MEYER SHANK RACING
I’d put money on Mike Shank being sick of the color pink, and not because of the hue of the pair of IndyCars he runs with Jim Meyer, but because of the gallons of Pepto Bismol he’s consumed this year. The season was going horribly before Simon Pagenaud’s Mid-Ohio crash and has only gotten worse since the Frenchman has been sidelined in what will become five races by the end of the weekend.
And now, with less than six weeks left in the season, Shank and Meyer have some tough choices to make on where to steer their underperforming team.
Pagenaud and Castroneves entered 2023 with the prospect of becoming free agents if things didn’t go well. The hope was for both to earn extensions, but as we’ve mentioned ad nauseum, change is expected with Helio. Granted, Castroneves has been the best MSR performer this season, but holding 20th is not what he or the team had in mind. And when an Indy 500-winning operation has both cars sitting 20th or worse in the championship — no matter who’s driving — it can lead a proud and well-funded team like MSR to pull the plug and start over.
MSR IMSA champion Tom Blomqvist is anticipated to take the full-time role in Helio’s No. 06 Honda, but we’ll wait for the team to confirm that.
Pagenaud’s No. 60 has been the real area of interest because the debate that’s said to exist is whether it would be better to start fresh with a pair of rookies and deal with the downside of their learning curves, or if the smarter way forward would be to pair a rookie with a veteran who can be a mentor while delivering immediate results. I’d love for that guy to be Pagenaud, but a lot of things need to happen first.
The timing of the brake failure was terrible for Pagenaud; the No. 60 was 24th in the championship entering Mid-Ohio, and while he and the team felt great about the direction they were headed, he didn’t get the chance to show it in qualifying or the race and he has been parked ever since. If it weren’t for the shaky results prior to the crash, I’m confident Pagenaud would have been extended.
But since the No. 60 program got off to such a worrying start, Pagenaud and the team were being patient and waiting for a breakthrough event to signal that continuing in 2024 was a worthwhile venture. That breakthrough never happened before the crash, which has left an injured driver like Pagenaud, who’s in a contract year, in the unenviable position of needing to go out and prove that he deserves a new deal from MSR. This is the unfortunate part of the sport. The choice to pay someone millions of dollars is based upon many factors, with the driver’s most recent results at the top of the list. Sadly, it’s not for what they’ve done in the past. The results of 2023 are the determining factor.
The team has Linus Lundqvist ready to make his debut this weekend, and he’s been on MSR’s radar for a while. MSR’s other IMSA star, Colin Braun, could be a sleeper pick if the No. 60 is available next season. He’s a rocket like Blomqvist, has been racing professionally since he was 16 in sports cars and NASCAR, and has vast oval experience that can’t be overlooked.
MSR loved Nyck de Vries when he tested for them, and I’ve also heard Drugovich’s name mentioned. If the team ends up seeking a new IndyCar veteran, Rosenqvist ticks every box imaginable. On that theme, I’ve had a few folks ask if Jack Harvey would be in line for a seat at his former team, and it’s unlikely.
If Pagenaud can get back in the car soon and perform well, it would go a long way to assuaging any fears about his health and ongoing capabilities. And if he can’t, it’s going to be more bottles of Pepto for MSR during a brutal offseason filled with fundamental changes to its roster.
RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING
Among the many shoppers in the IndyCar paddock, RLL has its No. 30 Honda to fill next year and most of the familiar names like Ericsson, Ilott, Malukas, and Rosenqvist have been linked to the opportunity.
Throw in former F2 driver Juri Vips and Linus Lundqvist, and RLL finds itself in the same spot as Andretti, Ganassi, and Meyer Shank, where an overabundance of talent to consider is a wonderful problem to have. The only difference here is RLL isn’t chasing two or more drivers; it needs one pilot who will complement its race winners in Christian Lundgaard and Graham Rahal and turn the team into a three-car threat.
Harvey, who is pursuing his options after his contract is up in September, hopes to earn another chance elsewhere in the series.
Ongoing rumors that the team might sample some new talent towards the end of the season — possibly in an extra entry — refuse to die down. To RLL’s credit, it has supported Harvey throughout nothing but rough results since he arrived on a two-year contract in 2022, but change is on the horizon.
TEAM PENSKE
There’s no business to be done in 2024 as all three of Penske’s current drivers have at least one more year to go on their contracts. It’s Will Power’s tenure with the team after 2024 and whether he’ll retire that will have the next silly season humming like Joe Tanto.
One interesting Penske-related item to ponder is the future of Force Indy’s USF Pro 2000 championship leader Myles Rowe. His USF Championships presented by Cooper Tires career has been bankrolled by Penske, and if he wins the title and moves to Indy NXT by Firestone, we’d expect him to remain in Penske’s HMD-led Force Indy program. But what happens from there?
Provided he’s on a long-term agreement with Penske, I could easily see him in IndyCar with the team a few years from now. But if he’s not, I do wonder if a Michael Andretti, Zak Brown, or Chip Ganassi type would get in early and sign him to a development deal.
The same goes for Rowe’s USF Pro 200 rival Michael d’Orlando, NXT championship leader Nolan Siegel, and a few others — select few — who IndyCar team owners and team managers have told me they are watching from afar right now.