IndyCar: Is Santino Ferrucci the best oval driver in the series?

By Asher Fair | Aug 20, 2019

FORT WORTH, TEXAS - JUNE 06: Santino Ferrucci of the United States, driver of the #19 Cly-Del Manufacturing Honda (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /

Following yet another impressive performance in an oval race, is rookie Santino Ferrucci the best oval driver in IndyCar?

Last season, Santino Ferrucci competed in the first four races of his IndyCar career driving for Dale Coyne Racing, and he did so in four of the season’s road or street course races.

But in his rookie season in America’s premier open-wheel racing series, the oval races have been the races in which the driver of the #19 Dale Coyne Racing has shone brightest.

Ferrucci made a name for himself with his seventh place finish in his Indianapolis 500 debut after starting in 23rd, earning himself Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year honors. He followed up that performance with a fourth place finish in his first start at the high-banked Texas Motor Speedway after starting back in 18th.

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The 21-year-old Woodbury, Connecticut native only managed to finish in 12th place in his first start at Iowa Speedway, but his performance warranted far more than that, possibly even a top five result. Some of the moves that he was pulling, passing multiple drivers on the outside at one time, were absolutely insane.

Now, most recently, he finished in fourth place in his first start at Pocono Raceway after starting in 13th, and after making up eight positions on the race’s opening lap, in part because a five-car crash took out five drivers who started in front of him, he spent the entire race in the lead pack.

Yes, a Dale Coyne Racing driver was legitimately running in the lead pack with the Team Penske drivers and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon.

It’s hard to judge anybody based on a small sample size of four races. But is Ferrucci the best oval driver in IndyCar right now?

Ferrucci sits in fifth place in the oval championship standings with just one oval race remaining on the 2019 schedule, this Saturday night’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500, at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, and he trails four of the sport’s elite drivers.

He trails Team Penske teammates Simon Pagenaud, Josef Newgarden, Will Power and Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi. He sits ahead of Dixon in sixth place.

But the four drivers who he trails all drive for one of the sport’s top teams, as does Dixon. With all due respect to Dale Coyne Racing, they are simply not as good as Team Penske, Andretti Autosport or Chip Ganassi Racing, and over the years, that has been highlighted by their lack of success and really lack of overall speed in oval races.

The 2019 season is Dale Coyne Racing’s 36th season in IndyCar and their only ever oval race win came when the late Justin Wilson took advantage of race leader Graham Rahal hitting the wall with just over two laps to go in the race at Texas Motor Speedway in the 2012 season.

This team entered the 2019 season with four top four finishes in oval races — ever.

Meanwhile, Ferrucci has finished in the top four in two of the last three.

What he has done in his rookie season is undeniably impressive, and it would be fun to watch him compete with superstars such as Pagenaud, Newgarden, Power, Rossi and Dixon for oval race victories in top-tier equipment. There’s no reason to believe he wouldn’t regularly give them a run for their money.

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With all things considered, it is still far too early to tell whether or not Santino Ferrucci is the best oval driver currently competing in IndyCar, especially since he doesn’t drive for one of the sport’s top teams. However, based on what he has shown us so far driving for Dale Coyne Racing, there is really not an argument that can be used to definitively say that he isn’t.