Note: This continues a series of 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES team previews on INDYCAR.com from Feb. 26-March 1. The season starts Sunday, March 10 with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding.
Starting Lineup: Colton Herta (No. 26 Gainbridge Honda), Kyle Kirkwood (No. 27 AutoNation Honda), Marcus Ericsson (No. 28 Delaware Life Honda).
2023 in Review: Andretti Global had high hopes entering last season that self-inflicted mistakes from 2022 were rectified. The speed was there with five NTT P1 Awards in 17 races. But two victories in those 17 races, both by sophomore Kirkwood, left the team feeling like it left something on the table. Kirkwood won the prestigious Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in April and followed that in August by winning the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix in Nashville. The Florida native showed flashes of what could come this season by leading 88 laps and taking seven top-10 finishes on the season. The other three drivers weren’t satisfied. Herta called 2023 among his worst INDYCAR SERIES seasons. He had a pair of poles, at Road America and Mid-Ohio, but issues in both races kept him from victory lane in his first winless year in five full-time seasons. Romain Grosjean started the year hot with two NTT P1 Awards and a pair of runner-up finishes in the four races entering the Month of May. The results faded from there, with just one top-10 finish in the remaining 13 races. Devlin DeFrancesco’s best finish was 12th (Detroit), and he finished 22nd in points.
New for ’24: A lot. The team has rebranded from Andretti Autosport to Andretti Global and has scaled back from four full-time cars to three in 2024. Among the four drivers last year, Herta and Kirkwood return while Marcus Ericsson arrives from Chip Ganassi Racing to replace Grosjean in the No. 28 Honda. Andretti Global has three of the top 11 drivers in points from last year under one umbrella this season.
Keep an Eye on This: Reducing car count has produced championships lately. When Chip Ganassi Racing reduced from four cars in 2017 to a pair for the 2018 season, Scott Dixon took home the championship trophy. Team Penske did the same between 2021 and 2022, slimming from four cars to three. Will Power celebrated a championship season in 2022 as a result. Can Andretti Global follow suit? So far, all three drivers have praised this decision and how it’s helped.
Little-Known Fact: Andretti Global’s last 11 INDYCAR SERIES race wins have come on road and/or street courses. Its last oval win came in August 2018 at Pocono Raceway by Alexander Rossi. Andretti Global drivers won 14 races between June 2013 and August 2018. Nine of those wins came on ovals, including two straight in the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge (2016, 2017).