New IndyCar powerhouse beginning to emerge?

By Asher Fair | Jul 28, 2021

Jack Harvey, Meyer Shank Racing, IndyCar (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /

The 2021 IndyCar season has already somewhat broken up the “Big 3”. But could a new player be emerging at the top for 2022 and beyond?

It’s no secret that the 2021 IndyCar has already somewhat broken up the “Big 3”. It took Team Penske until the 10th race to find victory lane, Andretti Autosport are without a top six driver in the championship standings, and we have already seen three teams other than these two and Chip Ganassi Racing combine to win four races, guaranteeing the lowest win total for the “Big 3” in a single season since at least 2015.

However, while the parity has certainly been stronger in 2021 than in most recent years, the question always ends up being about staying power.

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Is there a team that really has a chance to become the first non-“Big 3” champion since Panther Racing won the title amid their glory years with Sam Hornish Jr. in 2001 and 2002?

Arrow McLaren SP appear to be in the best spot, with Pato O’Ward sitting in second place in the championship standings with the first two wins of his career. In fact, despite the parity, he is still the only non-“Big 3” driver in the top seven in points.

But there is another team in a good position moving forward, particularly for 2022 and beyond.

It’s hard to call Meyer Shank Racing a “dark horse” team, considering they won the Indy 500 with Helio Castroneves in what is just their second season as a full-time team in the sport. They made their IndyCar debut in 2017 and slowly increased their commitment to the sport before joining as a full-time entrant last year.

Now they run one full-time car for Jack Harvey and one part-time car for Castroneves, and their success has positioned them to make the move to a full-time, two-car program for the 2022 season.

But they still fly somewhat under the radar, given the fact that they haven’t really secured many great results aside from Castroneves’s Indy 500 triumph.

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In fact, that result is their only podium finish as a full-time team, and their only other podium finish is a third place effort from Harvey at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in 2019.

But Harvey’s 14th position in the championship standings with just two top 10 finishes through the first 10 races of the 16-race 2021 season is, to say the least, by no means a true indicator of the speed shown by the team on a regular basis.

His average starting position of 11.0, which includes three starts inside the top three, ranks 10th. Last year, he also finished in 14th in the standings without a single finish higher than sixth. But his average starting position of 8.8, which included two front row starts, ranked fifth.

The team have been very competitive at a variety of venues, from the twistiest road courses to the fastest superspeedways, and Castroneves finally proved that their speed is not just a fluke by securing a record-tying fourth Indy 500 win this past May.

And that makes the fact that Castroneves is set to return to the sport full-time with Meyer Shank Racing in 2022 more exciting.

What makes it even more exciting is the fact that he is set to have a full-time teammate.

We know that this teammate won’t be Harvey, as it was confirmed that he will not be back in the #60 Honda for 2022. He has since been linked to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, possibly as a third full-time driver or possibly as the replacement for Takuma Sato behind the wheel of the #30 Honda.

There are quite a few notable drivers without contracts to compete in the 2022 season, and several of them are expected to be on the move once the 2021 season concludes. When it comes down to it, it’s really a matter of which free agent is most attractive to Meyer Shank Racing, given the fact that they have rapidly climbed the list of desired landing spots in IndyCar.

Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud, a former series champion and Indy 500 winner himself, does not have a deal to compete in 2022, and he is reportedly considering multiple options outside Roger Penske’s organization. A Castroneves/Pagenaud pairing would be exactly half of what Team Penske’s full-time driver lineup was each year from 2015 to 2017.

Then there is another former series champion and Indy 500 winner in Ryan Hunter-Reay, who is all but out at Andretti Autosport after 2021, if the reports about Romain Grosjean joining the team are to be believed. While his 2021 season has been a disaster, that hasn’t all been on his shoulders, and he has shown that he still has what it takes to get the job done.

A fresh start could be exactly what he is looking for. Just look at what Castroneves — in only one start so far, no less — was able to do, and that’s after three straight years of running 11th or worse in the Indy 500 with Team Penske, the team with which he won the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” on three occasions.

He was “washed up”, as they say, before making the move to a new team — Tom Brady-style washed up, to be exact.

With the veteran Castroneves already locked in, Meyer Shank Racing also have the flexibility to perhaps hire a young star to drive their second car as opposed to another proven veteran.

After all, the average age of the top two drivers in the championship standings right now is 23, and there is no reason to think that the young guys are going to fade, with several others in their early 20s trailing them relatively closely.

We are seeing more and more young talent take off right out of the gate than ever before, and there are plenty of opportunities — more than we can name in just one article — for Meyer Shank Racing to get a piece of that action in their first season as a full-time, two-car operation next year.

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So while we don’t even know Meyer Shank Racing’s full driver lineup for what is set to be their first season with two full-time entries in 2022, it’s already looking very promising. This team is legit, and they have what it takes to be a force in IndyCar not just next year but many, many years down the road.