2026 IndyCar Team Preview: Ed Carpenter Racing

We move a day closer to the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season, and now 31 days, a month from the first race, we move to a team that ended 2025 with a surprise victory. Ed Carpenter Racing was hoping to find a spark with a new driver lineup, as the team focused on a pair of drivers while Ed Carpenter stepped back to only run the Indianapolis 500. 

Results did not come easy, but things did take a turn. The team made strides late in the season, and it ended with unexpected success in Milwaukee. It might have been more than the team could have hoped for, but it showed how high the team's potential is. Now it must continue on that run.

At A Glance... It must prove the end of last season wasn't a fluke

I don't think anyone believed Ed Carpenter Racing would win a race during the 2025 season. Not only did it, but its victory came at the hands of its sophomore driver. Over half the teams didn't win in IndyCar last season. Many notable names went winless as well. Ed Carpenter Racing was not one of them, and it ended up exceeding expectations. 

That only means the bar is higher for 2026. It is only going to get harder.

Ed Carpenter Racing ended on a strong note. Christian Rasmussen won. Alexander Rossi ended with three consecutive top ten finishes, two of which were top five finishes. Overall, the season left room for improvement, but ECR was moving in the right direction. It achieved more but it didn't really perform higher than where the team has been for the last few seasons. We need to see more.

Rasmussen won, but he did start the season with five consecutive finishes outside the top ten. Rossi had a good start to the season and a good finish, but he had a middle where he was struggled and he was not a factor in races. In turn, ECR remained solidly in the middle of the field. Not the worst team on the grid, but it was also not a threat for the championship top ten, and it wasn't a regular contender. The team was one fluke caution due to a sun shower away from not even being close to victory. While it was a great day, Milwaukee is misleading.

There are plenty of areas where this team can improve. For most of the season, it did not feel like Rossi could do better than seventh or eighth on his best days. Rasmussen had good oval races, but his road and street course form remains lacking. 

Results are going to need to come early, and they need to be more consistent. Neither driver can afford going five or six races without top ten finishes, something both drivers did last season. Rossi had a seven-race run without a top ten finish. ECR cannot afford that again. 

The 2025 season was encouraging. Both ECR drivers cracked the top fifteen in the championship. It has felt ECR has been stuck in 13th and could not get a second car into the discussion as well. It is there, and the next goal is the championship top ten. It is not unobtainable, but to get there ECR must make an actual step forward and not rely on a lucky combination of a caution, fresh tires and a few drivers not making a pit stop to make everyone believe ECR is a contender. 

The numbers will tells us if ECR is better or not.

2025 Ed Carpenter Racing Review

Wins: 1 (Milwaukee)

Poles: 0

Best Start: 6th (Thermal Club, Portland)

Championship Finishes: 13th (Christian Rasmussen), 15th (Alexander Rossi), 30th (Ed Carpenter)

Alexander Rossi - #20 Java House/Splenda Chevrolet

Numbers to Remember:

25: Race podium drought, the longest of his IndyCar career

13.764: Average finish in 2025, Rossi's worst in season

0: Top five starts in 2025, Rossi's fewest in a season since his rookie season in 2016

What is the best possible outcome?

Even if he is just regularly cracking top ten and not really in the conversation much for top five finishes, Rossi can be ninth or tenth in the championship, where was living for the previous five seasons before joining ECR. ECR has what it takes for Rossi to get seven or eight finishes between seventh and tenth and then get a few sneaky top five finishes, most likely on ovals. Those are plausible results, and if the pace is good enough Rossi could take another surprise victory for the team.

What is realistic?

It does feel like the ceiling for Rossi is 12th, where ECR has been stuck for the last decade. We have not seen the killer flawlessness from Rossi to think he can snag a bunch of top five finishes, and we know Rossi is not a special driver who can master the alternate tire compound to his advantage. He is a particular driver and if things do not line up for him, he struggles to be competitive. 

ECR isn't the team that can give Rossi that particular car. Andretti was the only team who could give Rossi what he wanted, and that only worked for two seasons. There are going to be days where Rossi hits his limit early and he will be fortunate to finish seventh or eighth. That is not going to be the norm, and in half the races he will be outside the top ten and in the other half they will go in his favor with a few brighter spots. If he can maximize those bright spots or ECR finds something special, he can crack the championship top ten.

Christian Rasmussen - #21 Splenda/Java House Chevrolet

Numbers to Remember:

21.2: Average finish in road and street course races in 2024

17.454: Average finish in road and street course races in 2025

2: Top ten starts in 31 career starts

What is the best possible outcome?

Matching his 2025 results. While Rasmussen didn't run all the races in 2024, he did run all the road and street courses. Now, he got to run them all a second time, and things were not much better. That doesn't mean they cannot improve in year three, but let's not kid ourselves to think if it wasn't working in the first two seasons with ECR, it isn't going to be that much different in year three. If it isn't going to be that much different, the results will be the same. 

The hope is he is even better on ovals, and maybe he doesn't snag a victory, but if he has three or four top five finishes it will lift his championship finish and possibly be enough to sneak him into the championship top ten, but likely it will keep him around 13th or 14th.

What is realistic?

Not everyone can get better, and Rasmussen's best two results in 2025 were a third at Gateway when a late pit cycle jumbled up the order, and Rasmussen overcame a botched pit stop and botched strategy to steal that result, and the aforementioned Milwaukee victory where a freak rain shower on a sunny day set up the dominoes for Rasmussen to take fresh tires and somehow pull off crazy passes on a restart before being able to take advantage of Álex Palou on worn tires to win the race. 

Those things are not going to happen again. He probably should have been in the top ten at Gateway, but not third. He definitely should have been in the top ten at Milwaukee, but maybe even the top five. Take 40 points away from Rasmussen and he drops to 17th in the championship. It will likely be a greater fight just to remain in the top fifteen for Rasmussen than for him to push the championship top ten.

The 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season begins on Sunday March 1 with the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Fox's coverage will begin at noon Eastern.

IndyCar Wrap-Up: Ed Carpenter Racing's 2025 Season

Our fifth IndyCar Wrap-Up brings us to the first race winning team of the 2025 IndyCar season, and it was probably a little bit of a surprise. The driver who won the race was probably not the driver you expected would win for this team, but Ed Carpenter Racing returned to victory lane for the first time in over four years. It was still a tough season for ECR. It was not a regular contender for victories, and it was in the same place we are accustomed to seeing ECR run. It just had one outstanding day.

Christian Rasmussen

For his second year in IndyCar, Rasmussen was given full-time responsibilities from day one at ECR. All the road courses, all the street course and all the ovals. There was plenty of room for growth, and Rasmussen made some strides in a team where he was paired with a past race winner for a teammate. The difference in experience did not hold Rasmussen back, and over the second half of the season, he was the better of the two Ed Carpenter Racing drivers, and Rasmussen ended the season with a stunner.

What objectively was his best race?

How about his first career victory? At Milwaukee, Rasmussen overcame a pit lane speeding penalty and took new tires under a late caution while a handful of cars did not. In the late sprint, Rasmussen used new tires to get to the front and it led to a one-on-one battle with Álex Palou, who was approaching 200 laps led. Rasmussen had the advantage and he took the lead with 16 laps remaining. 

Palou did his best to remain close, but Rasmussen had the tire advantage and was about to win by just under two seconds. 

What subjectively was his best race?

It is Milwaukee, but it is also for how aggressive Rasmussen ran the final stint. Rasmussen was on the ragged limit even after taking the lead. Despite not being under much pressure, Rasmussen never let off. Palou couldn't keep up. No one else on newer tires had close in and pose a challenge. Yet, Rasmussen remained on the limit and he was sawing on the wheel. There were a few moments where it felt like he was almost going too far, but Rasmussen took the victory.

There should be an honorable mention for Gateway because Rasmussen overcame being thrown off strategy after a bad pit stop where the car was not filled with fuel and then needing emergency service for fuel under the Louis Foster/Josef Newgarden caution. Rasmussen was able to make passes front he back and he was able to get up to third.

The Indianapolis 500 should be recognized because he ended up sixth after the post-race penalties, but he went off-strategy and it put the car in the top ten. He held his own for the entire race and moved forward from his starting position.

