Well, that happened.
The 2024 IndyCar Season was… weird. The vibes have been well and truly off this season and I’m entering the 6-month off-season not sure about the direction of the series and where it’s going. But before I go into greater detail about my overall feelings on the series, we must get through the field, a Dre Harrison end-of-season tradition.
This will be a three-part series reviewing all the teams and drivers in the IndyCar field in 2024. Here’s how I’m going to split them this year, generally on team performance and vibes:
Part 1 – Dale Coyne, Juncos Hollinger, Ed Carpenter, Meyer Shank
Part 2 – AJ Foyt, Rahal Letterman Lanigan, McLaren
Part 3 – Andretti, Penske, Ganassi, General Vibes
For almost every team here, I’ll be talking about the team metrics and prospects as a whole, as well as in-depth reviews and ratings for every driver in the field on my usual 10-point scale. Except for one team, and you’ll see why very shortly. I’ll also add new ratings, splitting the rankings into Road and Street scores and Ovals, to get a better idea of driver quality. You’ll see as you read on. Have you got it? Good. Let’s roll.
PS: The Thermal Club non-Championship round will NOT be included in the stats.
Ah shit…
Dale Coyne Racing
Season Highlight: It’s finished / Season Lowlight: Everything Else
I’ll cut to the chase, there won’t be many individual driver rankings here. Why? It’d be a waste of time. Dale Coyne had the unfortunate dishonour of having a major series record beaten by them – NINE different drivers sat in their cars throughout the season. Considering that 43 drivers took part in at least one race this season, that means over 20% of the field drove a Dale Coyne:
Jack Harvey, Nolan Siegel, Conor Daly, Hunter McElrea, Colin Braun, Luca Ghiotto, Katherine Legge, Tristan Vautier, Toby Sowery
Remember those names, there’ll be a quiz on Saturday. And seeing Tristan Vautier’s name up there says it all. It reminded me of my first season watching IndyCar properly in 2015. Dale Coyne was a mess then too, another time they had nine different drivers in their machines, and seats that essentially went to the highest bidder. Vautier and Daly drove for Coyne back then too, with other names like Pippa Mann and James Davison scrapping for every race they could get. And surprise, two of the four bottom cars in the entrant standings belonged to them.
You know it’s not a good sign when the Charter’s new rules about only potentially having three drivers per car for a season is called “The Dale Coyne Rule”.
History repeated here, with both Coyne cars rooted to the bottom of the outright entrant standings and missing the Leader’s Circle entirely. Coyne is normally good enough to steal a strong result here or there via running alternate strategies but they couldn’t even manage that this year. Their best result across the entire season, in either car, was thirteenth. It’s saddening. This was a team you wanted to root for with some very likeable drivers like Jack Harvey fighting through injury, or Katherine Legge and her initially excellent ELF Cosmetics brand activation (That seemingly dropped off hard after the Indy 500).
Coyne has said they want driver stability for 2025, and I think that would be a good start. Of all the drivers who got significant seat time this season, Toby Sowery would be the smartest bet for one of the seats in my opinion. Of the other options, why not take Louis Foster as a driver to build around? The 2024 Indy NXT Champion crushed the field by over 100 points en route to an eight-win season. There’s $850k in scholarship money off the bat plus whatever his sponsorship brings. I hope that’s enough, but we all know the competition for paying seats is always strong. And it looks like Linus Lundqvist is a free agent too…
In any case, this team needs help. The last real survivors of the split seem more directionless than they’ve ever been and badly need a rebuild, especially with other teams around them making gains.
Jack Harvey – 25th in Points (143), Best Finish: 13th, Average Finish: 19.9 (14 Races)
Road Course Ranking: 25th / Oval Ranking: 26th
It’s worth pointing out that due to the way his seat was initially divided, and the fact he missed a race through injury, Jack Harvey only did 14 out of the 17 races.
I feel sorry for Jack and how the tail end of his IndyCar has turned out. Moving away from Meyer Shank to a Rahal Letterman Lanigan squad in disarray may have ended his career. He’s genuinely hard to evaluate because even if he was excellent, Dale Coyne was so uncompetitive as a unit overall, that I’m not sure what difference it would have made.
On ovals in particular, they were often a mile per hour or slower than the other backmarkers. Nolan Siegel’s practice crash effectively sealed his 500 bumping before qualifying had even started. Katherine Legge would have been in real trouble if it wasn’t for that and Marcus Ericsson’s awful month of May.
I applaud Harvey’s determination. Driving multiple races when he was at a point where he was failing the 10-second test to evacuate the car because he could barely walk due to neck and back spasms is something I can respect, even if it wasn’t in his best interest.
