and that is 218 points, good enough for 19th this year in the championship and still 33 points behind Graham Rahal. Théo Pourchaire averaged 18.2 points per start, which is 309 points over 17 races, good enough for 12th in this year's championship and only three points off Lundgaard's point total.

McLaren does not have a long leash for drivers in IndyCar. Siegel will only turn 20 years old on November 9, but if this team is willing to part from an Indy Lights champion after one season, cut ties with Rosenqvist after three years and punt Rossi after two years, why should we believe Siegel is safe? The noise McLaren makes is about being one of the best teams in IndyCar. It pays drivers well, but the results do not match. McLaren could easily upgrade its driver lineup and find a replacement for Siegel. There is a certain Frenchman without a job who likely was the better candidate still on the sidelines.

This might be the team we know the most about heading into 2025. McLaren will ride O'Ward to the top, and somewhere over the course of the season we will hear about a potential shakeup. Prepare for choppy waters.

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.