What objectively was his worst race?

A week after winning his first career race, Rasmussen didn't even complete a lap in the next race at Nashville. Rasmussen was starting at the back after a grid penalty for an engine change. Rasmussen spun in turn two and hit the wall, ending his season 250 laps early.

What subjectively was his worst race?

Rasmussen may have finished 12th at Portland, but his antics with Conor Daly did Rasmussen no favors. He ran Daly off the road in turn seven. That didn't get a penalty. Then the two came together in turn ten, and Daly spun off course. I don't think Rasmussen was 100% at fault and believe it was more of a racing incident, but Rasmussen did not help his already aggressive reputation.

Christian Rasmussen's 2025 Statistics

Championship Position: 13th (313 points)
Wins: 1
Podiums: 2
Top Fives: 2
Top Tens: 6
Laps Led: 46
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 2
Average Start: 17.9411
Average Finish: 14.294

Alexander Rossi

Joining his third team in four seasons, Rossi was hoping to find some form with Ed Carpenter Racing, a team that had not been a regular at the top level of competition. The season started respectively for Rossi, but after the first five races, Rossi experienced the worst slump of his IndyCar career. Results were not going his way, and Rossi ended up having his worst season in IndyCar.

What objectively was his best race?

The weekend where his teammate took victory, Rossi was fourth at Milwaukee. Rossi was actually the best placed driver on new tires after that final round of pit stops, but Rasmussen had the better restart and did a better job getting through traffic. Milwaukee was a great day prior to that final stint. Rossi spent practically the entire race in the top ten and much of it pushing for a top five result.

What subjectively was his best race?

It is Milwaukee, but Portland also deserves a mention. Portland was the first race of the season where Rossi felt like an actual contender for the podium. He started sixth and spent pretty much the entire race in the top five and on the edge of a podium spot. Prior to that, I am not sure he had really contended for a top five finish in any races. There was actually one race that looked promising. 

What objectively was his worst race?

That promising race was the Indianapolis 500, and Rossi was running in the top five, but gearbox issues brought his race to an end with a pit lane fire only adding insult to injury. Rossi's race was done, and he was classified in 28th.

What subjectively was his worst race?

It isn't one race, but it is Rossi's entire slump a seven-race rut that really started in Gateway and went through Laguna Seca. Seven races. No top ten finishes. Two retirements. Add to that the Indianapolis 500 gearbox problem two races before that, Rossi could not catch a break for two months, and it wasn't just the race results. He couldn't qualify either. He didn't start in the top ten for nine consecutive races. Considering how his season started, it was tough to see Rossi constantly struggling to be in the top half of the field. 

Alexander Rossi's 2025 Statistics

Championship Position: 15th (297 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 2
Top Tens: 7
Laps Led: 33
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 1
Fast Twelves: 5
Average Start: 14.352
Average Finish: 13.764

An Early Look Ahead

Ed Carpenter Racing ended 2025 with momentum. Rasmussen won a race. Rossi ended with two of his best finishes and three consecutive top ten finishes. The problem is how much will it carry over to 2026.

The 2025 season started well. Rossi had three top ten finishes in the first four races. The team then hit a rut. Rasmussen had a few good results, but Rasmussen has been inconsistent and erratic at times over his two seasons. He has shown good speed on ovals, but ovals are only a third of the schedule. He has never finished better than ninth on a road or street course in two seasons.

Everyone is sticking together for another season. Rossi should improve, but he didn't make a big leap from year one to year two at McLaren. That was already a team competing at the front with a load of resources. ECR is looking to move up a tier. 

There should be some positivity that the oval form could position the team to be more competitive for the championship top ten. Rasmussen did have five top ten finishes in six oval races. Rossi was on the wrong side of mechanical issues at Indianapolis and Iowa. It cost him promising results at both. Those were two races where Rossi could have at least finished in the top ten. He likely would have gotten more at Indianapolis. If he goes the distance in both of those, he is probably ahead of Rasmussen in the championship and maybe even 11th. That surely changes how we view his season. 

It is hard to get excited about Ed Carpenter Racing. It feels like we have been here before where it has these flashes but it never materializes over a full season to be something serious, and it is never more than one good year. We are going to be approaching a decade since ECR last had a driver in the top ten of the championship, and that was Josef Newgarden. Since Newgarden left, ECR's best driver has finished 15th, 14th, 14th, 14th, 12th, 12th, 14th, 13th and 13th in the championship. The team has gone through a fair share of drivers at different points in their careers and they are all end in the same area. 

We know the limit of ECR, and we haven't really been given a reason to believe next time will be any different.

2025 IndyCar Team Preview: Ed Carpenter Racing

It might feel early to look ahead to the 2025 IndyCar season, but we are within two months of the opening race from St. Petersburg, and with an expcted 11 teams and 27 full-time entries, we must start early if we want everyone to have proper coverage. Also, why wait and cram 11 previews in over the final two weeks?

We start with Ed Carpenter Racing, a team that did not crack the top ten in the championship in 2024. ECR will see a change behind the scenes that might almost be bigger than then changes on track. ECR has a new co-owner with Ted Gelov, CEO of Heartland Food Products Group which produces Splenda, joining the team. Gelov brings a financial boost that could go a long way for a team that has only won once in the last eight seasons.

Along with a new co-owner, ECR has hired Alexander Rossi, who has not won in the last two seasons, while Christian Rasmussen will move to the #21 Chevrolet in a full-time effort. Ed Carpenter will step back to an Indianapolis 500-only entry.

At First Glance... Uncertain parties are coming together

ECR has not quite returned to the heights since Josef Newgarden left after the 2016 season. It had a brief spell in 2021 where it looked like the team was back to be a regular contender. The last three years proved that was not the case.

Alexander Rossi has gone from a perennial championship contender to an afterthought, tossed aside late in the silly season by McLaren and left uncertain of who would hire him.

This is a coming together of two uncertain parties hoping for better but neither should be all that confident either can provide for the other. 

Ed Carpenter Racing has not had a driver finish better than 12th in the championship in the last eight seasons. Rossi has not finished better than ninth in the championship in any of the last five seasons. It feels lined up for a team either to receive a small boost and get over a hump or a driver to take a small step back but one that would still be classified as a decline. 

After running Rinus VeeKay for five consecutive seasons and VeeKay finishing between 12th and 14th in the championship every year, we know ECR's level. It is a mid-pack team that cannot quite breakthrough and be a regular contender, but it is not a cellar dweller either. It is a good team in a world where good is fine but not enough. Bringing in Rossi is not enough of a change to think ECR can move up to the next level.

The team is open to changes. It started last year when Ed Carpenter removed himself from the final three oval races for Rasmussen as the team hoped the #20 Chevrolet would remain in one of the 22 Leader Circle positions. Rasmussen did enough to keep the team in the money, and the Dane had a few strong runs, though his rookie season had a number of rookie moves.

ECR has kept Rasmussen onboard and for all the limitations we have seen from Rossi, he is still a veteran driver who can be quick and get respectable results. Is this enough while against other teams who are also making steps forward?

It has been 47 races since ECR's most recent podium finish, and the team is not the oval powerhouse it once was.

The one hope for this team is its best track is also Rossi's best track. Both are frontrunners every year at the Indianapolis 500. ECR might not have shown the same speed as in previous years, but it is still at the front each May. The same goes for Rossi. He is in the picture every year. 

That is only one race, and living boom or bust is a fool's errand, more likely to end in disappointment than glory. ECR must be better everywhere. Results must improve everywhere. Rossi might be a step in the right direction at both the one race the team is aiming for and at all the others it cannot afford to ignore. For both sides, there is a hint of desperation. Perhaps it will be enough to create something special.

2024 Ed Carpenter Racing Review

Wins: 0

Best Finish: 5th (Iowa I)

Poles: 0

Best Start: 7th (St. Petersburg, Indianapolis 500)

Championship Finishes: 13th (Rinus VeeKay), 22nd (Christian Rasmussen), 32nd (Ed Carpenter)

Alexander Rossi - #20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet

Numbers to Remember:

2,471: Days between Rossi’s most recent oval victory (August 19, 2018 at Pocono) and this year’s first oval race, the Indianapolis 500.

