IndyCar: The end of an era as Helio Castroneves drives for McLaren

Helio Castroneves driving for an IndyCar team other than Team Penske? For the first time this millennium, that is set to happen this weekend.

The year 2020 has brought with it some unique situations in the world of motorsports, and that is set to continue in IndyCar at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the doubleheader at the road course this weekend.

Arrow McLaren SP rookie Oliver Askew was sidelined by the IndyCar medical team last week after experiencing “a balance and coordination issue” after the doubleheader at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course three weekends ago.

He has also reportedly been experiencing concussion-like symptoms since his heavy crash in the Indianapolis 500 back on Sunday, August 23, five races ago.

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So Arrow McLaren SP called on three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves to replace the 23-year-old Jupiter, Florida native behind the wheel of the #7 Chevrolet for the two races of the IndyCar Harvest Grand Prix doubleheader at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

Castroneves’s starts in these two races around the 13-turn, 2.439-mile (3.925-kilometer) road course in Speedway, Indiana will bring to an end an era that dates back more than two decades. While Roger Penske has not ruled out bringing him back for the Indy 500 next year, the 45-year-old Brazilian has admitted that he may have driven his final race for Team Penske as he seeks opportunities to return to the sport in a full-time role next year, something he hasn’t had since 2017 before leaving for Acura Team Penske’s DPi program in IMSA.

That program won’t be back next year with Acura set to switch to new teams in 2021.

Regardless, his massive streak of races as a Team Penske driver, which goes back to the turn of the millennium, is slated to end this weekend.

Castroneves has competed at the highest level of American open-wheel racing since 1998, doing so in a full-time capacity from 1998 to 2017. While he hasn’t driven full-time since 2017, he has still driven for Team Penske in the Indy 500 in each of the last three years, and he drove for the team in the races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in 2018 and 2019.

He has not driven for a team other than Team Penske since 1999 when he drove full-time for Hogan Racing and finished in 15th place in the CART championship standings. In 1998, he drove full-time for Bettenhausen Racing and finished in 17th in the standings.

In 2000, he made his debut for Team Penske, much like Tom Brady, who made his Tampa Bay Buccaneers debut a few weekends ago, made his debut for the New England Patriots.

But in 2020, old faces are in new places across the board.

Castroneves’s streak of races for the Captain’s organization included 310 starts. All 30 of his victories, including his 2001, 2002 and 2009 Indy 500 triumphs, have been earned as a Team Penske driver, as have 91 of his 93 career podium finishes and 50 of his 51 career pole positions.

But this weekend, he is set to represent a new team, which may very well be a sign of things to come next year as he takes the next step in what has already been an illustrious career.

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Tune in to USA Network at 3:30 p.m. ET this afternoon for the live broadcast of the first race of the IndyCar Harvest Grand Prix doubleheader from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, and tune in to NBC at 2:30 p.m. ET tomorrow afternoon for the second, which is the penultimate race of the 14-race 2020 season.