Andretti Green Racing

Takuma Sato had been close to winning the Indianapolis 500 before, but he never had a chance to see the finish line.

Instead of heartbreak at the Brickyard, Sato found the finish line and Victory Lane as he won the 101st edition of the Indianapolis 500 Sunday with a sharp drive in a race that saw a spectacular crash and numerous yellow flags.

A well-earned pint of the white stuff 🥛

Takuma Sato wins #Indy500 number 101: https://t.co/chDjhRXi7s pic.twitter.com/MCu1rzYwAn

— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) May 28, 2017

Sato made a bold move on the 196th lap, and that allowed him to pass three-time winner Helio Castroneves to take the lead.

Castroneves made several efforts to get back to the top spot, but Sato's car was too fast, and he would not give up his position.

Ed Jones finished in third place, while Max Chilton was fourth and Tony Kanaan finished fifth. Here's a look at the full race results, per ESPN.com:

1. Takuma Sato
2. Helio Castroneves
3. Ed Jones
4. Max Chilton
5. Tony Kanaan
6. Juan Pablo Montoya
7. Alexander Rossi
8. Marco Andretti
9. Gabby Chaves
10. Carlos Munoz

Castroneves had passed Chilton with seven laps to go to move into first place, and it looked like victory was in his grasp, but Sato was relentless in his effort to get to the lead, and he did not fail when he had the opportunity.

The #Indy500 was littered with caution periods and included one huge crash involving Scott Dixon.

Here's our report https://t.co/c0llI7F331 pic.twitter.com/4WtbNtq0KL

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) May 28, 2017

Early in the race, pole-sitter Scott Dixon and Jay Howard had a spectacular crash between Turns 1 and 2, leaving both cars in pieces. Howard hit the wall in Turn 1, and that forced him to lose control of his car. As he slid back to the low side of the track, Dixon hit the back of Howard's car, sending the pole-sitter's car into the air. The vehicle hit the safety barrier in the infield and then came to rest.

Amazingly, Dixon and Howard were able to walk away from the accident. Dixon was running in the top 10 after starting on the pole for Sunday, and while he was clearly upset by his early finish to the race, medical officials cleared him without any further issues.

Sato earned the victory for the Andretti Autosport team, and it was team owner Michael Andretti's fifth victory in the race.

"Helio drives fair, really fair. So I can trust him," said Sato after the race, per Speed Sport. "It was a fantastic, fantastic race. Hopefully the crowd enjoyed it.

"It's beautiful. I grabbed something I left over in 2012."

Sato went for the lead on the final lap of the 2012 race, but he crashed. That allowed Dario Franchitti to win that race.

This time there would be no such heartbreak for the 40-year-old Sato.

Sato held off Castroneves by 0.2011 of a second to win the race that featured 35 lead changes. Sato is in his eighth Verizon IndyCar Series season after driving seven years in Formula One, and he collected his second IndyCar victory. The average speed in the race was 155.395 miles per hour.

He is the first Japanese-born driver to win the Indianapolis 500.

We're just two days away from the 99th running of the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing," the Indianapolis 500.

In front of over 200,000 fervid spectators, 33 drivers will compete for IndyCar's most coveted prize. 

Here's a look at the qualifying times and final starting grid for Sunday's race: 

Pos.	Driver	Average Speed (mph)	Row
1	Scott Dixon	226.760	1
2	Will Power	226.350	1
3	Simon Pagenaud	226.145	1
4	Tony Kanaan	225.503	2
5	Helio Castroneves	225.502	2
6	Justin Wilson	225.279	2
7	Sebastien Bourdais	225.193	3
8	Marco Andretti	225.189	3
9	Josef Newgarden	225.187	3
10	J.R. Hildebrand	225.099	4
11	Carlos Munoz	225.042	4
12	Ed Carpenter	224.883	4
13	Oriol Servia	224.777	5
14	Charlie Kimball	224.743	5
15	Juan Pablo Montoya	224.657	5
16	Ryan Hunter-Reay	224.573	6
17	Graham Rahal	224.290	6
18	Carlos Huertas	224.233	6
19	Simona de Silvestro	223.838	7
20	James Jakes	223.790	7
*21/33	*James Davison	223.747	11
21	Alex Tagliani	223.722	7
22	Sage Karam	223.595	8
23	Conor Daly	223.482	8
24	Townsend Bell	223.447	8
25	Takuma Sato	223.226	9
26	Pippa Mann	223.104	9
27	Gabby Chaves	222.916	9
28	Sebastian Saavedra	222.898	10
29	Jack Hawksworth	222.787	10
30	Stefano Coletti	221.912	10
31	Bryan Clauson	220.523	11
32	*Ryan Briscoe	217.405	11

*Note: Ryan Briscoe will replace the injured James Hinchcliffe and start from the final row.

