IndyCar: Sage Karam will not race at Pocono Raceway this Sunday

Despite a late push, Sage Karam will not be racing in his home IndyCar race at Pocono Raceway, the ABC Supply 500, this Sunday.

Nazareth, Pennsylvania native Sage Karam has not driven in more than one IndyCar race since he drove for Chip Ganassi Racing in 12 of the 16 races on the 2015 IndyCar schedule. Since then, he has driven in one race per season: the Indianapolis 500.

The 23-year-old aimed to change that by starting in his second IndyCar race at Pocono Raceway in this Sunday’s ABC Supply 500 and his first at the track, his home track, since the 2015 race during which he infamously spun out while leading with just 21 laps to go, causing a fluke accident that killed seven-time IndyCar race winner Justin Wilson.

Because of the uncharacteristically high attrition rate in that race, Karam was still scored in 14th place after that freak accident.

Two days ago, Karam tweeted that he needed a “little push” but was “close” to landing a ride for this Sunday’s race at the three-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Pocono Raceway triangle in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.

Here is Karam’s tweet.

However, it has been confirmed that the 2013 Indy Lights champion will have to wait until at least the 2019 season to make his return to Pocono Raceway for an IndyCar race, as he will not be on the entry list this weekend, although he still plans to attend the race.

Here is what Karam had to say about the matter, according to The Morning Call.

"“We were about $50,000 short. If you’re going to a team that doesn’t have any sponsorship funding, you need between $200,000 and $300,000 per race. It’s definitely disappointing. I had high hopes because I really wanted to be back at Pocono because it’s my home and I have my friends and family who could have been there.”"

In each of the last three seasons now, there has been some hope for Karam to add to his Indy 500-only schedules by racing in the IndyCar race at his home race track, but he is now 0 for 3 in terms of landing rides for this races.

Karam’s IndyCar career currently consists of 16 starts. Of those 16 starts, 10 have come on oval tracks, three have come on road courses and three have come on street circuits. He has racked up three top 10 finishes and two top five finishes, all in the oval races.

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Karam’s career-high finish is a third place finish in the race at Iowa Speedway in the 2015 season. His other top five finish is a fifth place finish in the race at Auto Club Speedway in the 2015 season.

Of his five Indy 500 starts, Karam has unfortunately only managed to finish one of them. He finished in ninth place in his first career Indy 500 start back in 2014 after starting in 31st.

In the 2015 Indy 500, Karam was taken out by Takuma Sato in the first turn of the first lap of the race. In the 2016 Indy 500, he crashed in turn one on lap 94 while running in the top five. In the 2017 Indy 500, he was never a factor and was forced to retire with battery issues on lap 126. In this year’s Indy 500, he started in 24th place and worked his way up into the top seven before crashing in turn four on lap 155.

When do you believe Sage Karam will make his next IndyCar start? Will he back for next year’s Indianapolis 500? Will he perhaps be back for more than the Indy 500 next year, possibly for the race at Pocono Raceway or even possibly as a full-time driver?