IndyCar: Helio Castroneves’ Time Is Now

Helio Castroneves is 41 years old and heading into his 17th season in the Verizon IndyCar Series. Is this the year he breaks his longest career win drought?

The Brazilian Helio Castroneves, 41, is one of the greatest drivers to have ever driven in the Verizon IndyCar Series. With three Indianapolis 500 victories and 29 career race victories, the only thing missing from his resume is an IndyCar championship.

Castroneves’ three Indianapolis 500 victories are good enough for a tie for 4th all-time. His 29 race victories are good enough for a tie for 3rd on the active driver list and 11th of all-time.

But headed into the 2017 season, his win drought is good enough for 4th among the active driver list. In fact, it even surpasses his age of 41. Having not won since 2014 at Belle Isle, Castroneves is on his longest winless streak of his IndyCar career at 43 races. Only Marco Andretti (92), Takuma Sato (66), and Charlie Kimball (55) are on winless streaks longer than Castroneves. None of those drivers are anywhere near the legend that Castroneves is.

While this may indicate to some people that Castroneves’ time as a great IndyCar driver is up, it is evident that his time really isn’t up. In fact, he just finished 3rd in last season’s championship standings. He has also not finished outside of the top 5 in the championship since the new DW12 chassis came along five years ago. He is also still pushing hard for his fourth Indianapolis 500 title, which he almost claimed just one week before his 43-race winning drought began.

Is this the year he breaks the drought?

As having not won a race in almost three years indicates, Castroneves’ time as an elite driver may be running out. No, it’s not out yet, but it’s getting there. True elite drivers win races. And they win them regularly. As great as Castroneves has been throughout his career at winning, he has not been winning races recently, and that could signify that the end is near for him. Consistency, as Castroneves has shown throughout his entire career in addition to winning, only goes so far. As the saying goes, “If you ain’t first, you’re last.”

Castroneves is still driving for Team Penske. No other IndyCar team is anywhere near on the level than Team Penske is on. Castroneves has three other world-class teammates to bounce information off of. He has more than enough resources to be able to pull off at least one or two victories this season. I would not bet against him breaking his longest career win drought this season. After all, he is still elite, and he still wants that fourth Indianapolis 500 victory. He can still run up front with anybody.

What if he can’t win?

If he doesn’t end up being victorious at all for the third consecutive season, then Castroneves should and likely will contemplate retirement. He’ll be 42 years old before this year’s Indianapolis 500, and drivers that old typically don’t last much longer in the sport.

He would also go down as perhaps the most accomplished IndyCar driver in the history of the sport to have never won a championship. He came close multiple times, placing 2nd in the standings on four occasions and 3rd in the standings on three occasions, but he could never pull it together when it mattered to cement himself among IndyCar champions.

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As for now, we can hope Castroneves is able to cement his legacy with a few more wins before he retires. Who knows? Maybe he’ll join AJ Foyt, Al Unser, and Rick Mears as the only four-time winners of the Indianapolis 500. And who knows? Maybe he’ll win his first championship and retire a champion. But we can only wait.