5: Times leading ten laps or more in the last 59 road/street course races (since Toronto 2019)

12.111: Average entrants’ championship finish for the best Ed Carpenter Racing entry since 2016. 

-18: Difference in Rossi’s total podium finishes over the last four seasons (six) in IndyCar compared to his total podium finishes over his first five seasons (24). 

What does a championship season look like for him?

ECR's oval strength returning and that speed we saw at Indianapolis in 2018 and 2019 being underneath him and enough to dethrone Team Penske and company to win the "500." 

Off the back of strong oval form where Rossi wins four races and finishes no worse than fifth, his road and street course results are solid. They are not spectacular every time out and there will be three or four races where he gets stuck in the middle and either finishes 12th or 13th or works hard enough to eek out a top ten finish, but on more weekends than not he is a second round qualifier and it puts him in a good position. 

Strategy does not get the better of him and it actually lifts him forward, turning what looks like a fourth or fifth into a podium results and a seventh or eighth in a top five finish. He doesn't win on a road or street course, but combined with his four victories Rossi has three more podium finishes, and along with top five finishes in all six oval races, he adds another five from the 11 road and street course events. He is running at the end of every race and finishes all of them in the top fifteen. 

What does a realistic season look like for him?

Rossi essentially has replaced Rinus VeeKay but will take over the #20 Chevrolet instead. There were only three positions between the two drivers in the 2024 championship. They were essentially living in the same neighborhood, only 66 addresses apart as Rossi scored that many points more than VeeKay, and Rossi did it with one fewer start to his name. 

Rossi had one podium finish, three top five finishes and ten top ten finishes. VeeKay went zero, one and seven in those categories. 

Paper is saying Rossi should make ECR a little better. Rossi was with McLaren last year, but he has been ninth or tenth with multiple organizations now. A little better with ECR does not necessarily equal ninth or tenth in the championship. 

It will be close, but the only place I can see Rossi winning at is Indianapolis, and that is more down to questioning how consistent ECR can be across the board. 

A realistic season is Rossi will have a few impressive days, but he will go through some days where the pace is not there and it will be a slog to try and get close to the top ten. He is looking at two or three top five finishes, eight to ten top ten finishes and possibly breaking into the top ten or coming up just short.

Christian Rasmussen - #21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet

Numbers to Remember:

6: Lead lap finishes in 13 starts last season. 

23.75: Average starting position in Rasmussen’s four oval starts.

18.333: Average entrants’ championship finish for the second-best Ed Carpenter Racing entry since 2016. 

What does a championship season look like for him?

Rasmussen bonding with Rossi and their partnership producing improvements we did not think were possible for this organization. If Rasmussen is competing for a championship than Rossi would be up there as well. 

It is a season where Rasmussen is not making mistakes and he is not running into other drivers. He is mostly following in Rossi's footsteps on ovals, but there are a few races that break his way and he wins at least twice. He is better on road and street courses, but the results are not spectacular, like Rossi's best case scenario. The difference is Rasmussen catches the breaks. He wins two races because of timely cautions that put him to the front during a pit cycle and he runs away from there. 

Those two victories are his only top five finishes on road/street courses in the season, but four victories with seven total top five finishes and 13 top ten finishes is enough for a stunning championship in a season where no other driver wins more than twice, and Rossi also finishes in the championship top five. 

What does a realistic season look like for him?

In his 14 starts last year, Rasmussen averaged 11.642 points per start. That would have put him 19th in 2024, still well behind Graham Rahal in 18th and a little ahead of Pietro Fittipaldi. 

The Danish driver had one top ten finish all season. He had five finishes outside the top twenty. He could step over the line and cost himself and he did not make many friends last year. His qualifying pace was not all that good, and outside of the Indianapolis 500 and maybe Mid-Ohio, there wasn't really a race where you felt all that impressed watching Rasmussen. 

One top ten is still a low total and he should improve from that, but I don't see a big leap. While VeeKay could not get out of the 12th-14th rut, the second ECR entry wasn't doing much better than 17th or 18th. That actually feels perfect for Rasmussen. ECR might have hired two drivers perfectly suited to finish where the team has been finishing all along. 

I think we will see improvements from Rasmussen, but not see him challenge Rossi for best in the stable. Three or four top ten finishes feels like the limit. Better, but not all that great either.

The 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season opens on Sunday March 2 with the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Fox's coverage of the season opener will begin at noon Eastern Time.

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

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

Rinus VeeKay

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

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

What subjectively was his best race?

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

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

What subjectively was his worst race?

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

Rinus VeeKay's 2024 Statistics

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

Christian Rasmussen

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

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

What subjectively was his best race?

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

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

What subjectively was his worst race?

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

Christian Rasmussen's 2024 Statistics

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

Ed Carpenter

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

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

What subjectively was his best race?

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

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

What subjectively was his worst race?

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

Ed Carpenter's 2024 Statistics

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

An Early Look Ahead

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2024 IndyCar Team Preview: Ed Carpenter Racing

And now we are down to 51 days until the 2024 IndyCar Series season opener from St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg has not been kind to the Ed Carpenter Racing organization. ECR has never finished better than sixth in the race. In 12 years visiting St. Petersburg, ECR has failed to have a top ten finisher in nine of those trips. It might not be where ECR wants to open the season, but it will the team's first chance, as with everyone else in IndyCar, to start the year on a positive note. There is always an opportunity to turn fortunes around.

At First Glance... Again, this is fine... it isn't, but it is fine

It is an IndyCar team lineup. Two cars, a veteran entering his fifth year while being paired with a rookie competing in a vast majority of the season. It is not unheard of, and for Ed Carpenter Racing, it is rather common. But it lacks excitement for a team that has not had much to be excited about in recent seasons. 

ECR feels stale and it is reverting to stale decisions. After two seasons with Ed Carpenter running all the ovals in a third ECR entry, the team is returning to Carpenter running the oval races in the #20 Chevrolet while another driver will run the road and street courses. In 2024, it will be Christian Rasmussen, the reigning Indy Lights champion who also won titles in Indy Pro 2000 and U.S. F2000.

Rasmussen doesn't need the kiddy glove treatment. He doesn't need to be babied into oval races. With two seasons of Indy Lights and a notable improvement from year one to year two, Rasmussen is deserving of a full-time role. The road/street course driver at ECR is beneath him. He will get the Indianapolis 500, but the Dane deserves a full season. 

This is ECR's decision, and a backward one at that. For eight seasons, Carpenter was sharing the #20 Chevrolet with someone. Outside of the first year in 2014, when it produced three race victory with Carpenter and Mike Conway and the #20 entry ended up eighth in the entrants' championship, it has not been a smashing success for the team. It has limited the organization. The team feels stunted when at one time it felt on the verge of breaking into the upper tier of IndyCar.

ECR hasn't had a top ten championship driver in seven seasons. Its only championship top ten driver has been Josef Newgarden. Rinus VeeKay felt like a driver with great potential. The Dutchman is on the verge of stalling out. VeeKay has finished 14th, 12th, 12th and 14th in the championship in four seasons. Last year was the first time he has failed to have a podium finish and failed to have a top five finish. 

There is no reason to believe ECR will be better than it was in 2023. Rasmussen could have a few flashy days, but rhythm will be broken at some point. In the Chevrolet camp, Team Penske is still Team Penske. McLaren isn't going to fall off. A.J. Foyt Racing now has a technical partnership with Team Penske. This isn't even taking into consideration Chip Ganassi Racing, Andretti Autosport and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, three teams that all won in 2024. 

At best, ECR is placed sixth out of the ten IndyCar teams, but ECR should be more concerned about those behind than thinking it can catch those ahead.

2023 Ed Carpenter Racing Review

Wins: 0

Best Finish: 6th (Portland)

Poles: 0

Best Start: 2nd (Indianapolis)

Championship Finishes: 14th (Rinus VeeKay), 25th (Conor Daly), 26th (Ryan Hunter-Reay), 30th (Ed Carpenter)

Christian Rasmussen - #20 GuyCare Chevrolet

Numbers to Remember:

5.3214: Average finish in 28 Indy Lights starts

15.5: Average field size in Rasmussen's 28 Indy Lights starts

39.9: Average number of IndyCar starts for the last 20 Indy Lights champions

What does a championship season look like for him?

