While last month’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg kicked off the NTT IndyCar Series campaign, the series entered the season with continuing momentum.
The 100th Indianapolis 500 in 2016 began IndyCar’s growth process and it continued when Roger Penske and Penske Corp. purchased the sanctioning body and Indianapolis Motor Speedway late in 2019.
With the series’ future secure, the momentum continues.
The series and its manufacturing partners are already working on the 2023 engine and chassis package. That’s when a new “hybrid- assist” engines built by Honda and Chevrolet will help lead the series into the future.
The hybrid-assist is designed to give the engines an extra kick of horsepower, pushing them past the 900 plateau. A new chassis is being designed and developed by Dallara that will incorporate the aeroscreen and other enhancements into the chassis.
Before skipping ahead to 2023, let’s take a look at what to expect in IndyCar this season
Although he is only 41 years old, six-time IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon has as much time left behind the wheel of the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda as he probably wants. He certainly isn’t ready to retire anytime soon.
Colton Herta (IndyCar photo)
That means he is focused on winning more championships. One more series title would be Dixon’s seventh, tying him with A.J. Foyt for most in the series.
Two more titles would put Dixon on top all by himself.
“That’s definitely the goal,” Dixon told SPEED SPORT. “As always, to start the year we want to first try to win the Indianapolis 500 and secondly, win the championship. We’ll go hard to try and do that.
“As I’ve said many times before, we are in the business of winning races and if you are winning races, championships will come. That’s the goal right now.”
A fast start to the COVID-plagued 2020 season propelled Dixon to his sixth title. He hopes to get out of the gates quick again this year in pursuit of a seventh championship.
“I keep focusing on what I’m doing now and that means being competitive,” Dixon said. “I have a great family and a great family group at Chip Ganassi Racing. This will be my 21st season with this team. We just want to win. We want to win races. We want to win championships.
“We have some pretty stout goals to go after whether it’s second on the all-time wins list with Mario (Andretti), which is one away for a tie, and one title away from A.J. on the championship list.
“You always have those goals and things that inspire you, but it’s always hard. The choice of how long you do this is a personal choice.
“That might be a good choice to ask me in five more years.”
Dixon continues to push the limit, even with an influx of very fast, younger drivers, including his teammate Alex Palou, the reigning series champion.
“The competition is always tough at the pointy end of the field, but we are starting to see even more depth in the series,” Dixon said. “It’s only going to get better, man.”
Just as Mario Andretti was able to win the Indianapolis 500 in his fifth attempt in 1969, Dixon won the 2008 Indy 500 in his sixth try.
He hasn’t won it since, finishing second three times.
“Shoulda, coulda, woulda — that place doesn’t owe me anything,” Dixon said. “We’ve had great speed, especially in recent years, and have led a lot of laps. Having finished second so many times, that is the worst place to finish because you are so close. In some of those finishes, they were under caution, and I wasn’t able to fight for the win when we were clearly in the stronger position.
“Everybody has a story about how they should have won. We didn’t. It’s time to try to get that done.”
Chip Ganassi Racing will have five cars in the Indianapolis 500 for the first time. The team includes Dixon, Palou, emerging championship contender Marcus Ericsson, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and 2013 winner Tony Kanaan.
After an impressive season on the road and street courses last year, former Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean, who drove for Dale Coyne Racing with RWR last year, will drive the No. 28 DHL Honda at Andretti Autosport.
Scott Dixon (IndyCar photo)
He replaces 2012 NTT IndyCar Series champion and 2014 Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay.
Just as Johnson will compete in every race for Chip Ganassi Racing, Grosjean will do the same at Andretti Autosport.
“I think last year joining IndyCar, discovering the U.S. has been incredible,” Grosjean said. “It was definitely a season I’ll remember for a long time. And then getting the chance to drive for Andretti just adds to the fun, I would say. Incredible opportunity.”
Another familiar face who has moved to a new team is Simon Pagenaud, who left Team Penske after seven successful seasons to join former teammate Helio Castroneves at Meyer-Shank Racing.
During his time at Team Penske, Pagenaud won the 2016 NTT IndyCar Series championship and the 2019 Indianapolis 500.
“It’s been seven incredible years. I made friends out of teammates, although we’re competitors on the race track,” Pagenaud said. “It’s a big change in my life, big change in my career, but a good one.”
Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato left Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing for Dale Coyne Racing with RWR.
Jack Harvey joined Graham Rahal and rookie Christian Lundgaard with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing after several seasons with the Meyer-Shank operation.
Pato O’Ward believes Arrow McLaren SP is ready to take a spot as a power team alongside the likes of Chip Ganassi Racing, Team Penske and Andretti Autosport.
Ganassi’s operation is still a champion after Palou won the title in 2021, while Team Penske and Andretti Autosport have both missed the mark the past two seasons.
“I have one focus and that one focus is on IndyCar,” said O’Ward, who tested the McLaren F-1 car at the end of last season. “I want to give these guys their first championship. I’d love to give them their first 500. This is what my focus is right now.
“Who knows if F-1 will be an option or won’t be an option? Obviously, if it comes about, I will 100 percent take it and every single driver in my position would do it because it’s Formula 1,” O’Ward said. “That’s what I grew up watching and that’s what I grew up dreaming of. That same dream that you have as a kid will never go away.
“Right now, I have a challenge here and I want people to enjoy me in IndyCar.”
Team Penske will attempt to reclaim its status as a leading championship and Indianapolis 500 contender after two years of missing the mark.
Josef Newgarden has finished second in the championship the past two seasons, unable to secure the title at the end of each year. Newgarden has also never won the Indianapolis 500.
Another Team Penske driver is Will Power, who signed a contract extension at the beginning of last season but finished ninth in the standings. It was the worst season of his career.
Rounding out the Penske driver lineup is Australian Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin, who had an up-and-down campaign in his rookie season.
At Andretti Autosport, veteran drivers Hunter-Reay and James Hinchcliffe are out. That makes Alexander Rossi and 21-year-old Colton Herta the elder statesmen on the four-driver team that includes Grosjean and rookie Devlin DeFranceso.
Other rookies are Indy Lights champion Kyle Kirkwood at A.J. Foyt Racing, 20-year-old Formula 2 driver Lundgaard at Rahal Letterman Lanigan, 20-year-old David Malukas at Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports, Callum Ilott for Hollinger Juncos Racing and Tatiana Calderon with A.J. Foyt Racing.
Rinus VeeKay is back for a third season with Ed Carpenter Racing and Conor Daly will become the full-time driver of the team’s No. 20 Chevrolet. Carpenter intends to focus on the Indianapolis 500.
Dalton Kellett returns to A.J. Foyt Racing.
And, of course, four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Castroneves returns to full-time IndyCar competition for the first time since 2017. He will drive in every race on the schedule for Meyer-Shank Racing.
Keyword: IndyCar: What To Watch