*Note: IndyCar president Derrick Walker announced that all replacement drivers will start in the back row, so James Davison, who had his car qualified Sunday by Tristan Vautier, will also start in Row 11, per the Indianapolis Star's Curt Cavin.

I spoke with Daniel McFadin, writer for NBC Sports NASCAR Talk and MotorSports Talk, to get his take on some of the key storylines heading into this year's Indy 500.

Can Hunter-Reay Repeat?

We haven't witnessed a repeat winner since Helio Castroneves in 2001-2002, and before him, the last driver to accomplish the back-to-back was Al Unser in 1970-1971.

It's been accomplished just five times, proving how difficult a task it is. 

"Ryan Hunter-Reay, the defending champ, he's been almost nowhere to be found this year," McFadin said. "He's starting 16th, but he started back in 19th last year and won. Everyone gets up for the Indy 500, so even if they've been dogging you through the first three races, you never know."

Hunter-Reay is just 12th in the overall points standings and has only two top-10 finishes heading into this year's Indy 500.

He has an uphill climb, but as we all saw last year, that didn't prevent him from capturing the Borg-Warner Trophy.

End of the Andretti Curse?

The Andretti's are the most widely known racing family in the United States, but name recognition alone doesn't earn you Indy 500 victories.

The Andretti's have just one to their name—patriarch Mario Andretti's 1969 crown.

Marco, the 28-year-old grandson of Mario and son of Michael, is hoping to break the curse this year in his 10th 500 start. But the 2006 runner-up isn't entering this year's race on anything resembling a hot streak.

"I don't think so; I just don't see [him winning]," McFadin said. "It would be nice; everyone wants to see that curse ended. But he's had a quiet month of May, and it'd be a real shock."

Andretti sits 13th in overall points standings, his best race of the year an eighth-place finish at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. 

Even so, hope remains for IndyCar's most notorious streak to finally meet its demise. 

"It would be great for us as a team and great for us as a family, but I also think it would be great for the series, as well," Michael Andretti, father and race strategist to Marco, told USA Today's Jeff Olson. "I think it would be a big news story because of the so-called Andretti Curse. I think it would make the front page of all the newspapers. It would be huge for that to happen.”

Will Power's Final Crown Jewel

There's just one thing remaining for Will Power to accomplish in his IndyCar career. He lusts for the single-race crown jewel, one that will cap one of the most successful IndyCar careers in recent memory.

Will Power enters this year's Indy 500 second in points after winning last year's title. He's poised, focused and ready.

"You can't discount Will Power," McFadin said. "He's very focused on finally winning the Indy 500. It's the only crown-jewel race in Indy car that he hasn't won yet, and he's won a lot of races. Coming off winning the championship last year, this is very much what he's been focused on this entire season."

"His goal entering the month of May was to control practice, get the pole for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, win the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. He just missed out on the pole for the Indy 500. So he'll be eager to get to the front and stay there as long as possible. He wants the win badly."

Worries Regarding Safety

One of the more pressing stories leading up to this year's Indy 500 is safety concerns. 

No one has ever mistaken racing at speeds in excess of 190 mph to be a safe profession, but the proliferation of crashes this year have once again brought safety to the forefront of the IndyCar conversation.

James Hinchcliffe's crash was the most egregious, with his car losing control, spinning hard into the wall before sliding back and nearly flipping over. He had to be replaced by Ryan Briscoe after suffering severe injuries. 

Helio Castroneves, Josef Newgarden and Ed Carpenter all went airborne in their crashes, though none were seriously injured and will still race on Sunday.

Even with the intensified media scrutiny over the crashes, particularly Hinchcliffe's, drivers aren't expected to approach the race any differently. 

"I don't expect the crashes to affect how anyone drives this weekend," McFadin said. "I interviewed Justin Wilson and Scott Dixon, they both said all four wrecks were the result of four completely different things. I believe only one of them was actually related to the configuration of the car itself."

"Wilson just told me, once they put the visor down, the mindset is completely different. It's all about the race, not about what came before that."

Chances for the Rookies

A rookie hasn't won the Indy 500 since Castroneves in 2001. Don't expect either of the two neophytes in this year's field to end that drought.

