How competitive is IndyCar? Last-place driver set a record in 2019

Just how competitive is IndyCar? It is competitive enough that last-place finisher Matheus Leist set a record in the 2019 season.

IndyCar has been arguably the most competitive form of motorsport in the world in recent years, and it doesn’t take much to see why when you consider how many drivers on how many different teams have a chance to win week in and week out.

But one mind-blowing statistic about the 2019 season proves beyond a shadow of a doubt just how competitive American’s premier open-wheel racing series has become.

A.J. Foyt Enterprises’ Matheus Leist, who actually lost his ride and is IMSA-bound ahead of the 2020 season, finished in last place in the championship standings among the full-time drivers, with full-time drivers being defined as drivers who competed in each of the 17 races on the schedule.

More from IndyCar

In fact, there were 18 full-time drivers, and the 21-year-old Brazilian actually finished in 19th place in the championship standings.

Just how competitive is IndyCar?

Leist set a new all-time record in 2019, despite having the worst season out of anybody.

Leist entered the season with a career-high finish of 11th place, which he recorded at Pocono Raceway in his rookie year just one year earlier.

He set a new career-high finish of fourth place in the race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course early in the season, and he went on to record his second career top 10 finish with an eighth place effort in the race at Portland International Raceway toward the end of the year.

He still finished in last place in the full-time championship standings.

Never before in IndyCar history had the last place finisher among the full-time drivers finished as high as fourth place in an individual race when there had been more than 15 full-time drivers in a season.

The previous record was fifth place, set by Conor Daly in the 2017 season when there were 17 full-time competitors, and the fact that Daly’s record was broken just two years later speaks to the competitive era in which the series is currently operating.

Yes, going back to the CART years, Leist’s result of fourth place had been bettered by last place drivers seven times, twice with wins, three times with second place finishes and twice with third place finishes, but in those seven seasons, an average of only 9.86 drivers competed full-time.

Next. Top 10 IndyCar drivers of all-time. dark

How many different winners will the 2020 IndyCar season feature, and what kind of results will the drivers at the bottom end of the championship standings be able to secure throughout the 17-race campaign? Will the last place finisher top Matheus Leist’s fourth place effort in 2019 to set a new record? There are slated to be at least 20 full-time competitors in 2020 with a potential 21st on the way.