Jack said he aims to be a broadcaster if his racing career comes to an end. I think he’d be a fine addition to FOX’s crew. And I say that sincerely, not just because that’s how we generally describe racing drivers who are good people but not quite good enough to be there anymore. I’m not sure where I sit with Harvey on that scale, but there’s likely no way back from here if Coyne goes in a different direction. We’ll see. 3/10
Juncos Hollinger Racing
Season Highlight: Both Cars in the Leader’s Circle / Season Lowlight: Canapino’s Breakdown
Juncos Hollinger Racing, the Denver Broncos of the NFL. The ride never ends. If you know, you know.
On the face of it, this wasn’t a bad season. Romain Grosjean mostly kept his head screwed on and delivered a solid all-round season, on par with the best of Callum Illot’s time with the team. Both cars got into the Leader’s Circle for the second year running as well, meaning an extra couple of million in the bank – Invaluable for a smaller team.
But man, it was a Horlicks for Juncos to get over the line. I’ll be talking more about this in the individual section for Canapino, but the obvious nature of the team’s mismanagement of both the Argentine’s social media, and part-owner Ricardo Juncos led to a hellacious amount of negative publicity off the track, and eventually, a driver sacking mid-season and McLaren breaking off a technical partnership. A salute to Conor Daly for doing what he does best – Standing on a moment’s notice and driving hard on the Ovals to save the #78 car in the home stretch. He even got them their first podium finish in the series.
It goes to show you that the upside in this team is still there, and Grosjean drove well for his level of resources. They just need more of this for next year. Grosjean’s likely to stay, and I’d like to see Conor Daly rewarded for his efforts with a full-time run in the #78, but there remain rumours that Jamie Chadwick may end up there as a part-timer. Not sure that’s the move.
Still, a decent year was salvaged. Hopefully, 2025 will be the year they can build on it.
Romain Grosjean – 17th in Points (260), 2 Fast 6’s, 6 Top 10’s, Best Finish: 4th, Average Finish – 15.6
Road Course Ranking: 15th / Oval Ranking: 17th
As said, a pretty good season from Grosjean. The thing I was most worried about, his temperament, was a non-factor. Even with Santino Ferrucci poking the bear a fair bit in the middle of the year while NBC was stirring the… *sighs*… “Hate Cauldron”.
Exceptional in qualifying too, making the Fast 6 twice, the Fast 12 six times, and an Average Start of 12.8, the raw speed IS still there. His 4th at Laguna Seca at the time was Juncos’ best-ever result, the good comfortably outweighed the bad here.
For me, if Grosjean wants to take another step, the ovals have to improve. Juncos in general haven’t been the best of oval outfits, but to be outpointed by Conor Daly (By 18 points) who ran one oval less on the year isn’t great. A stronger oval run and Juncos crack the Top 15 for the first time in their history.
But by all accounts, this is about as reasonable a season as I can expect out of a Juncos driver and I think more importantly, Grosjean has given this team the stability it’s always needed, especially with all the unfortunate drama with Callum Illot last year, and well… the other side of the garage. 6/10
Agustin Canapino – 27th In Points (109), Best Finish – 12th, Average Finish – 20.4
Road Course Ranking: 24th (9 Races) / Oval Ranking: 32nd (3 Races)
*sighs* What an Argentine tragedy. I wrote about it at the time, and I stand by it – This was meant to be such a great story. Canapino learned English in 4 months, and left a comfortable bubble as Argentina’s greatest Stock Car racer, to go race for the Argentine team, run by the best friend of his late father.
It ended with a string of horrendous results, poorly written statements, a mental breakdown and a premature firing.
The simple story is that Canapino badly regressed and his results were terrible on the way to his firing. His final five results in IndyCar were 18th, 22nd, 27th, 25th and 26th, including an embarrassing crash out of the pits in Iowa and crashing into Scott Dixon in Toronto. Once you factor in his obsession with his phone at Road America in the aftermath of his horrible statement about Theo Pourchaire, it was clear the team was at worst incompetent at handling the public sphere (With evidence of their treatment of Callum Illot in 2023 already damning), and at best, ignorant with its support of Canapino.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Brad Hollinger was the one to step in and say enough was enough.
Not for the first time in this section, the mid-season sacking proved successful, and Conor Daly scored two Top 10 finishes, including that magical podium in Milwaukee to save the #78’s entrant standing.
What’s wild is that Juncos didn’t rule out a return of Canapino at the 500 as a part-timer. What good is that going to do? His form was dreadful and he’s now radioactive to the fanbase on social media. Why do you want that smoke?!