"I don't expect [Stefano] Coletti to enter the top 20," McFadin said. "But [Gabby] Chavez, he's the defending Indy Lights champion. He won at IMS last year, so I think you'll hear his name a couple times. I don't think he'll be in serious contention unless something weird happens or if there's some very strange pit strategy. I think he'll last all day."

Chavez qualified 29th, while Coletti qualified 32nd, leaving both with plenty of ground to make up in their inaugural 500.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained firsthand.

You can follow Daniel McFadin on Twitter @danielmcfadin and find his work at NBC Sports MotorSports Talk and NASCAR Talk.

For the third consecutive year, Will Power entered the final race of the IndyCar season with the Championship lead. For the third consecutive year, Will Power is a bridesmaid.

Just days after signing a two-year contract extension with Andretti Autosport, Ryan Hunter-Reay gave his boss a Championship trophy. Ryan won his first IndyCar Championship on Saturday night in dramatic fashion, edging out Power by a mere three points.

Misfortune once again prevented Power from collecting his first IndyCar Championship. He had a 17-point lead heading into Saturday night’s race, when “the mistake” happened again. Power was running on the low side of Hunter-Reay on lap 56 and simply lost control of his machine in turn two when he put his tires on one of the slippery seams.

Hunter-Reay was nearly collected in his spin, which would have resulted in Power winning the title. After an incredible team effort by Team Penske, about 20 crew members were able to somehow rebuild the car and get him back on the track to pick up two more valuable points. They weren’t enough though, as he finished 24th while Ryan came home in fourth.

Ed Carpenter, who was fast all weekend long, won the race on a final lap pass just before the caution came out for Takuma Sato’s crash. Carpenter has won two career IndyCar races. Both were season finale races in which he passed Dario Franchitti on the final lap.

It was a wild, exciting race that featured a lot of passing and costly mistakes. Sure, Power’s mistake may have sealed his own fate, but you have to credit Ryan for doing what he had to do, which was finish the race in the top five. He didn't have the best car, but he drove it to the position he had to have. He is the first American driver since Sam Hornish Jr in 2006 to win an IndyCar Championship.

After climbing out of his car, Hunter-Reay said “My dream’s come true. Unbelievable.” He and his wife were celebrating the moment when Power came by in street clothes to congratulate him on his success. A classy move by a driver that just had his dreams crushed for the third year in a row.

A new IndyCar Champion was crowned this weekend, and the 2012 season has officially come to a conclusion. It was an incredible ending to a fantastic season that was filled with many changes. For the Championship to be decided by just three points on the final lap of a 500-mile race is something you would only see on a movie screen or in a book.

For Hunter-Reay, it truly has been a roller coaster ride. After bouncing around from team to team, he has finally found a home at Andretti Autosport. They now have another Championship-winning driver that still has a fantastic future ahead of him.

Perhaps his wife Becky said it best shortly after he won the Championship. “He got what he deserves.” That’s a statement that nobody can argue with. He earned this Championship.

Ryan Hunter-Reay will get his chance at a championship after all. He earned it too, winning the Grand Prix of Baltimore on Sunday with his back flat against the wall.

Coming into this weekend’s race in Baltimore, Ryan trailed Championship leader Will Power by 37 points. Now heading into the season finale in Fontana, the lead has been trimmed to just 17.

Power started the race on the pole and just needed to stay up front to essentially clinch his first IndyCar Championship. The weather ended up playing a huge role in this race, where Hunter-Reay notched his fourth victory of the season.

When the rain drops began to fall, Power’s team decided to put on the Wet tires, instead of opting for the sticker Reds. This proved costly, as he slid to the back of the field when the rain never came. With Hunter-Reay having an extra set of Reds, he shot toward the front.

Hunter-Reay stayed out two laps longer than Simon Pagenaud did before making their final pit stops. On Lap 53, Ryan came out of the pits ahead of Pagenaud to take the lead.

Power quickly began making his way through the field. In the final 20 laps, he sliced his way through the field, working his way back into the Top Five. He did manage to finish sixth, and also clinched the three bonus points this weekend by earning the pole and leading the most laps. What could have been a disastrous day for his title hopes, turned out to be not so bad after all.

Ryan Briscoe, last weekend’s winner, somehow stretched his fuel to the very end and finished second. Pagenaud, the Rookie of the Year, kept his impressive season going, recording yet another podium finish. Scott Dixon and Rubens Barrichello rounded out the Top Five. It was the second straight Top-Five finish for Rubens.

