Ed Carpenter Racing

The car: No. 20 Chevrolet-powered Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka

The stats: Recorded five top-10 finishes, with a best of second at Auto Club Speedway in the season finale. He won on the 2-mile oval the previous year and has finished first or second in the final race the past three years. ... Best qualifying effort was first for the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, in which he led a field-high 37 laps and finished 10th. ... Had a best road/street course finish of 13th in the opener of the Toronto doubleheader after starting 23rd. Had best qualifying effort on road/street course of 14th at Sao Paulo. ... Was running at the finish in 17 of the 19 races. ... Had an average finish of 15.1 and average qualifying of 17.6. ... Finished 16th in championship standings, two positions higher than 2012.

The gist: The sole owner/driver in the IndyCar Series, Ed Carpenter saw progress in the second year of the team. For 2014, it has contracted Mike Conway to drive the road and street course races, with Carpenter competing on the ovals. The alignment could make Ed Carpenter Racing a contender for the entrant championship. Conway won at Detroit this past season and started from the pole and places third in the back end of the doubleheader. ... Conway will test in the No. 20 car for the first time in two weeks. ... Carpenter will make his 150th IndyCar Series start in 2014.

He said it: Team owner Ed Carpenter:

"The competition level is so tough in the IndyCar Series and we were hoping to have some good runs early on the street and road circuits. We had a couple of better ones but it didn’t show at the finishes. Coming to the Indy 500, we felt good about our strategy and we played our hand a little close to the vest. We didn’t really want to show our speed during practice. We did a lot of race setup throughout the practice days and then we worked on the qualifying settings late in the week. When it came time for qualifying, we wanted speed and consistency.

"Of course, the weather threw a wrench into some of the plans on Pole Day as things were moved back in the day. We felt good about the car. However, I didn’t know if I had pole car or a 10th-place car. We ran fifth in the first qualifying session, and then we were up against five Andretti cars and three Penske cars for the top-nine Pole Shootout.

"Of course, the media and announcers built us up as ‘David versus Goliath” with the local one-car team against the ‘Super” squads. Matt Barnes and our engineering staff played it cool again just like during the week. And we didn’t change much on the car. That paid off. I think the Penske and Andretti boys took off downforce.

"Winning the pole at the Indy 500 is really bigger than winning any of the other races on the circuit. I was so proud of the team and it gave Fuzzy’s and all of our sponsors a great week of promotion. For the race, I was confident we could run fast and win. Early in the race, we led or ran right at the front. Unfortunately, we got caught up in the middle of the field at one point and I couldn’t get back to the lead pack.

"In my decade of racing at Indy, I would have to say that this year’s race was the most competitive I have faced. There were so many good cars and drivers throughout the whole 200 laps. And you also had to adjust to the conditions. We were so close to being right there too. We finished 10th and it was very disappointing for me. But overall it was a great month of May for the team.

"The middle of the season we showed that we could run up front, including the Texas and Iowa races. I thought we had a car to win those events. We had to take fourth at both. We were getting better at the road and street courses, too. I was a little upset with myself at a couple of those events as I needed to be more aggressive in qualifying and the races.

"Overall, I could really see our team continuing to make excellent progress through the year. We have a great group of people in our team and superb sponsor in Fuzzy's Vodka. We are working to make the team even better. Even though we didn’t get a win this year, the pole at Indy and the second at Fontana proved that our team has made great strides in just two years of operation. We’ll work hard again to prepare for the 2014 season in this offseason and plan to get back to the top of the podium."