Before I end this section, I sincerely hope Canapino is in a good place. I do have a degree of sympathy for him – I’ve been on the receiving end of multiple Twitter pile-ons and it’s much easier than many think to sink into the depths of social media and the way it can bring out the worst in you. I think his love for the series was sincere and genuine. Hopefully, this experience will be a lesson learnt for all parties. 2/10
Ed Carpenter Racing
Season Highlight: Rinus Veekay Finishes Strong / Season Lowlight: The End of Ed?
The purgatory continues. Ed Carpenter Racing is the Sauber of IndyCar. The participation trophy. The team is just “there”.
They weren’t dreadful this year. Rinus Veekay did some very good work during the season which I’ll get to later, and Christian Rasmussen had flashes of real promise in there, but the reality is, Rasmussen just barely got over the Leader’s Circle line, and Rinus Veekay overall, finished his Season Average for his 5 years in IndyCar – 13th.
ECR, like I said last year, just feels directionless. Rinus Veekay is still the best driver they’ve had since Newgarden, but he drives for a team that doesn’t showcase him at his best often enough to warrant a better team. But he’s also nowhere near bad enough to warrant moving on from. At least Ed himself realised he may no longer be the best driver for the 20-car and stepped aside late in the season so Rasmussen could get some more experience, and his oval races were all better than Ed’s four-race part-time stint.
I hope Christian Rasmussen gets another year, but on the whole, this still feels like the ceiling for ECR and I don’t know how much more they can do. They made the drastic change last year, and that didn’t work. They took on the Indy NXT Champ this year and are still a work in progress.
And then there’s Ed himself. Was the hybrid drop mid-season the final straw for one of the series’ longest veterans and oval specialists? He was extremely vocal about the switch saying: “We’re spending a lot of money to not improve the racing”, and his speed was poor. Ed’s not had a Top 10 finish since 2021, and one has to wonder, is it still in his best interest to race when he has a talented youngster with potential alongside? Does he want to keep going into 2025?
Rinus Veekay – 13th in Points (300), 7 Top 10’s, Best Finish – 5th, Average Finish – 13.7
Road Course Ranking: 18th / Oval Ranking: 10th
This is going to be one of those seasons that you have to dig a little deeper into it and then you realise… this wasn’t half bad. Especially if you spot the end of it. How was this for a late run from Iowa onwards: 5th, 9th, 8th, 10th, 11th, 14th, 7th, 12th. Averaging a Top 10 for nearly half the season was nice, and it climbed him back up to 13th overall after a horrible first half.
10th on Ovals is a nice little eyebrow raiser, and more proof that Veekay is just a good oval racer period, not just a 500-Quali specialist. But the Road Courses have to improve, he shouldn’t be down there in 18th overall, he’s been better and needs to rekindle some magic there.
But once again, Veekay feels like a man stuck in purgatory. It feels like Groundhog Day whenever his name comes up. He can’t be his best because he drives for Ed Carpenter, but he cannot do better because he drives for Ed Carpenter. It’s a drag. Veekay can leave at the end of 2025, and he needs to do everything he can to put himself in the shop window because this is a story we’ve all seen before already. Five times now. 6/10
Christian Rasmussen – 22nd in Points (163), 1 Top 10, Best Finish – 9th, Average Finish – 18.4
Road Course Ranking: 21st / Oval Ranking: 25th (4 Races)
22nd in the points feels a little harsh for Rasmussen, given his average start and finish were both in the 18s. Of course, he missed three oval races due to his owner taking the #20 car on three occasions. I’m glad Ed stepped aside, it was the right decision to get the best out of his young driver. He plays out the full season, he probably finishes about where Kyffin Simpson, SRR and Pietro Fittipaldi ended up.
Overall, there are some flashes of potential in Rasmussen that I liked. That 9th in Mid-Ohio was very impressive and showed he’s got some speed on Road Courses, as well as his 12th at the Indy 500. For me, he was the real Rookie of the Year for the race, not Kyle Larson (We all know IndyCar media butters up the high-profile part-timer). 11th in Milwaukee Race 1… hit Graham Rahal in Race 2. Unfortunate.
There’s something here, and again, I’d like to see him get a full season with a slightly more reputable team. He’s still clearly rough around the edges, there were too many crashes for my liking even as a rookie, but he also has speed, and as we’ve seen with Andrea Kimi Antonelli in F1, I’d rather tame a quick driver, than try to force it with a slow one. 4.5/10
Meyer Shank Racing
Season Highlight: Thermal’s Cash Money / Season Lowlight: Tom Blom’s 5 race disaster
What a weird season for Meyer Shank. It felt like a bit of a new era for them. Helio Castroneves investing as a part-owner/500 specialist. The sadness of being forced to move on from Simon Pagenaud was replaced with an exciting line-up of Felix Rosenqvist and Tom Blomqvist, the latter fresh off his brilliant drive at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona.