In the last four seasons, all of which did not have double points in the season finale, and last season did not have double points for the Indianapolis 500, the average points total for the champion has been 575.5 points. 

For Rasmussen to reach that total over 12 starts, he will have to average 47.958 points per start. Essentially, Rasmussen would have to win every one of his starts to win the championship. I think if he started hot and won the first five races to open the season, which would include the Indianapolis 500. ECR would have a re-think and have Rasmussen in the car full-time to ease his championship chance. 

It is worth pondering how good would Rasmussen have to be to start his season for ECR to call an audible and keep him full-time. 

What does a realistic season look like for him?

Considering Marcus Armstrong won Rookie of the Year last year with a near-identical schedule, it is possible, but it is not likely as the 2024 rookie class includes Linus Lundqvist. Second best among the rookies is possible for Rasmussen, but it will be difficult to manage. 

Any top ten finishes would be appreciated, but the goal should be three or four top ten results. That is a quarter to a third of his results. It would be a massive improvement on where this car was the prior two seasons. With enough good results, he could challenge for top twenty in the championship, but that will likely require him being close to flawless over his 12 starts. 

It is ECR. Rasmussen will have off days, whether he likes it or not. There will be a day or two where he makes a mistake. If he is ahead of any of the full-time rookies it will be a good season. 

Ed Carpenter - #20 GuyCare Chevrolet

Numbers to Remember:

14.0555: Average finish in 54 starts since the start of the 2014 season

14.4: Average championship finish in oval points since the 2014 season

11: Consecutive starts without a top ten finish, Carpenter's longest drought since the final three races of 2004 and the first eight races of 2005.

What does a championship season look like for him?

Running only the oval races is not going to win Carpenter the drivers' championship, but what must Carpenter do to have the #20 Chevrolet win the entrants' championship? The best the #20 Chevrolet has finished in the entrants' championship was eighth in 2014, the first year of the experiment. The best Carpenter has finished in oval points since 2014 is sixth. 

Sixth obviously isn't going to be good enough. 

It will likely require the best season of Carpenter's career. At least two victories, at least four podium finishes and every finish in the top five. If Carpenter can score 238 points in his six starts, he would need Rasmussen to average around 28.125 points per race, which would be right around a sixth-place finish. That is likely asking too much for Rasmussen to accomplish. 

What is a feasible number for Rasmussen to achieve? It pays 19 points for 11th. That isn't great, but more practical than the Dane finishing sixth every start. Eleven times finishing 11th with no bonus points would net Rasmussen 209 points. If Carpenter was to win all six of his starts with the maximum points, including the extra bonus points for Indianapolis 500 qualifying, combined with Rasmussen's 209 points, the #20 Chevrolet would have 544 points. That could be enough to win the entrants' championship. It could also finish just short. It would likely put the #20 Chevrolet no worse than third.

What does a realistic season look like for him?

When we arrive at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May, we will be pushing three years since Ed Carpenter's most recent top ten finish. In the years he does well, he is sixth or seventh in oval points. No seriously, that is where he finishes, sixth in 2014, 2018-19 and seventh in 2021.

As for the other six years, 19th (2015), 21st (2016), 11th (2017), 23rd (2020), 20th (2022), and 25th (2023).

You cannot sugarcoat any of those years as good (ok, maybe 2017). For a guy that is pegged as an oval ringer, he is either feast or famine, and it is usually a devastating famine. I don't see Carpenter ending up with three top ten finishes and a top five mixed in there. The struggle is going to continue to get top ten finishes. 

He is terrible at Iowa. He is even more dreadful at Gateway where he has an average finish of 18th, and he has finished 20th or worse in six of eight starts, including in five consecutive races. His average finish at Milwaukee is 12.636 and he has never finished in the top five there. Five of the six oval races take place at those tracks. 

If Carpenter is lucky, he is in the top fifteen in oval points. Maybe he has one great oval race that boosts his numbers, but that's the only hope. 

Rinus VeeKay - #21 RiskOn International Chevrolet

Numbers to Remember:

14.706: Average finishing position in 2023, the worst of his IndyCar career

15.353: Average starting position in 2023, the worst of his IndyCar career

15: Races finished in 2023, the most of his IndyCar career

What does a championship season look like for him?

VeeKay repeating the first seven races of his 2021 season, a victory, two podium finishes, six top ten finishes, but instead of falling off the map as he does every season when we enter the summer, VeeKay does not drop off.

He does pick up more top five finishes as we get into July. Iowa is a big weekend as ECR comes out strong, VeeKay wins one of the races and finishes in the top five in the other, and he leaves with the most points scored from the weekend. 

After a respectable Toronto, the team does not fall off due to the Olympic break. VeeKay is on the podium in all three races between Gateway and Milwaukee, using the ovals to his favor, and at least one of those is a victory. He caps off the season on the podium and that is enough to win the championship.

What does a realistic season look like for him?

The previous four seasons tells us what to expect: 12th or 14th. I guess 13th is in play as well. 

VeeKay has shown speed every year at Indianapolis. He doesn't quite close out the races. Some of that is on him. He has made some bad mistakes at Indianapolis. If he can avoid that one mistake, it should allow him to be in contention come the closing laps. But problems exist away from the Speedway.

He hasn't had a top ten finish on a street course since he was sixth at St. Petersburg in 2022. He has never had a top ten finish at Laguna Seca, Nashville, Toronto, Road America and Long Beach. He hasn't had a top ten finish at Gateway since his rookie season in 2020. His average finish in six Iowa starts is 15.8333. 

VeeKay doesn't have a top ten finish in a third of the tracks on the schedule and at seven of the tracks, he has a combined three top ten finishes. 

That isn't good. VeeKay has also been in IndyCar for four years. This isn't one or two bad years thing. This is a pattern. 

We shouldn't think he can get eight to ten top ten finishes because we know that isn't realistic based on the form he has shown. Adding Milwaukee likely isn't advantageous for VeeKay. It will likely be another place where he will struggle. 

At some point, you no longer are mediocre. At some point, it will be worse. This is setting up to be the toughest season yet for ECR.

The first round of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season will be the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 10. Coverage will begin at noon on NBC and Peacock.

IndyCar Wrap-Up: Ed Carpenter Racing's 2023 Season

We conclude the first half of IndyCar Wrap-Ups with Ed Carpenter Racing. Things did not get better for ECR in 2023. Though its championship finish was right where the team has since the departure of Josef Newgarden, this felt like one of the team's worst seasons in IndyCar. This was the first time in the team's 12-season history it did not score a single top five finish. With poor results came midseason changes, but they did not make much of a difference.

Rinus VeeKay

VeeKay began his fourth IndyCar season, fourth with ECR, in 2023. Each of his first three seasons were highlighted with flashes of brilliance, but overall results left him solidly in the middle of the field. He had finished 12th in the championship in the previous two seasons. There was not an upward swing in year four.

What objectively was his best race?
It was Portland where VeeKay finished sixth and spent much of the race in the top ten despite starting 13th. VeeKay was keeping pace with the likes of Josef Newgarden and running better than Marcus Ericsson. Portland also fell in a good final stretch of the season for the Dutchman as he had finished 11th in the previous two races and had not finished better than 12th in the seven races prior. 

What subjectively was his best race?

VeeKay was tenth in the Indianapolis 500 after leading 24 of the first 63 laps, but it was a recovery drive after VeeKay made contact with Álex Palou exiting the pit lane and it knocked both cars out of the top ten and VeeKay had a penalty to overcome as well. 

There were not many great days for Rinus VeeKay this season, and Portland and the Indianapolis 500 are the only bright spots, though his own error at Indianapolis did dull the shine on it. This could have been a much better result, and a lack of patience cost him. Tenth is even flattering when you consider a handful of drivers that dropped out of the race late were running in the top ten at the time. This easily could have been a 13th or 14th place finish and no praise would be sung for such a result. 