The first half of the race was filled with yellow flags. There were seven full-course cautions in the first 40 laps of the event. Sebastien Bourdais’ 2012 season came to an end when his suspension issues forced him to retire from the race. Katherine Legge will be driving the Dragon Racing machine in the season-ending race at Fontana.

The 2012 IndyCar Championship will come down to the final race of the season. The 500 mile race at Fontana on Saturday night will be the ultimate stage. The September 15th event begins at 8 p.m. ET and can be seen on NBC Sports Network.

I haven’t written on Bleacher Report for a few months, but today I felt compelled to. I mostly stopped writing here because of their ridiculous writing style guidelines. I also write for Open Wheel America, so that takes most of my concentration when it comes to writing.

It has been frustrating to read all of the “articles” on Dan Wheldon, by writers that have no idea who he was. Even more, it seems people are only talking about what the sport needs to change, and who is to blame for the accident.

For once, can we please just reflect on the life of a tremendous individual that was lost?

No, this isn’t the IRL, and no, it was not anyone’s fault. The series of multiple events that combined to take Dan’s life were a perfect storm. An inch here or an inch there, and he could have walked away with just a couple of scratches.

The cliché has been heard too often. While it is true that race car drivers know the risks before they get into the car, we are never fully prepared when they don’t return.

Dan Wheldon got into his car for the final time on Sunday, all smiles of course. The accident shook everyone up as soon as it happened. We waited and prayed for good news on his condition, until we received the fateful words from Randy Bernard.

The press conference was eerily similar to that of Mike Helton, 10 years ago when he announced that Dale Earnhardt was gone. NASCAR fans all across the nation wept for days, and weeks at the news of his departure. The loss of Wheldon was no different.

It is truly amazing how one man can touch so many people on this planet. Dan was beloved by everyone he encountered. He could charm anyone with his quick wits and golden smile. Dan was a very happy man, and it always showed.

This wasn’t just a loss for the IndyCar Series. Drivers from NASCAR and Formula 1 were also shaken by the news of Dan’s passing. Soccer stars, musicians, actors, and other prevalent figures across the globe have expressed their sadness this week.

It is staggering to think how he and his family went from the highest of highs, to the lowest of lows in a mere five months.

Wheldon won his second Indianapolis 500 race this year, and was able to share this one with his family—his wife Susie, and sons Sebastian and Oliver. Dan won the greatest race in the world twice, and also finished in second twice, in addition to his series Championship in 2005.

Dan was one of the best drivers to ever race in the biggest race in the world. In nine starts in Indianapolis, he finished in the top four an impressive six times.

As amazing and talented as he was on the track, he was even better off of it. Dan and his wife had their second son, Oliver, earlier this year. He had time off this season and was able to spend every day with them. He was truly as happy as a man could be.

It is impossible to find someone that didn’t like Dan. He was very well-spoken, and took time out of his day to visit with anyone and everyone that adored him. He would spend time at hospitals and other charity events that he wasn’t even asked to go to. He loved being around kids, and he cherished every moment he had with his family.

There is a memorial website that the IZOD IndyCar Series and GoDaddy.com put together. The website salutes the person, the driver, and the friend that Dan was to all of us.

Fellow driver Graham Rahal has been putting together quite an impressive auction for the Wheldon family. He has been working around the clock, adding everything from authentic signed racing gear, to island vacations, to 2-seater rides around IMS. You can keep track of the hundreds of items that are going up for auction on his Facebook page.

Wheldon was ready to replace Danica Patrick in the No. 7 Go Daddy car for Andretti Autosport next season. He was going back to where he belonged, a full-time driver on a circuit that needed him as badly as he needed it.

On Sunday, you could hear millions of hearts breaking, all across the world.

Perhaps no driver had as much love, appreciation, and dedication to Indianapolis as Dan did. In 2010, Dan spoke with reporters at IMS, telling them “I’m not quitting this thing until I win it another time. If I have to race until I’m 86, I’m doing it. I love this race, man. I love it.”

Dan of course won the 500 the following year, his second win here.

Wheldon will always have a special place here in Indianapolis, and with all of the fans. This place was his holy grail, and he loved coming back every May. This race was the single reason why he chose to stay in IndyCar, instead of going over to NASCAR and/or Formula 1.

Sunday was supposed to be a day of celebration; A day to celebrate a Champion of the series. In a way, it was. It wasn’t Franchitti or Power on our minds, it was the 2005 Champion.

He is here, but he isn’t here. He is gone, but he isn’t gone.

