IndyCar: What is the all-time record for lead changes in a race?

With the 2020 IndyCar season delayed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, let’s take a look back at the race that featured the most lead changes in the history of the sport.

After a 15-car wreck tragically ended the life of 2005 IndyCar champion Dan Wheldon early on in the 2011 season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) oval in Las Vegas, Nevada was scrapped from the schedule, and the series has never returned since.

The following year, Auto Club Speedway served as the replacement for Las Vegas Motor Speedway as the site of the season finale, and it served in that role for three seasons.

The races at the four-turn, 2.0-mile (3.219-kilometer) oval in Fontana, California were quite competitive. The 2012 race featured 29 lead changes among 12 leaders and came down to the final lap when Ed Carpenter passed Dario Franchitti before the caution flag came out.

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The caution flag that came out was because of a single-car wreck involving Takuma Sato in turn two that nearly took out Ryan Hunter-Reay, who escaped and won the championship because of it.

The 2013 race featured 28 lead changes among 11 drivers and was won by Will Power, who had not previously won a full-length oval race despite having earned 20 career wins entering the event. Finally, the 2014 race featured 18 lead changes among nine drivers, two impressive totals considering there was only one caution flag period.

But in 2015, the race was moved to summer, and IndyCar got an event for the ages. With a lot to live up to given the action produced by the track in the previous three years, this race rose to the challenge and practically dwarfed what had gone on from 2012 to 2014, ignoring, of course, the obvious fact that it did not decide the championship like these three races did.

It was the first pack-style race since Wheldon’s passing, and while it did end under caution due to a scary wreck involving Hunter-Reay and Ryan Briscoe, the entire 500-mile race played out without any injuries, save for a pit road injury to a Dale Coyne Racing crewman. The race featured only six caution flag periods, including only four for incidents.

The lead changed hands well over 100 times throughout the race, but because “lead changes” are only classified when the leader of one lap differs from the leader of the next, there were 80 official lead changes in this race, a new IndyCar record. The previous record was 73 and was also set at Auto Club Speedway back in November of 2001.

A total of 23 drivers competed in this 250-lap race back on Saturday, June 27, 2015, and 14 led it. Seven of these 14 drivers led for double-digit laps.

It was Graham Rahal who prevailed, securing his first victory in over seven years by holding off Tony Kanaan in second place and a hard-charging Marco Andretti on new tires. Andretti had surged from 11th to third place following the restart with three laps remaining and was positioned to win the race had the race gone green to the finish.

With 80 lead changes, the race officially featured 81 different stints with a driver in the lead. Helio Castroneves, the first driver to crash out of the race, led the longest stint at 18 laps from lap 118 to lap 135, which is when he crashed.

Of these 81 stints, 33 lasted for only one lap and only 19 lasted beyond three laps. The average lead stint lasted for only 3.09 laps.

IndyCar has seen several races with plenty of lead changes since this event, but never has this record come close to falling. Since then, the most lead changes in a race is 54, set in the 2016 Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This total is the second highest in Indy 500 history, with the highest being 68 back in 2013.

The 2017, 2018 and 2019 Indy 500 races featured 35, 30 and 29 lead changes, respectively. But the closest race to resemble anything like what was seen at Auto Club Speedway in 2015 took place nearly two years later at Texas Motor Speedway.

This race was also a pack race throughout the entire event, but the lead changed hands only 23 times, as clean air proved to be huge. Power led 180 of the 248-lap race’s final 202 laps around the four-turn, 1.44-mile (2.317-kilometer) oval in Fort Worth, Texas.

The 2015, 2016 and 2017 races at Pocono Raceway also featured quite a few lead changes with 33, 29 and 42, respectively.

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With the current aero kits, it’s hard to see an IndyCar race coming close to 80 lead changes at any venue, as there has not yet been a race to feature more than 30 since this package was introduced ahead of the 2018 season.

But there is certainly still a ton of great competition at most tracks the series visits. Hopefully the 2020 season will get underway as soon as possible and that great competition will pick up where it left off following an exciting 2019 campaign.

IndyCar: All-time record for lead changes in a race

By Asher Fair | Apr 3, 2020

With the 2020 IndyCar season delayed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, let’s take a look back at the race that featured the most lead changes in the history of the sport.