What objectively was his worst race?
A mechanical failure ended his Long Beach race after only 48 laps, placing him in 26th. 

What subjectively was his worst race?

It is the Indianapolis 500 because it is the only track Ed Carpenter Racing has figured out, or perhaps more accurately, cares about. The team has given up being competitive everywhere else for the Indianapolis 500, and so far the team has never won the race and really only gotten close once. In four years, VeeKay has shown he is more than capable of handling the car in qualifying. He has never started worse than fourth, but he has lost composure in the race each time. If he cannot at least keep the car in contention, I don't know how long ECR will keep him on.

Rinus VeeKay's 2023 Statistics

Championship Position: 14th (277 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 2
Laps Led: 24
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 4
Average Start: 15.353
Average Finish: 14.706

Conor Daly

This was always going to be a make-or-break season for Daly. After having only two top ten finishes in his previous 38 starts entering 2023, Daly was going to have to show some improvement this season to warrant retention moving forward. Unfortunately, Daly's results continue to lag behind his teammate, and he didn't even make it through the season with ECR.

What objectively was his best race?
How about an eighth-place finish in the Indianapolis 500? Unlike his top ten result in this race the year before, Daly didn't show stellar pace, but he was in a good position when other cars falter to wind up in the top ten.

What subjectively was his best race?

Indianapolis is his only good day, but it is hard to celebrate it considering what happened before and what came next.

What objectively was his worst race?
Daly was 25th at Barber Motorsports Park, a lead lap finish but miles from contending from anything to brag about.

What subjectively was his worst race?

How about the race that led to him being fired? Starting and finishing 15th at Detroit isn't what cost him his job, but it was Daly's final act at ECR. The ride was lost after having four results of 19th or worse in the first five races. It was one top five finish and three top ten finishes in 46 starts with the team since 2020. It was never finishing better than 17th in the championship. The end was a culmination, not one sharp break.

Conor Daly's 2023 Statistics

Championship Position: 25th (88 of 134 points with Ed Carpenter Racing)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 1
Laps Led: 0
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 0
Average Start: 20.545
Average Finish: 18

Ryan Hunter-Reay

With Daly gone, ECR turned to a veteran in an attempt to steady the ship. After spending 2022 on the sidelines, Hunter-Reay made his first IndyCar appearances in over a year in May at Indianapolis with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. With no other plans, Hunter-Reay took a role with ECR and ended up running the remaining ten races. It was clear ECR's problems were deeper than the drivers.

What objectively was his best race?
After a grueling deputy role for Ed Carpenter Racing, Hunter-Reay ended his season with a tenth-place finish at Laguna Seca. Laguna Seca was such a messy race that this felt like more a top ten result out of survival than raw pace.

What subjectively was his best race?

Ironically, it was Hunter-Reay's one race not with Ed Carpenter Racing, the Indianapolis 500 driving for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Hunter-Reay spent the entire race in the middle of the field ticking off laps. Then the events of the closing laps saw Hunter-Reay leading as a red flag came out. Instead of attempting to stretch fuel, Hunter-Reay did get a splash, but he still drove up to an 11th-place finish, an admirable result for a one-off entry.

 It wasn't a spectacular day, but it was Hunter-Reay getting into a car and getting the job done. He didn't overdrive the car and waste the opportunity. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is a measured operation and the team and driver meshed to pull off something respectable.

What objectively was his worst race?
At Toronto, Hunter-Reay was hit from the inside when Jack Harvey slid into turn one. Hunter-Reay collided with Tom Blomqvist, and all three drivers were out of the race right then and there on lap one. In Hunter-Reay's case, he was classified in 26th.

What subjectively was his worst race?

Nothing good happened at Ed Carpenter Racing for Hunter-Reay. Any hope that Hunter-Reay would be the spark to lift ECR in the second half of the season were dashed quickly. The issues at ECR were always deeper than the driver. Hunter-Reay was not a magician that could take a team struggling to crack 15th into a regular top ten finisher. It was tough to watch. A returning driver with nothing to prove but hoping to show he still has it and a team that once was a sleeping giant that now merely has one trick up its sleeve and cannot even pull that one off.

Ryan Hunter-Reay's 2023 Statistics

Championship Position: 16th (131 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 1
Laps Led: 8
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 0
Average Start: 22.091
Average Finish: 18.273

Ed Carpenter

In his tenth season as an oval-only driver, Carpenter had five chances to get a victory. He was also approaching ten years since his most recent victory when it appeared this oval-only role could be rather rewarding for him. Instead, he entered 2023 off the back of a season where his best finish was 13th. In the previous three seasons, he had only two top ten finishes in 15 races. This year ended up being more of the same.

What objectively was his best race?
In an unremarkable drive, Carpenter ended up 13th in the Texas race, the first oval race of the season and Carpenter's first of five starts.

What subjectively was his best race?

Texas is really the only race Carpenter has to boost about, and it wasn't that good.

What objectively was his worst race?
Carpenter was seven laps down in 24th in the first Iowa race. He was also 24th and six laps down at Gateway, a race where he ran over the back of Benjamin Pedersen at the start. 

What subjectively was his worst race?

The only race Ed Carpenter cares about is the Indianapolis 500, and he was caught in the final accident that ended his race three laps early and placed him in 20th. He was never a factor in this race. He could not keep up with VeeKay. ECR had the speed. Carpenter didn't. 

He also wasted a fourth starting position in the second Iowa race to finish 23rd, four laps down.

Ed Carpenter's 2023 Statistics

Championship Position: 30th (46 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 0
Laps Led: 1
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 0
Average Start: 16.2
Average Finish: 20.8

An Early Look Ahead

Does anybody want Rinus VeeKay? Because it is hard to imagine he will make it to year six with Ed Carpenter Racing. Next year will be year five, and VeeKay is set for an ECR return, but at what point does this partnership run its course? 

VeeKay just turned 23 years old, but I am sure he will not want to spend the second half of his 20s fighting to finish 14th in the championship every year like he has spent for all of his 20s so far. 

We know at his highest level he can win races and compete at the front. It wasn't that long ago he, Álex Palou and Patricio O'Ward all had their first career victory within five races of one another, and there were questions about which young driver, along with Colton Herta, you would like the most going forward. Those other three are with higher ranked teams. VeeKay is with the smallest of the bunch, and with championship finishes of 14th, 12th, 12th and 14th I think we know exactly what the VeeKay-ECR partnership can do. 

Prior to VeeKay, ECR's best championship finisher from 2017 to 2019 was 15th, 14th and 14th. VeeKay has lived up to ECR's level. Does anyone see more in him? Nobody saw enough in his predecessor Spencer Pigot, though Pigot never won a race.    

ECR already has one seat it has to worry about filling. Hunter-Reay will not be back. The team tested Oliver Askew, who last competed in IndyCar in the 2021 Long Beach season finale and has not raced in anything since August 14, 2022, the Seoul Formula E season finale, and Christian Rasmussen, the 2023 Indy Lights champion. 

Askew's IndyCar career was brief. Who was the last IndyCar driver to wind up on the sidelines for multiple years, and then return and be the stalwart for a team that won races? It has been a long time since that career path has worked for anybody. Coincidentally, Ryan Hunter-Reay is probably the last driver to match that career path, but that was over 15 years ago now, and Hunter-Reay had already won multiple races despite the lengthy absence from competition. 

 

Rasmussen is ready for the move up to the next level. ECR has a history of hiring from Indy Lights. It has worked with VeeKey. It didn't quite yield desired results with Pigot. Rasmussen was the best driver in Indy Lights this year and pulled away late in the season, but this was far from the deepest Indy Lights grid. 

Of course, ECR could go in an entirely different direction. There are plenty of European-based drivers looking for work. 

As for the team's namesake, Ed Carpenter hasn't finished better than 13th in the past two seasons. It has been over ten years since he won a race. Carpenter turns 43 years old March 3, 2024. We are at the point where Carpenter should consider just showing up at Indianapolis. There is no point in wheeling out a third car just to maybe finish in the top fifteen. Let's see how 2024 goes, but no improvement should change the allocation of resources for the oval races. Indianapolis is still an option for the next half-decade, but we have enough of a data sample on the oval-only experiment. 

