Indy 500: Helio Castroneves pulls off perfect Tom Brady move

With a new team, Helio Castroneves tied the all-time Indy 500 record with a fourth victory, completing a move that resembled that of Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady — and not just because he’s the “old guy”.

At the end of the 2017 IndyCar season, Team Penske downsized their full-time operation from four cars to three and moved veteran Helio Castroneves from their IndyCar program to their IMSA sports car program, and Castroneves hasn’t competed as a full-time IndyCar driver since.

But he still returned to Team Penske for the Indy 500 in 2018, 2019 and 2020, giving him 20 total starts for Roger Penske’s organization in the race that he had won the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” on three occasions the previous decade.

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Castroneves won the race as a rookie in 2001 before winning it controversially in 2002 and adding a third win in 2009. But in 11 attempts to become a four-time winner from 2010 to 2020, he had never succeeded.

Toward the end of the 2020 season, Castroneves made two substitute appearances for the injured Oliver Askew at Arrow McLaren SP. It marked the first time he had competed for a team other than Team Penske since 1999, and it was a sign of things to come.

A big, big sign.

Team Penske again planned to field four entries for the 2021 Indy 500, but all for full-time drivers, as they added a fourth full-time entry for Scott McLaughlin.

So Castroneves would not be back for a 21st Indy 500 effort for the Captain after three straight disappointing runs following his third runner-up finish in 2017.

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After the 2020 season ended, it was confirmed that he would be returning to IndyCar in 2021 on a six-race deal with Meyer Shank Racing behind the wheel of the #06 Honda, and that deal included the 105th running of the Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Meyer Shank Racing, a relatively new team with a technical alliance with Andretti Autosport, had never won a race and only began competing full-time in 2020 with Jack Harvey.

Castroneves’s first appearance behind the wheel of his new non-Team Penske car in preseason testing almost looked like the first images released of former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady after he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in March 2020.

Helio in something other than a Team Penske car looks like when Tom Brady/Bucs pictures were first released.
— Beyond the Flag (@Beyond_The_Flag) April 8, 2021

There were plenty of Brady comparisons after Sunday’s 105th running of the Indy 500, but it goes well beyond the “old guy” comparison that also included last week’s PGA Championship winner and now six-time major winner Phil Mickelson.

Brady, like Castroneves with Team Penske, also spent 20 years with the Patriots (2000-2001 season to 2019-2020 season) before making the move to the Buccaneers following a disappointing end to his Patriots tenure that led many to believe that retirement was on the horizon.

But in his first year in Tampa, the 43-year-old Brady became a seven-time Super Bowl champion, something that nobody else can say.

And in his first year — first start, in fact — with Meyer Shank Racing, Castroneves, who many also thought could and should call it quits at the age of 46, became a four-time Indy 500 champion, something that only the legendary A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears can say.

The Brazilian was extremely solid and consistent leading up to the race, qualifying in eighth place after advancing to the Fast Nine Shootout in his first qualifying attempt of any kind behind the wheel of the #06 Honda.

Yet he only had 28:1 odds to win, which ranked 16th among the 33 drivers in the field. Even 32nd place starter Will Power of Team Penske had better odds at 25:1. In fact, three of the four Team Penske drivers had better odds than Castroneves.

He led 20 laps of the 200-lap race, which saw 36 lead changes among 13 drivers, around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) oval in Speedway, Indiana, including the final two after making a pass on Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou for the lead on lap 199.

He hung on to win by 0.493 seconds ahead of Palou in second place and former Team Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud in third. Castroneves hadn’t won a race since 2017 when he won at Iowa Speedway in his final season — for now, at least — as a full-time driver.

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The 106th running of the Indy 500 is scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 29, 2022. Will Castroneves become the race’s first ever five-time winner next Memorial Day weekend?