IndyCar team decides not to change drivers for oval races

Takuma Sato hadn’t officially been in place to return to Chip Ganassi Racing for the remaining oval races on the 2023 IndyCar schedule, but now he is.

For the first time in his IndyCar career, two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato is not a full-time driver this year, having signed a deal with Chip Ganassi Racing to pilot the No. 11 Honda in the oval races throughout the 2023 season.

That being said, a cleverly worded contract meant that he was only officially slated to compete in the PPG 375 at Texas Motor Speedway back in early April and the Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway back in late May.

There was speculation as to who might replace Sato, who crashed out of the race at Texas Motor Speedway and finished in seventh place in the Indy 500, behind the wheel of the No. 11 Honda in the three remaining oval races on this year’s schedule, two at Iowa Speedway in July and another one at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in August.

But Takuma Sato is set to remain Chip Ganassi Racing’s ovals-only driver for the remainder of the 2023 IndyCar season.

The 46-year-old Tokyo native is set to be back for the Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by Instacart and the Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade at Iowa Speedway on Saturday, July 22 and Sunday, July 23, and he is set to compete in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500, a race he won in 2019, at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway on Sunday, August 27.

The move notably means that Marcus Armstrong, the rookie driver of the No. 11 Honda in the road and street course races, won’t get to make his IndyCar oval debut this year.

Armstrong had been open to the idea of competing in a race with strictly left turns for the first time in his career at some point in 2023. Doing so at the two shortest ovals on the schedule would have been a nice segue into a potential full season next year.

The 22-year-old New Zealander finds himself leading the rookie standings in 18th place, despite having competed in just six of the eight races in which the other three rookies have competed to open up the season. There are six road or street course races remaining on this year’s 17-race schedule.