The only thing we should be confident about with ECR heading into next year is it will likely have a bunch of unanswered questions in about 365 days as well. This team is two years away from stability, and even that seems like wishful thinking.  

2023 IndyCar Team Preview: Ed Carpenter Racing

Less than 40 days until the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series opener, 37 days remaining to be specific, and the team previews roll into Ed Carpenter Racing. ECR didn't win a race in 2022. It had a few good showings early, but the good days dwindled the deeper the season went. There was no noticeable improvement from the season before, and that is something the team will hope changes in 2023. The team is fielding the same drivers for the fourth consecutive season, hoping consistency leads to newfound success. 

At First Glance... This is fine

Yep. This is an IndyCar lineup. Rinus VeeKay is back. Conor Dally still occupies a seat. It has been the main ECR lineup since 2020. Why break it up? 

VeeKay won a race in his sophomore season after taking Rookie of the Year with a handful of memorable performances, including a podium finish from his maiden pole position. In year three, he had another podium finish from pole position, but these high watermark days are rare for the Dutchman. While he won in his sophomore season and had six top ten finishes through his first seven starts that year, he ended that season with eight consecutive finishes outside the top fifteen. He had a podium in 2022, but he also had seven finishes outside the top fifteen and 11 finishes outside the top ten in 17 races. 

On ECR's best days, it looks like VeeKay could replicate the later stages of Josef Newgarden's time with the team, but too often the Dutchman will fall in a four-race rut and you will forget it is even competing. 

Add to it that in the better part of three seasons being an ECR driver, Conor Daly has been disappointing and, depending on the mood of the observer, one could call this time dreadful. He has routinely been the second finisher in the two-horse ECR race despite having 50 starts on the Dutchman when VeeKay debuted in 2020. Those promising days as a super-sub for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Dale Coyne Racing and Carlin have not blossomed into sustained full-time success. 

But this is fine for ECR. Retaining the lineup says as much. 

VeeKay could have something and the team has already committed to him for the next few seasons. Daly has never cracked the top fifteen in the championship when a full-time driver, but this is enough for ECR at the moment. It could be more, and the team should strive for more. Not long ago it was in the championship battle om the final day of the season. The team has been looking for that spark post-Newgarden, and it took a few seasons, but something was recaptured with the hiring of VeeKay. The issue remains that all the pieces put together do not quite reach that higher level.

ECR was once a threat at multiple disciplines. It found ways to win races with Ed Carpenter himself as driver, and even Mike Conway, then Newgarden did something greater. But now the team can only find some magic every four or five races, and that magic isn't all that spectacular. 

It still shows speed at Indianapolis, but the truth is the team that is heralded as a oval contender hasn't won an oval race in nearly six and a half years and it hasn't broken through into the championship top ten since Newgarden's final season in 2016. 

This is a small team, but we know it can be greater than its current level. It felt like a sleeping giant for a few seasons, but perhaps ECR wasn't that big after all. It will take its fistful of top five finishes every season, obsess over the month of May and when it isn't drink milk after 500 miles it will rinse, wash and repeat.

2022 Ed Carpenter Racing Review

Wins: 0

Best Finish: 3rd (Barber)

Poles: 1 (Barber)

Championship Finishes: 12th (Rinus VeeKay), 17th (Conor Daly), 27th (Ed Carpenter)

Conor Daly - #20 BitNile Chevrolet

Numbers to Remember:

2,195: Laps completed during the 2022 season, the sixth most in IndyCar

2: Top ten finishes in his last 38 starts

17.6: Average championship finish when a full-time driver

What does a championship season look like for him?

It involves interdimensional travel, and the Conor Daly from the universe where Daly never goes to GP3 and instead runs the entire 2011 Indy Lights season where he is teamed with Josef Newgarden replacing the Conor Daly we currently have. 

After impressing IndyCar teams in that Indy Lights season, he would have gotten a full-time ride in the debut season of the DW12 chassis in 2012. Daly experiences the same growing pains as Newgarden, but he benefits from being another young American in the series and his bright days are noticed.

Daly continues to develop in IndyCar and he and Newgarden's careers grow parallel to one another, each having won races and moved to different teams. However, the alternate dimensional Daly got caught in some... wormhole? I don't know. Either way, he is now here on this plain of existence. He is better developed and the Conor Daly we know goes on a nationwide EDM tour, allowing the other Daly to drive. The other Daly is fantastic. He wins early, he wins often. He is reliable and is always in the top five and pulls off a championship that feels like pure fiction.

What does a realistic season look like for him?

We should be concerned that Daly has never broken the top fifteen in the championship his career. He has had a fractured career, but he has been in cars that should crack the top fifteen. He could get there, but it will require his best season ever, and it is difficult visualizing Daly scoring six or seven top ten finishes when two has been a stretch. He could possibly get four or five, putting him close to the top fifteen, but it isn't going to be much greater than that. 

Rinus VeeKay - #21 Sonax Chevrolet

Numbers to Remember:

1,890: Laps completed during the 2022 season, the second fewest among regular competitors

12: Races where VeeKay finished worse than or did not improve from his starting position

94: laps led in 2022, a single-season best

What does a championship season look like for him?

VeeKay maximizes the days he has speed. When he qualifies at the front or toward the front, he keeps moving forward in the race. Top ten tens become top fives. Top fives turn into podium results. The season begins with another drive forward into the top five at St. Petersburg and that is theme of the first quarter of the season. VeeKay moving forward. 

The qualifying form does not falter at Indianapolis and he is again on the front row, but this time he has the race of his career and gets a highly celebrated victory for Ed Carpenter Racing. The points from that weekend gives VeeKay the championship lead, but he has a slump, more a hangover for a few races. However, the team regains its composure over the summer and a victory in Mid-Ohio puts the team back in the championship fight. 

It is a contest until the very end. Each race you think the final twist has occurred only for it to turn in the opposite direction in the next race. A significant turn occurs when VeeKay is back at Indianapolis. In the second road course race, a victory regains him the championship lead by the slimmest of margins. Then he backs it up with a victory in Gateway and two clinical top ten performances closes out his championship season.

What does a realistic season look like for him?

The championship top ten is possible, but it will require VeeKay and ECR avoiding the summer slumps of the last two seasons. When VeeKay is on it, he looks as good as his contemporaries and we have seen him string together top ten runs. If he can extend those and spread those over the entire season, he could be seventh or eighth in the championship easily. 

He can sprinkle together nine top ten finishes in a season, three on road courses, three on street courses and three on ovals with two or three of those results being top five results with maybe one of those being a podium result. That is basically Alexander Rossi's 2022 season and that earned Rossi ninth in the championship. VeeKay could do that, but he could also end up only doing about two-thirds of that and end up between 12th and 14th in the championship again.

The 2023 NTT IndyCar Series begins on Sunday March 5 with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. NBC and Peacock will have coverage of the race.

IndyCar Wrap-Up: Ed Carpenter Racing's 2022 Season

Rounding out the first half of the 2022 IndyCar Wrap-Ups is Ed Carpenter Racing. After a bipolar 2021 season that saw the team contesting at the front for most of the first half before both cars were dragging at the bottom for the second half, ECR was looking for better balance in its results. The drivers remained the same but the program did expand in a minor way. Things improved and the team replicated its best form on multiple occasions this season, but there is more to be done as there were a few rough patches. 

Rinus VeeKay

After achieving early success in the 2021 season, VeeKay's results fell off in the second half of that season and the hope was the 2022 season would see more of his best. The raw talent came out in a number of good performances, but there were still a few down points. The lows might not have been as low as the year prior, but there is certainly room for improvement.

What objectively was his best race?
VeeKay won pole position at Barber Motorsports Park and he led 57 laps before losing the lead in the final round of pit stops. Patricio O'Ward had better a better in-lap, pit stop and out-lap compared to VeeKay and it got O'Ward the lead while Palou took second, but VeeKay held on for third. 

What subjectively was his best race?

Barber was the one race VeeKay looked like a threat for victory. Mid-Ohio deserves a mention because he was moving forward in that race and wound up fourth. He also got sixth at St. Petersburg with a slightly alternate strategy that nearly bit him stretching the alternate tire on the opening stint.

