Five Things That Might Happen in 2024

I attended my first-ever IndyCar Content Days last week, and it was a lot of fun. One thing I didn’t realize is that the drivers are extremely busy, and while I was a bit disappointed we didn’t get much more than about 20 minutes with them, there were some decent tidbits.

It definitely had a “first day of school” or “first day of baseball spring training” kind of feel to it. There was a lot of optimism in the air.

And Abby and I recorded a podcast! If you haven’t listened to the episode, you can check it out here.

As expected, we went off on a few tangents, and before we knew it, we had been talking for an hour and still had a few topics we didn’t get to. But that’s OK, because I’m going to drop a few of them here.

Check out five things that could happen this season.

There will be a first-time winner

By my count, of the confirmed entries for 2024, there are eight drivers who have never won an IndyCar race. I think at some point that number is reduced by at least one – if not more than one – who will find Victory Lane this season.

On the top of my list is Marcus Armstrong at Ganassi. He had his moments where he qualified well last year, and drove well in several races and posted five top 10s in 12 races. His rookie year roughly followed the same type of pattern that Christian Lundgaard did in 2022, and he broke through for his first win last year at Toronto.

Not to mention, Armstrong is on a full-season schedule now, and while the ovals will probably challenge him, the fact is that it offers him several more opportunities, so he’s a good bet.

Another driver I’m thinking about is David Malukas, who has moved to Arrow McLaren after two years at Dale Coyne Racing.

It’s yet to be seen how Malukas will do with a full season on a top-tier team, but he’s already had some good showings on ovals, especially at Gateway, where he finished P2 and P3 in his first two starts. He also finished fourth at Texas last year, so it seems like short ovals might be his jam.

Will Power will bounce back

In sports, I hate the term “distractions”, because that’s the kind of stuff that the rest of us just call “real life”. We deal with it, so why is it so hard for them to do the same?

That said, Power had a lot going on in his off-track life with the health struggles with his wife Liz. As has been well documented, she went through some serious issues, so there is no shame in admitting that affected what Will was doing at the track.

After winning the championship in 2022, last year he only won two poles – and that came while sweeping both at the Iowa doubleheader – and didn’t win for the first time since he came to IndyCar.

He was happy to report at Content Days that Liz is doing better and has started exercising and working out, so it looks like she is well on the road to her recovery. Which is great news.

I have a feeling Power will be back in good form in 2024.

Andretti will be improved

We talked about Andretti IndyCar a lot on the podcast, but there is just something about the makeup of the team that I find interesting.

From a personnel standpoint, Kyle Kirkwood, Marcus Ericsson and Colton Herta all seem to bring the same type of approach to the racetrack. I think that will help, as over the last couple of seasons I feel like there were driver(s) who seemed to take a lot of energy and air from the rest of the group.

The concentrated effort from the team will help as well. While Andretti went from four cars to three, they didn’t let anyone go, which is both smart and admirable. So, you’ve got four teams worth of people working on a three-car effort, which could make a big difference.

I see the possibility of this team getting off to a good start, so long as St. Pete doesn’t become the totally embarrassing crashfest that it was a year ago. Andretti is great on street circuits – both of the team’s wins last year by Kirkwood came at Long Beach and Nashville – and in Spring Training 2023 they tested very well at Thermal Club.

With no Texas on the schedule, 2024 starts with two street circuits and whatever is going on at Thermal. That sets up well for this team.

Arie’s record(s) might finally fall

An interesting thing I caught from the transcript from Will Power’s media availability is that with the introduction of the hybrid unit holding off until after the Indianapolis 500, the teams will be coming to IMS in May with a car that is a bit lighter.

That’s the result of compensating for the additional weight of the hybrid unit, which won’t be in the car until later in the season.

Interesting.

From 1979-95, I attended Pole Day, and during that span I witnessed the one-and-four-lap track records more than a dozen times.

A year later, Arie Luyendyk set the current one-lap (237.498) and four-lap (236.986) records, which have been frozen in time for more than a generation.

Oh yeah, and he also holds the unofficial lap record of 239.260. That one isn’t going anywhere, at least for a while.

That said, if everything lines up: temperature, cloud cover, wind, time of day…all of it, the bravest of the brave may get a shot at the one-lap mark.

I mean, Alex Palou’s 235.141 first lap in Fast Six qualifying isn’t too far off, when you consider that the car is going to be up to 100 pounds lighter, if not more. Given the dropoff and tire degradation during a qualifying run, if the one-lap record goes down I don’t see the four-lap going anywhere, but you just never know.

Don’t believe me? Here’s a quote from a recent article on the IndyCar website:

“The start of the 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season is expected to feature enhanced possibilities of track records with lighter chassis components (aeroscreen, bellhousing and gearbox) prepared for the hybrid addition.”

Let’s. Freaking. Go.

an indycar driver will win a rolex

Yeah, yeah, it’s not IndyCar per-se, but the Rolex 24 at Daytona has in a way become a sort of “spring training” for many of the drivers in the series. It’s a chance to knock off some rust and get back into a competitive mode once again in one of the biggest tests in the sport.

At last check, 15 drivers in the 2024 field will be driving in one of the various classes at the Rolex, and since I’m going to be there next week for the first time since 2020, I have the race on my mind.

But anyway, six drivers are spread across the 10 teams in the GTP class, which bodes well for IndyCar to bring home a winner, while the rest of the guys are sprinkled in throughout the rest of the classes.

And IndyCar driver has been part of the winning overall team for four straight years, and I expect that trend to continue this year.

That’s it for this week, but make sure you are listening to the podcast! Abby and I are recording our next episode this weekend, and plan on having a special episode from the Rolex, so make sure you are checking us out!