IndyCar: 2018 season in review

By Asher Fair | Dec 31, 2018

SONOMA, CA - SEPTEMBER 16: Scott Dixon, driver of the #9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, celebrates in Victory Lane with the Verizon IndyCar Series Championship Trophy after the Verizon IndyCar Series Sonoma Grand Prix at Sonoma Raceway on September 16, 2018 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Jonathan Moore/Getty Images) /

On the 365th of 365 days in the year 2018, let’s take a look back at everything that the 17-race 2018 IndyCar season had to offer.

With the year 2019 set to begin tomorrow, the year 2018 is set to officially become history. While the 2018 IndyCar season has been over since Sunday, September 16, let’s take a look back at what it had to offer before the calendars officially change and the focus becomes solely on the 2019 season.

A total of 17 races were contested in the 2018 season, which was the first season during which the new UAK18 aero kits were used, and the season resulted in Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon winning his fifth career championship, a championship total that ranks second on the all-time titles list. He now trails only seven-time champion A.J. Foyt on that list.

Dixon’s career win total increased from 41 to 44 over the course of the season, allowing him to pass Michael Andretti for third place on the all-time wins list. Andretti earned 42 victories in his career. His father Mario Andretti is one of the two drivers who Dixon still trails on the list. He earned 52 victories in his career. Foyt sits atop that list as well with 67 career victories.

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A total of eight drivers won at least one race in the 2018 season. Aside of Dixon, who won three races, Team Penske teammates Josef Newgarden and Will Power as well as Andretti Autosport teammates Alexander Rossi and Hunter-Reay earned multiple victories throughout the season.

Newgarden, Power and Rossi each earned three victories throughout the season while Hunter-Reay earned two.

Three drivers earned exactly one victory each in the 2018 season. These three drivers were Dale Coyne Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ James Hinchcliffe and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Takuma Sato.

No driver won more than three races throughout the season, which is something that had not previously happened in IndyCar since the 2015 season when Dixon won three races en route to securing his fourth career championship.

The 2018 season was marred by a crash that took place in the season’s 14th race at Pocono Raceway. Following the race’s first and only restart, Hunter-Reay and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports rookie Robert Wickens made contact in turn two, sending Wickens’ #6 Honda up into the catch fence. He was paralyzed from the waist down and is still on the long road to recovery. Our thoughts and prayers are with him as he continues to recover.

Also of note from the 2018 season was the fact that Hinchcliffe failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, which was eventually won by Power, who had never previously won it. In three previous starts in the race in even-numbered years, Hinchcliffe had never qualified lower than second place.

Among the three full-time rookies, including Wickens, Andretti Autosport’s Zach Veach and A.J. Foyt Enterprises Matheus Leist, Wickens finished in the highest position in the championship standings despite the fact that he missed the season’s final three races because of the injuries that he suffered in his horrifying accident.

Wickens finished in a 10th place tie in the championship standings with Hinchcliffe after scoring 391 points on four podium finishes, seven top five finishes and 10 top 10 finishes in 14 races to earn himself the 2018 Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award. He had been on pace to contend for a top five if not a top three position in the standings before his accident.

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What does the 2019 IndyCar season have in store? It is scheduled to get underway in just over two and a half months, as the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, which is the first race on the 17-race 2019 schedule, is scheduled to take place at that time. This race is scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 10, 2019 on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.