IndyCar's 'worst' landing spot is not as bad as it seems

The 2025 IndyCar driver lineup is still coming together, with a number of teams yet to fill all of their empty seats.

Most notably, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing still have two of their three seats to fill, Juncos Hollinger Racing have two empty seats, and Prema Racing have only named one of their two full-time drivers for their first season in America's top open-wheel racing series.

With several big-name drivers, including former Ed Carpenter Racing driver Rinus VeeKay and Chip Ganassi Racing Rookie of the Year Linus Lundqvist, still seeking rides for the 2025 season, there are many possibilities when it comes to how things are going to look.

One possibility that could make things a lot more interesting for everybody is Dale Coyne Racing.

Dale Coyne's team were, far and away, the 10th of 10 teams on the grid in 2024. They were the slowest team at pretty much every venue, both of their cars were relegated to Bump Day for the Indy 500, and they were the only team that had a car fail to qualify for the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing".

Though not much attention is being paid to their two open seats for 2025 and they are largely considered the least desirable landing spot in the series, perhaps not everything is as bad as it seems for the team that field the No. 18 Honda and the No. 51 Honda.

Entering the 2024 season, which they finished without a single individual race result inside the top 12, Dale Coyne Racing had surprisingly managed at least one podium finish in 11 of the 12 most recent seasons, dating back to 2012.

Just as they were in 2024, they were a small and relatively underfunded team, at least compared to the rest of the grid, during those years as well. Yet they still managed to perform well on at least a semi-consistent basis.

The only exception during that 12-year stretch was 2015. The 2015 season was also the only season during that stretch in which they did not run at least one entry for a full-time driver.

The 2024 season was the first season since 2015 in which they brought in exclusively part-time drivers.

In 2024, nine different drivers competed for the team. Yet when they invest in full-time drivers, they are capable of taking the fight to the big teams. Even as IndyCar's biggest underdog, they have proven it, time and time again, over the last decade plus.

With all due respect, is the problem the team, or the drivers?

Considering the fact that former Indy Lights driver and race winner Toby Sowery, who had never before competed in an IndyCar race, finally caught a break and drove for Coyne's team in three events, proceeded to match the team's season-best finish of 13th place in his first career start, and recorded an average finish of 15th, perhaps there is more upside at Dale Coyne Racing than most realize.

The only one of the other eight drivers who even finished a single race higher than 15th place was eight-year veteran Jack Harvey, who twice matched Sowery's best effort.

Again, with all due respect, was anybody really expecting Luca Ghiotto to come in and run inside the top 10? Was anybody really expecting Katherine Legge to battle it out with Josef Newgarden and Pato O'Ward for oval wins?

But even Tristan Vautier, who hadn't made an IndyCar start since 2017 – the same Tristan Vautier who was responsible for Dale Coyne Racing's top finish of fourth place in their podium-less 2015 campaign – showed up on the streets of Detroit and ran inside the top three before he wasn't able to out-Dixon Scott Dixon and save enough fuel to both keep the pace and make it to the end.

There's a reason RACER's Marshall Pruett recapped Vautier's weekend, even though it only culminated with an 18th place effort, by saying that the 35-year-old Frenchman "starred", especially considering the fact that he opened up practice as by far the slowest on the grid. It didn't take him long after that to find speed.

That'd be pretty hard to do if the team were as slow as advertised.

Dale Coyne Racing may not be the most attractive landing spot for free agents. In fact, it probably still is the least. But it's certainly not one that anybody looking for a ride should turn down if given the opportunity to compete full-time. Just ask Sebastien Bourdais, Alex Palou, and most recently David Malukas.