In a day where Indy Racing League drivers were supposed to be celebrated and congratulated after another great year of racing, it quickly turned into a day of mourning and sorrow, as this year’s Indianapolis 500 winner, Dan Wheldon, lost his life on the 11th lap of the Honda Indy 300 at the Las Vegas Speedway on Sunday.  

Wheldon was making just his third start of the season, as for most of the year, he was a tester and developer for a new chassis that the IRL will introduce in the 2012 season.  

But, he was a part of what was known as the “GoDaddy Indy Car Challenge,” a contest made by the web based company, that if Wheldon-or one of the other four drivers involved in this contest- would have won the race, the driver and a fan would split a prize of $5 million.  

However, no one would win the prize money, as on the 11th lap of the 200 lap race, Wheldon’s car struck the back of E.J. Viso’s car, sending Wheldon’s car flying through the air, crashing into the catch fence, where, on impact, it destroyed the roll hoop off of the chassis.  

Wheldon did not survive the crash, and the impact was felt by the drivers who were in the race that knew and loved their fallen driver.  

Tony Kanaan, a former teammate of Wheldon from 2003 to 2005 was barley able to put words together about losing one of his closest friends.

"I don't know what I can say to comfort anybody. I just pray that he rests in peace. Right now, I just want to give my support to his family. He was one of my best friends and one of my greatest teammates back in the day.” 

The season’s championship went to Dario Franchitti, which was his fourth of his career, but instead, he had to field questions about the loss to one of his fellow drivers.  

"Right now I'm numb and speechless," Franchitti said. "One minute you're joking around at driver intros and the next Dan's gone. We had a couple of fallouts over the way, but we were friends. Everybody in IndyCar Series considered Dan a friend. You saw the reaction. He was one of those special, special people from when he showed up first in IndyCar. And he was kind of brash, all that stuff, but he was a charmer. Then he became this loving family guy who is still charming, but he had this whole new side to him.” 

So now, the question is, how can IRL fix this problem so that the league doesn’t lose another driver?  

For starters, they can cut down on the speed, like restrictor plates do in NASCAR. But, what could have saved Wheldon’s life, may have been what Wheldon was helping develop and what will be rolled out in 2012.  

According to the website indycar.com, the thing that Wheldon was testing out was something that was announced in a 3D renderings at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 2010. 

“The platform is a universal road/oval rolling chassis with an enhanced driver safety cell and an anti-wheel lock design that will be produced by long-time IZOD IndyCar Series partner Dallara Automobili at a state-of-the-art facility to be built on Main Street in Speedway, Ind. -- a few hundred yards from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy Racing League offices.” 

Will this be enough to save future lives of racers? Much like after the Dale Earnhardt crash, NASCAR enforced all drivers to wear the HANS device.  

Hopefully, what Wheldon was testing out and developing will add onto an already great legacy.  

He’s already known as a two time Indianapolis 500 race winner; he may be known as someone who helped save lives with his influence on this new IRL car starting next season. 

Twitter: @tjmcaloon

In a somewhat surprising move today, Andretti Autosport announced with a press release that Alex Tagliani's engineer, Allen McDonald, is returning to the team, taking over for Mike Conway's No. 27 car.

The engineer who gave Sam Schmidt a pole-winning car in this year's Indianapolis 500 is going back to the organization that failed to get two of their cars in this year's race.

Obviously, Schmidt was not happy about the move, but in defense of McDonald, he wasn't given a full-year contract to stay with Tagliani. Michael Andretti said that McDonald wanted to return to the team. Sam Schmidt denied that Tagliani's program is in danger of falling apart.

McDonald engineered Dario Franchitti's 2007 winning car on the team now owned by Andretti. Schmidt said it was a case of a team with funding robbing talent from a smaller team.

"I'm looking forward to working with Andretti Autosport once again," said McDonald. "We did some great things together in the past and the goal is to get back to that level of consistency and success. Everyone here is focused on the same goals and is ready to do whatever it takes for us to get there. That effort begins this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway."

"We're excited to have Allen back with our team," said Michael Andretti, whose team released Tom Anderson from his role as competition director after its disappointing month of May in Indianapolis. "He was a great asset to us in the past, and I'm confident he will bring a lot to the table and make an immediate impact for us. He clearly knows what it takes to be fast and knows how our operation works, so it should be a smooth transition for him."

According to The Indianapolis Star, Schmidt said that the team was "stable" and that funding is in place at least through the July 24 race in Edmonton. He hopes to keep it a full season program, but McDonald wanted the assurance of having work after that date.