What objectively was his worst race?
It doesn't get lower than 33rd in the Indianapolis 500. For VeeKay, he spun in turn two while running in the top ten and looking like he was going to be in the mix for the entire race from third on the grid.

What subjectively was his worst race?

It is hard to top the Indianapolis 500 because it was a deflating result considering where he started. There are a few others results that look bad. He had a rough day in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis where he didn't show great pace and he did spin. In the second Iowa race, VeeKay was lined up for a promising result before a pit lane entry infraction cost him and put him two laps down. 

Gateway probably takes the cake though because Ed Carpenter Racing was slow there. VeeKay had nothing and it was almost merciful the car broke down on him after 53 laps because he wasn't going to do much better than his 23rd starting position. 

Rinus VeeKay's 2022 Statistics
Championship Position: 12th (331 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 1
Top Fives: 3
Top Tens: 6
Laps Led: 94
Poles: 1
Fast Sixes: 3
Fast Twelves: 7
Average Start: 11.235
Average Finish: 14.059

Conor Daly

After a dismal 2021 season, Daly hoped to run closer to his younger and less experienced teammate in 2022. Though there were good days for Daly and he was more of a contributor to Ed Carpenter Racing's success, he still came in second among the two drivers. The gap remained noticeable at times with Daly more likely than not at the rear.

What objectively was his best race?
A fifth in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis after Daly nearly blew the race going on a massive fuel save while no one in the race did. Daly went from the top five to outside the top fifteen because everyone else was pushing on slicks as Daly saved fuel. However, the race changing back to wet conditions combined with the cautions allowed Daly to recover and pull out a top five result.

What subjectively was his best race?

It is the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, but everyone will remember Daly's sixth in the Indianapolis 500. Twice Daly had the caution come out in an advantageous position for him in the pit cycle. The cautions put him in the top five when he might not have ever cracked the top ten in the race and he spent much of the race in the top five before finishing sixth.

What objectively was his worst race?
That would be 25th at Portland after a small fire re-fueling cost him time on his first stop, but it also burned out his clutch and ended his race after only 67 of 110 laps.

What subjectively was his worst race?

The Iowa races. Daly started third in both race of the doubleheader. In race one, he fell like a rock and finished 19th. In race two, he fell like a rock and finished 16th. At the start of the Iowa weekend, it felt like it would not have been surprising if Daly won one of the races. When it was over, we had two races where Daly was a factor in neither and it was a wasted chance for some results. All the one-lap speed in the world wasn't going to cover for the tire degradation that ECR wasn't on top of. 

Conor Daly's 2022 Statistics
Championship Position: 17th (267 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 1
Top Tens: 2
Laps Led: 7
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 1
Fast Twelves: 2
Average Start: 15.412
Average Finish: 16.529

Ed Carpenter

Unlike previous seasons, Ed Carpenter's oval-only program was not in the #20 Chevrolet which he has become known for driving over the last 15 years or so. Instead, Carpenter gave the keys to the #20 entirely to Daly while Carpenter himself moved into the #33 Chevrolet for the five oval races. It was a new ride, but the results looked similar to past seasons for the owner-driver.

What objectively was his best race?
It was Carpenter's first race of the season where he finished 13th at Texas from 21st on the grid and led four laps during a pit cycle.

What subjectively was his best race?

Uh... Texas? Texas wasn't even that good of a race for Carpenter. He made up eight positions from where he started, but all of those were basically from other cars retiring. At no point did Carpenter make any flashy moves in that race.

What objectively was his worst race?
It would be 25th in the first Iowa race when he had an accident. It was a race where Carpenter never looked competitive to begin with.

What subjectively was his worst race?

The Indianapolis 500 wasn't going to be a spectacular finish for Carpenter when the red flag came out. He was tenth when the race was stopped, but unfortunately, Carpenter's car did not restart when the red flag was lifted. Once the car was fired, it took longer than allowed for him to retain his running position and instead of restarting tenth, he restarted last on the lead lap and in two laps he clawed to 19th. 

Ed Carpenter's 2022 Statistics
Championship Position: 27th (75 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 0
Laps Led: 4
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 1
Fast Twelves: 1
Average Start: 18.4
Average Finish: 19.2

An Early Look Ahead

More of the same for Ed Carpenter Racing, which isn't a bad thing, but it makes you wonder what the future looks like. 

VeeKay agreed to a contract extension earlier this year. Daly is secure for at least 2023, but his long-term status is questionable. VeeKay still looks like the driver that ECR can build around, but for every race VeeKay excites you there are two races where he is average. That could partially be on the team because more times than not it is VeeKay leading the way while Daly is running 15th. It has been rare over the last three seasons where Daly is leading by a comfortable margin. It has normally been VeeKay ahead comfortably or the two cars close together with VeeKay still ahead majority of the time in those scenarios as well. 

As for VeeKay's future, it feels more likely he will be a long-term ECR driver. For a driver who won early in his sophomore season, some have seen him poised for a move to a larger team. It doesn't seem like that is going to happen. It is pretty crowded and VeeKay hasn't really stood out. He won a race, but he has also finished outside the top fifteen in 21 of 46 career starts, 45.65%. It is only getting more crowded with Callum Ilott, David Malukas and Christian Lundgaard on the grid. It could be beneficial if VeeKay and ECR commit to each other. 

ECR represents what IndyCar is at the basic level. All the teams have a shot at winning on their given weekend. ECR can have it all click at one track and pull out a victory. It happened in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in 2021 and it nearly happened at Barber in 2022. A team could have three or four race weekends that are like that. It is a great feeling, but beyond those three or four or possibly even six or seven race weekends, it just doesn't have enough to be a championship contender. That is great for the series in the sense on any weekend someone can surprise but it is bad that really about 75% of the grid you know isn't going to be fighting for a championship. 

Teams can come close and ECR was one of those teams with Josef Newgarden. Since Newgarden, it has fallen into the pack with the rest. For this team to be more than everyone's darling a few races a year, it needs to make a big stride and seeing its pace at certain places it almost feels possible, but the last few seasons show it hasn't made much ground from where it has been. 

Carpenter moving to his own entry and ECR having two full-time drivers is a step for the team. It knows two dedicated drivers working together every weekend will bring more success than the rotation we saw from 2014 through 2021. Giving VeeKay and Daly another year together is good for the program, but 2023 is where we will fine where the limit is. Daly has been with ECR since 2020, two years as the road/street course driver and 2023 will be his second as a full-time driver. After what happens next year, wherever the chips fall are where they fall. If Daly is again outside the top fifteen and VeeKay is ahead of him, somewhere between ninth and 14th, I think it is clear the direction the team needs to go to grow. 

Next season will be a pivotal point for the ECR organization. Difficult decisions will be made. 

2022 IndyCar Team Preview: Ed Carpenter Racing

We are moving back to a Chevrolet team with the sixth IndyCar Team Preview for the 2022 season. Ed Carpenter Racing went into 2021 without a victory in nearly five years. It took five races for ECR to be back on the top step of the podium and the team did it with sophomore driver Rinus VeeKay. 

The Dutch driver started 2021 with incredible form, six top ten finishes in the first seven races, but a cycling accident broke VeeKay's collarbone after the eighth race, and his season was not the same afterward. Conor Daly and Ed Carpenter continued to split the #20 Chevrolet in 2021, but neither could match VeeKay. Carpenter was fifth in the Indianapolis 500, but it was the only top ten result for an ECR driver other than VeeKay. Daly's best finish with the team was 11th and his oval results took a dip filling in the #59 Chevrolet for Carlin.

After eight seasons, ECR will field two full-time drivers, as Daly takes over the #20 Chevrolet permanently with Carpenter running a third entry for the Indianapolis 500 and possibly the other oval races. VeeKay will be back for his third season.

2021 Ed Carpenter Racing Review

Wins: 1 (Grand Prix of Indianapolis)

Poles: 0

Best Start: 3rd (Indianapolis 500, Belle Isle II)

Championship Finish: 12th (Rinus VeeKay), 18th (Conor Daly), 27th (Ed Carpenter)

Conor Daly - #20 BitNile Chevrolet

Daly was set for a full season split between two teams again in 2021. Starting with ECR, Daly qualified in the top ten at Barber Motorsports Park but fell back to 16th. At St. Petersburg, he started 19th and climbed to 16th. 

