Beyond the Flag
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IndyCar: Five possible replacement candidates for Takuma Sato in 2018

By Asher Fair

FORT WORTH, TX - JUNE 09: Takuma Sato, driver of the #26 Andretti Autosport Honda, practices for the Verizon IndyCar Series Rainguard Water Sealers 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 9, 2017 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Sarah Crabill/Getty Images)
FORT WORTH, TX - JUNE 09: Takuma Sato, driver of the #26 Andretti Autosport Honda, practices for the Verizon IndyCar Series Rainguard Water Sealers 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 9, 2017 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Sarah Crabill/Getty Images) /
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INDIANAPOLIS, IN – MAY 28: Tony Kanaan of Brazil, driver of the #10 NTT Data Honda (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – MAY 28: Tony Kanaan of Brazil, driver of the #10 NTT Data Honda (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /

Tony Kanaan

Let’s make one thing clear: Tony Kanaan, 42, is done at Chip Ganassi Racing after the 2017 season ends. D-O-N-E, done. There are no questions about it. Teams don’t park drivers in the middle of races towards the end of a season just because they “can’t make up ground” if they intend to bring said drivers back the following season.

Kanaan began racing full-time in modern-day IndyCar back in the 2003 season for Andretti Green Racing. He won the championship driving for the team in the 2004 season. When the team became Andretti Autosport in the 2010 season, he stayed, but after that, he left for KV Racing, where he drove for three seasons. He won his first career Indianapolis 500 with the team in 2013, which was his final season with the team.

Since the 2014 season, Tony Kanaan has been driving for Chip Ganassi Racing, which has been arguably the best team in the sport in recent history, winning six of the last nine championships. However, Kanaan has only been able to collect one win for the team, and that was three years ago in the season finale at Fontana.

While he has only been a real threat to win on the superspeedways this season, with his three top 5 finishes in 2017 coming at the three superspeedway races, he has still been somewhat solid at other venues. In fact, he currently sits in 9th place in the championship standings. If he is able to finish there, that would give him 14 finishes of 9th place or higher in the standings in his 15 full-time seasons.

Andretti Autosport is a team that hasn’t won a non-Indianapolis 500 race since Pocono in 2015. In fact, the team’s last win on a non-superspeedway was at Iowa in 2015, with their last win on a road or street course coming at a shortened Belle Isle race in 2015. The team also took the victory in a shortened Barber race in 2014. However, their last full-length race win on a road or street course came at–get this–Sao Paulo way back in 2013. That was even before Kanaan won his Indy 500.

The fact that Kanaan is still an elite superspeedway driver could be exactly what Andretti Autosport is looking for. Given their extreme success on superspeedways recently, particularly at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the Indy 500, Kanaan could be a perfect fit, even at age 42. Also, in eight seasons driving for Andretti, he finished no lower than 6th place in the standings.