It ended up being a bit of a mixed bag. Felix Rosenqvist had the best season Meyer Shank has ever had in IndyCar, 12th overall and a non-Championship podium, but it still feels a little underbaked as an overall season; more on that in a bit. The other side of the garage in the #66 car was a mess. Tom Blomqvist eventually being dumped after a disastrous Indy 500, with David Malukas coming in two rounds later to fill in for the rest of the year. And once again, the team who made the ruthless cut mid-season, came out better for it, with Malukas comfortably getting the #66 car into the Leader’s Circle. The point was though, it should never have even been close to begin with.
This is a darn good midfield team at its best, capable of fast starts and podiums. They’re the Goteki 45 of IndyCar teams. Great qualifying speed and early thrust, but fell back to the midpack as the races went on. Hopefully, their future partnership with Chip Ganassi Racing can have a similar effect to a team that’s been promoted to Part 2 status.
Meyer Shank’s still a team figuring out how to make two cars work. They’re almost there, and I’m going to be very intrigued by what they’re going to do next without David Malukas in the second car as the king of the memes heads to AJ Foyt. 2025 will be a real test for Marcus Armstrong.
Felix Rosenqvist – 12th in Points (306), 5 Fast 6’s (1 Pole), 6 Top 10’s, Average Finish – 13.8
Road Course Ranking: 10th / Oval Ranking: 15th
Like I said a minute ago, this is the best Meyer Shank season in IndyCar to date, and if anything, it’s a shame that their one podium for the year came at the Thermal Club which only counted for cash and an extra ice cream at the on-site catering.
Felix got out of the gate like he was on fire. Immense in Qualifying, including a pole position in Long Beach. By Barber heading into May, he was just a handful of points outside of the Championship lead. Including Thermal, five straight Top 10s to start the year.
That’s when he peaked. As the rest of the top teams started stretching their legs, Felix slipped down the order. Wasn’t all on him, with a detonated engine at the Indy 500 and another mechanical at Iowa Race 2. And as much as he was sixth in Gateway, he crashed out at Nashville, which has sadly become a bit of a trend for the Swede on ovals. If he wants to crack the Top 10 overall, which I think he has the car to do it with, he just needs to raise his floor on ovals a little more, alongside operational good form from his employers.
Delighted he got a two-year extension though, the biggest sign of commitment yet in his IndyCar career. Let’s see what he can do with it. 6½/10
Tom Blomqvist – 30th in Points (46), Best Finish – 15th, Average Finish – 23
Road Course Ranking: 29th / Oval Ranking: 36th (Last – Wonder Why?) (5 Races)
And only fair I also mention:
David Malukas – 24th in Points (148), 2 Top 10’s, Best Finish – 6th, Average Finish – 16
Road Course Ranking: 26th / Oval Ranking: 22nd (10 Races)
Another mess. I had high hopes for Tom Blomqvist, he’s one of the world’s best in Sportscars and had single-seater time pretty recently… even if it was Formula E. But he never looked comfortable in IndyCar and never really showed anything to suggest he was here for the long haul. He was put out of his misery after the Indy 500 when he lost it at the very first corner and took Marcus Ericsson with him. After losing the team hundreds of thousands of dollars and risking its Leader’s Circle status, something had to give. If anything, I feel bad he knew he was taking this one knowing he was going to miss Le Mans for it and by the time he was dropped, couldn’t get back on the grid. That sucks. He’ll be alright. 1/10
After a small cameo from Helio Castroneves, while they found a replacement (Don’t ask, it was exactly what you’d expect from a 48-year-old), they signed David Malukas, after he was dropped by McLaren before even being able to turn a wheel in anger. More on that in McLaren’s section.
Malukas was very solid. We all know he’s a short-track king and was challenging for the win multiple times down the stretch, such as in his second home of Gateway and Nashville. He was super unlucky to be both taken out in the former and running short on fuel in the latter in cars that were able to genuinely contend for victory. But the main aim was getting the #66 into the Leader’s Circle and he’s done that with flying colours. An Average Start of 8.6 across his 10 races was excellent by the way – Only six full-timers did better.
He’s a good kid, Lil’ Dave. At the final round at Nashville, he poured praise on Shank for saving his career. He’ll be heading to AJ Foyt for 2025 in a move bankrolled by Roger Penske himself, who has seemingly chosen his next apprentice. I still would like to see more from Malukas before justifying that claim. Being alongside Santino Ferrucci is an intriguing test. If he comes through from that, we could be looking at another Will Power. 7/10
In Part 2, I talk about the rise of AJ Foyt Racing, the continued struggles of Rahal Letterman Lanigan, and the little team that couldn’t… McLaren?! See you next week.
