IndyCar: The career resurgence of Takuma Sato

Takuma Sato’s pole position for the 2019 DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway is the latest chapter in his recent resurgence in IndyCar.

Not too long ago, Takuma Sato was synonymous with “disaster waiting to happen” in an IndyCar context, except rarely was there any waiting. “Satoed” became what it was unofficially called when the 42-year-old Japanese driver would take another driver or other drivers out of a race through his reckless driving style, if you even want to call it a driving style.

Take a look at some of what Sato experienced in the early stages of his IndyCar career, which began nine years ago in the 2010 season.

In the 2010 season driving for KV Racing Technology, he finished only eight of the season’s 17 races en route to a 21st place finish in the championship standings with only one top 11 finish.

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The following season, driving for KV Racing Technology – Lotus, he improved to finish all but two of the season’s 17 races and recorded three top five finishes en route to a 13th place finish in the standings.

But that led into a three-year stretch that was nothing shy of a disaster as far as Sato bringing his cars home in one piece. Driving for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in the 2012 season, he finished only two of the season’s first eight races, and he threw away a chance to win the Indianapolis 500 by crashing on the race’s final lap while attempting to take the lead from eventual race winner Dario Franchitti. He ended up finishing only seven of the season’s 15 races en route to a 14th place finish in the championship standings.

The 2013 season was Sato’s first of four seasons driving for A.J. Foyt Enterprises, and it was even worse for him. He started the season off strong by earning the first victory of his career in the race on the streets of Long Beach, California, and he led the championship standings following the season’s fourth race. But he faded to 17th place in the standings after finishing only one of the season’s final 10 races, and he finished that race in 22nd. He ended the season having finished just nine of 19 races.

The 2014 season featured Sato going on a six-race streak of not finishing a single race, but it still ended up being his second best season at the time as far as finishing races was concerned. He finished 11 of the season’s 18 races en route to an 18th place finish in the championship standings.

While he only finished in 14th place in the championship standings in the 2015 season, this season marked a turning point for him that continued into the 2016 season, when he only managed to finish in 17th in the standings.

After failing to finish at least seven races in all but one of the first five seasons of his career, Sato only failed to finish four of the 2015 season’s 16 races and three of the 2016 season’s 16 races.

The results still weren’t there for Sato. But he was certainly no longer the same driver who failed to finish 36 of his first 86 IndyCar races and more than half of the races in three of his first four seasons.

Sato got the best opportunity of his IndyCar career by far in the 2017 season when he signed with Andretti Autosport, and he capitalized on that opportunity. He got redemption for his Indy 500 crash five years prior and won the 101st running of the race before going on to finish in a career-high eighth place in the championship standings.

The 2017 season ended up being his only season driving for Andretti Autosport, as he returned to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing for the 2018 season. His 2018 season was not nearly as good as his 2017 season was, but he finished it with a victory, the third victory of his career, in the season’s penultimate race at Portland International Raceway. He finished in 12th place in the championship standings.

That victory solidified the fact that Sato was on the right track for good.

He returned to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing for the 2019 season, and his season has been his career-best season so far. He dominated the season’s third race at Barber Motorsports Park after starting from the pole position to earn the fourth victory of his career and his first after starting from the pole position. It was also his second victory in a five-race span after he had only earned two victories in nearly nine full seasons prior.

After the season’s seventh race, the first of two races at the Raceway on Belle Isle, he had already secured three podium finishes. He had never previously finished on the podium more than twice in an entire season, and he had now earned three podium finishes in a five-race span.

Sato taking the pole position for the season’s ninth race, the DXC Technology 600, at Texas Motor Speedway this evening is just the next chapter of his resurgence. He currently sits in fifth place in the championship standings nearly halfway through the season as a true championship contender, and the improvement in his consistency over the last few seasons has been unmatched.

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Will Takuma Sato add another chapter to his recent resurgence in IndyCar by winning the DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway this evening? Tune in to the live broadcast of the race at 8:00 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network to find out. Where will he finish in the championship standings by the time the 2019 season concludes in September?