How IndyCar Is On The Verge Of A Youth Explosion

From Alexander Rossi to Josef Newgarden, the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season is primed for an explosion of young talent.

To paraphrase a line from Conor McGregor, the young guns of IndyCar aren’t just here to take part but they’re poised to take over. The 2017 season has all signs pointing to a full-blown explosion of young talent that will propel the league.

Alexander Rossi (pictured above) turned down an available Formula One race seat to finish out his contract with Andretti Autosport, and while the 24-year-old hasn’t formally signed a new deal yet, recent buzz is that he’ll stay Stateside. Rossi was Rookie of the Year this season and just missed the Top 10 in championship points by three markers; can you imagine what he’ll do with another year of experience and his future dialed in?

Let’s assume that Rossi does indeed stay at Andretti. That could shift the potential landing spots for 25-year-old Josef Newgarden. Unless Carlos Munoz isn’t able to land a sponsor (which is still a possibility), there won’t be an open seat at Andretti for Newgarden. So does Newgarden follow the prevailing buzz and leave Ed Carpenter Racing to fill an as yet unconfirmed fourth car at Team Penske?

Over at Chip Ganassi Racing, 25-year-old Max Chilton has done a workmanlike job as the new driver of the No. 8 car, and current reports are that CGR wants the former F1 driver for multiple years.

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Then there’s 29-year-old Mikhail Aleshin who should’ve won at Mid-Ohio if not for pit lane, 27-year-old Graham Rahal who’s found a new stride with two contending seasons in the last two years, 24-year-old Conor Daly and his pretty darn good year considering it was his first full-time, and even 22-year-old Spencer Pigot over at ECR.

If you enjoy watching drivers rising up the ranks and the scoring pylon, IndyCar is a fantastic place to be right now.

Let’s just take a second and consider what the 2017 season could possibly look like when all these pieces drop into place.

You could have Newgarden at Penske, Chilton at Ganassi and Rossi at Andretti – each of the Big Three major teams each with their own young gun and no shortage of potential. Newgarden just had the best championship finish of his career, Chilton was finding his learning curve and Rossi is just getting started. As the big teams slug it out at the top of IndyCar it’d be fantastic to see how that trio would battle with those resources.

But even outside of that, the young drivers on the smaller teams have the potential to mix things up and create some of the parity that IndyCar fans have often asked for. We’ve seen how Rahal has lit a fire under the No. 15 in the last two years. Aleshin re-teaming with James Hinchcliffe for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports could give that team some long-term stability.

Rahal’s one-time teammate Spencer Pigot is an option to take over the No. 21 if Newgarden does indeed head to a super-team, and he’s just a season removed from being Indy Lights champion. Then look down the aisle to Dale Coyne Racing; nothing’s done yet but rumor says Sebastien Bourdais will go back to DCR, and imagine what Daly could learn from working with Sebass for a year.

Across the board there are exciting possibilities with under-30 talent throughout IndyCar. While business obviously factors into all of them, and nothing is for certain, the idea of having so many good young drivers and having them so spread out amongst the paddock is worth getting excited over.

This argument goes back to something that’s true in any sport: you need the superstars, but you also need a good farm system, because the heroes won’t play forever.

That isn’t to say that the veteran drivers like Tony Kanaan, Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves are any less valuable; they’re all still contending and should be able to drive until they decide to hang up their helmets. But it’s thrilling to also see them work with these younger talents and watch those drivers develop so that when it does come time for them to be the next Kanaan, Montoya or Castroneves they’re ready and so are we.

It seems like only a matter of time until Newgarden wins an IndyCar championship. Rahal certainly now has the bit between his teeth to keep climbing the league standings. Given a few more years of seasoning, Rossi, Aleshin, Chilton, and Daly all have the potential to be at least solid regulars in the league. That’s if they’re not mixing things up themselves.

It all comes down to whether or not they’ll have the opportunities (which often correlate with finances) to get these valuable development years, and hopefully they will. Unless your name is Dixon or Will Power, you don’t just walk in your first full IndyCar season and own the joint.

But all of the aforementioned drivers are on the right track, and all of them are people that as fans we can considerably see ourselves watching in the future. Whether it’s Rossi’s team making some gutsy strategy calls, Aleshin pushing that No. 7 as hard as it’ll go, Chilton keeping his head down and chipping away, or Daly just driving like he’s on fire (because sometimes he has been), each driver has a distinct identity.

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All of them have off-track personalities and on-track talent. And with them all spread out across the roster, that means multiple teams have a young gun in the holster, and more competition is always a good thing. Having these guys on hand to mix it up with proven veterans every week is a ridiculous amount of talent depth, and that makes the entire league better.

It may be a while before we know which drivers end up where in the 2017 IndyCar season, but if we get to see even half of these guys returning to the grid, next year is going to have something amazing to offer – as will the years beyond.

Which driver under 30 are you most excited about in the 2017 IndyCar season?