Even further than that, Schmidt said that his team plans to expand in July. It will field the No. 99 car that Townsend Bell drove in the Indy 500, but a driver has yet to be named. He also said that he has talked to former Champ Car World Series driver Katherine Legge about the ride.

Maybe he did want to return to Michael Andretti’s team, or maybe the fact that Schmidt could only guarantee him a job through next month’s Edmonton race was a factor. Both teams are based in the Indianapolis area.

The final race in Japan will not be on the famous egg-shaped oval. Instead, the series will compete on a 2.98 mile, 14 turn road course at the Twin Ring Motegi Motorsports facility.

The familiar oval track sustained damage during the earthquake that shook the area in March. The road course is actually being repaved this week, and the number of laps will be determined soon.

“In conjunction with Mobilityland, we have made the decision to move forward with our race in Motegi after closely monitoring the on-going situation in Japan for several months,” said Randy Bernard, CEO of IndyCar. 

“After weighing a variety of options, we felt it was best to move the race to the road course. We understand that Japan is steadily moving forward with reconstruction and we look forward to entertaining our strong fan base at Motegi with our inaugural run on the road course.”

Twin Ring Motegi opened in 1997 and has hosted numerous open wheel races since 1998. Danica Patrick won her first and only race here in 2008. The road course is located just north of Tokyo.

The oval track and the road course circuit actually share the pit lane and front stretch. The cars will be running clockwise on the road course. The IndyCar race follows the race at Infineon Raceway in August, and the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix street race in early September.

For most IndyCar fans like myself, it was somewhat of a let down upon hearing the decision made today. On one hand it was great that they will be able to run one final race in Japan after the devastating earthquake rocked the area, but losing another oval to a road course is not what I wanted to see.

This year's schedule will now officially consist of 11 road/street courses, and just seven ovals. If they were unable to use the road course in Japan, the series would have likely found a replacement oval here in the states. While we were patiently waiting for this to happen, it just never materialized.

Fortunately we should be able to get our high-speed oval fixes here over the next few races. The Indy 500 was the first "oval" on the schedule this year, and next weekend's twin races at Texas should provide plenty of action. After that, we have the Milwaukee Mile and Iowa Speedway to look forward to.

The speculation out there today is that Danica Patrick is close to signing a deal that will land her in the NASCAR Nationwide Series full-time next year. While she may come back to run in the Indy 500, this is certainly her last full-time year in IndyCar.

While I don't think losing her will hurt the series, I think it could actually help Michael Andretti keep some of his hair over the next few years.

With the loss of Danica, and the GoDaddy sponsorship for the No. 7 car, people have already begun the discussions of who should get her ride next year. While there are plenty of viable options out there at the moment, I believe that keeping the seat empty could really benefit the Andretti Autosport team.

Michael tried to get all five of his cars in this year's Indy 500, and two of them were left out. The team is a four-car full-time operation, with no serious championship contender.

One of those drivers that failed to make the field at Indianapolis, Mike Conway, is the only Andretti Autosport driver in the top 10 (10th) in the Championship standings.

Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti do have contracts for next season with the team, but Conway and Danica's contracts expire at the end of this year. Would it actually be better for the team if they were to stay a two-car operation? I believe that trying to get so many cars competitive for every race is wearing them too thin.

Look at Chip Ganassi and Roger Penske, and what they have done with teams smaller than Andretti's. The dynamic duo in the Target machines have dominated the last few years, as have Will Power and Helio Castroneves in Penske's camp.

If the team could put the same amount of focus and hard work into two cars instead of four or five, I think the performances on track would be greatly improved. Marco Andretti has the talent, not only on the ovals, but the road/street courses as well. Ryan Hunter-Reay has also proven that he is a great talent no matter what circuit they are at.

Speculation is that Ryan Briscoe could be finished at Penske after this year, but I don't see him pulling the plug on him. Obviously if there were no other openings, that would be the best situation for both parties, but like I said before, I think Roger is confident enough in Ryan that he will stay with the team.

Other people have also mentioned the possibility of Tony Kanaan returning to the team, but I don't think that will be happening either. Others have questioned if Sam Hornish Jr. is ready to come back to Open Wheel Racing after his struggles in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. I wouldn't bet on that one either.

The most logical choices to fill the ride, if they choose to do so, would be a driver from the Indy Lights Series.

In the end, the best choice for the team in my opinion would be to run just two cars, three at the most. Just going forward with that could really cut down a lot of the stress within the team, and could provide Marco and Ryan with better quality rides.