Moving to Texas, Daly shifted to Carlin's #59 Chevrolet. With qualifying rained out for both races, Daly was forced to start dead last in each race, as the 24-car grid was set via entrants' points. The difficult nature of Texas Motor Speedway trapped him at the back in race one and he finished 21st. In race two, he was caught in the accident at the start and went across the start/finish line upside down, a dramatic way to be classified 24th. 

Things turned around in Indianapolis. He qualified sixth in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis but contact with Simon Pagenaud sent him off course and he stalled. The gearbox was damaged and for the second consecutive race he was dead last in 25th. For the Indianapolis 500, he started 19th while his teammates both made the Fast Nine. However, Daly was able to run long on the first stint and took the lead under the first caution for Stefan Wilson's spin. He led 40 laps, 100 miles, but didn't have the pace as the race remained green and dropped back. He survived hitting Graham Rahal's loose tire after Rahal's spin exiting the pit lane to finish 13th. 

He was a mid-pack driver for the middle portion of the season, and it wasn't until the second IMS road course race he was contending for a top ten finish again. An off-track excursion dropped him from a top ten spot in the middle of the race and he finished 11th. He couldn't quite find the balance at Gateway, but with the number of cars falling out of the race, he made up positions and was 11th again. 

The season ended with three consecutive results outside the top fifteen. 

Numbers to Remember:

0: Top ten finishes in 22 starts with Ed Carpenter Racing.

80: Career starts, ninth most among the 25 announced full-time drivers for the 2022 IndyCar season, and the most among full-time drivers without a victory.

7: Drivers have taken more than 80 starts to get a first career victory (Michel Jourdain, Jr., George Snider, Ed Carpenter, Oriol Servià, Wally Dallenbach, Eddie Cheever and Alex Tagliani).

112: Drivers with at least 80 IndyCar starts.

19: Drivers with at least 80 IndyCar starts and zero victories.

What does a championship season look like for him?

It starts with a top ten finish in St. Petersburg, Daly's first with Ed Carpenter Racing. With one top ten under his belt, Daly heads to Texas and gets ECR its first oval victory since Iowa 2016. He gets another top ten at Long Beach but finishes 14th at Barber. 

Heading home to Indiana, Daly starts the month of May with a sixth-place finish in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. He gets ECR back into the Fast Nine and qualifies on the second row for the Indianapolis 500. In the race, he leads 39 laps but one of those is the last lap and he becomes the first Hoosier to win the Indianapolis 500 since Wilbur Shaw in 1940. 

With two oval victories under his belt, he gets a top five at Belle Isle and Road America. He is 15th at Mid-Ohio but gets back into the top ten at Toronto. He makes it three oval victories at Iowa with a top five finish in the other Iowa race that weekend. Back in Indianapolis, he finishes in the top five for the second IMS road course race and he is ninth at Nashville. 

He does not pick up a victory at Gateway, but he finishes fourth and he is in the top five for the final three races of the season, with fourth and third-place finishes at Portland and Laguna Seca respectively. 

What does a realistic season look like for him?

Ed Carpenter Racing was finding its form last year before the second half of the season. The pace was there to be competitive and mix it up in the top ten. Daly can break the top ten funk in 2022. It could come at either a road/street course or an oval, and with one of each to lead off the season, he could have a top ten very early. 

However, there is clearly two sides to ECR. It went from Renaissance to spiraling down the drain all in 2021 alone. There is a middle ground. ECR is not set up to be a routine race winner, but it can be competitive. With Arrow McLaren SP making a leap forward last year, ECR is the third best Chevrolet team with at least five cars ahead of its pair. Throw in at least three Honda teams and another eight solid entries, it will be tough for either ECR car to break the championship top ten. 

Daly could get into the top fifteen and not surprise anybody. A top ten championship finish would require hands down his best IndyCar season, at least nine or ten top ten finishes, with a few podium finishes and a few top five finishes. I think Daly would be happy to get just five top ten finishes. Any finish in the top five is hard to imagine right now. If a top five finish were to come, it would have to be on an oval.

Rinus VeeKay - #21 Sonax Chevrolet

The 2021 season started with an impressive drive for VeeKay, from 14th to sixth at Barber. He was in the top ten for the entire St. Petersburg race and finished ninth. In the first Texas race, he was the only driver to make a pit stop before the James Hinchcliffe caution and that trapped him a lap down, leading to a 20th-place finish. In the second Texas race, he broke through to a ninth-place finish. 

In Indianapolis, VeeKay qualified seventh for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. The team maximized the tires over each stint and VeeKay grew faster with each lap. He found himself challenging Romain Grosjean and Álex Palou and took the lead once and for all with 21 laps to go. His victory made him the third first-time winner through five races.

On the oval, he qualified on the front row, best of the team in third, and he led early in the race. Fuel mileage was his greatest enemy, and VeeKay was stopping earlier than the other front-runners. This cost him positions, but he took a respectable eighth-place finish. Through the craziness of the first Belle Isle race, VeeKay was second. For the second Belle Isle race, VeeKay started third, but he cut a tire after contact with Marcus Ericsson and finished 18th. 

The following Monday, VeeKay went for a cycling ride and fell off his bike, breaking his collarbone. The injury knocked him out for the Road America race that weekend and Oliver Askew filled in. VeeKay was not the same after the injury. He was 16th at Mid-Ohio, taken out early at Nashville and spun out in the second IMS road course race when Scott McLaughlin hit him. 

He made his own costly error at Gateway when he made contact with both Ganassi cars on a restart. He would be outside the top fifteen of the next two races purely on speed and fuel pressure issues ended his Long Beach finale early.

Numbers to Remember:

7.857: Average finish in his first seven starts of 2021.

9.0: Average starting position in his first seven starts of 2021.

20.375: Average finish in his final eight starts of 2021.

17.625: Average starting position in his final eight starts of 2021.

What does a championship season look like for him?

The season starts a lot like 2021, seventh at St. Petersburg, eighth at Texas, fifth at Long Beach and he winds up fourth at Barber. 

Back at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, VeeKay doesn't quite match his 2021 performance, but he is still on podium. In the Indianapolis 500, he is the best ECR entry all race but finishes third. At Belle Isle, VeeKay qualifies on the front row and pulls out his first victory of the season. He makes it four consecutive podium finishes, with a third at Road America, and his victory at Mid-Ohio makes it five consecutive podiums.

He falls back at Toronto, but he is in the top ten of both Iowa races. On the IMS road course, he is back on the podium before finishing seventh in Nashville. At Gateway, VeeKay is in the lead battle all night, but a great final pit stop is what gets him the lead and his third victory of the season. He follows it up with a third at Portland and a fifth at Laguna Seca.

What does a realistic season look like for him?

With how VeeKay started in 2021, he is clearly capable of more than how his season ended. The falloff was too great for it to be pure luck. He had strong results in 2020 at a few rounds, including Gateway and the Harvest Grand Prix. His collarbone injury knocked him off his form in 2021, and he never recovered. Fully fit, he should get back to that level occasionally in 2022. 

He can regularly finish in the top ten, and we saw he can win. He has been able to make up positions in races and turn an average starting position into a top ten or even top five finish, but his qualifying pace can limit those days. There should be plenty of races where he is in the top ten from the start of the weekend and remains there. 

ECR did fall off in 2021 that was more than the driver, and the team could hold him back from being incredible. There will likely be a few race weekends where it isn't there and a top ten is out of reach. That will bring his championship finish down. Limiting those days will be key. 

There is a chance VeeKay gets the same results he got in 2021, but instead of having all the good races and all the bad races clustered together, they could be mixed, and his season will look more average. He could also repeat his 2021 start and continue that form throughout the entire season. VeeKay could make a gain in 2022 and could break into the championship top ten. Victory will be difficult, but not impossible, as we saw last year. A few top five finishes are more practical for his season. 

The 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season begins on Sunday February 27 with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. NBC's coverage will begin at noon ET.