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It’s tough to come up with IndyCar-related content during the offseason. Believe me, I know that more than anyone. I just had a post a couple of days ago about cord-cutting from cable, so I appreciate any efforts to stay on topic during the offseason.

Overall, I think the NTT IndyCar Series does a very good job on social media, keeping racing topics alive and fresh during the offseason. They are always coming up with posts that makes you ponder certain topics; such as asking your favorite IndyCar moment from the 2023 IndyCar season, or the first IndyCar driver you remember pulling for (Parnelli Jones, for me).

December is especially hard to generate topics, because there is very little going on. This year, the series is still trying to sort out the hybrid component that teams will be utilizing next season. Other than that, there’s very little activity among drivers, teams or the series – until things pick back up in early January.

The series had a social media post on Monday night that caught my eye, and made me think. It also gave me an idea for a topic today, but probably not in the way that was intended.

The responses from fans were a mixed bag. Some thought that Rinus VeeKay was a fantastic driver saddled with a bad team. A few others took the opposite path, claiming that VeeKay was the reason that Ed Carpenter Racing (ECR) has struggled the past few years. Most were in the camp that VeeKay and ECR were both underachievers, and they were destined to go nowhere so long as they were together.

I’ve got to say, I agree with the last take – just to be totally honest.

ECR has never been considered a top-tier team, but they have usually been fast in the Month of May. That was the case again this past May, when Rinus VeeKay qualified on the front row for the third time in three years. His other start was fourth, in 2020. This year, VeeKay started second, in the middle of the front row and finished tenth. Last year, Veekay started third, but finished dead-last in thirty-third, due to self-inflicted one-car accident on Lap 38. This past year, he was at-fault in a pit-lane collision with Alex Palou on Lap 103.

If VeeKay really wants to home his skills and further his development as a driver, I’m not sure ECR is where he needs to be. We’ve seen flashes of potential from VeeKay. In 2021, which was his second year as a driver, VeeKay won the GMR Grand Prix on the IMS road course, for his first and only IndyCar win. He followed that up with an eighth-place finish in the Indianapolis 500 two weeks later. The following week, he finished second in the first race of the Belle Isle double-header.

For a three-race stretch, Rinus VeeKay was the hottest thing going. And then it all went terribly wrong. After an eighteenth-place finish in Race Two at Belle Isle, VeeKay was involved in a bicycle accident and broke his collarbone. In all honesty, it doesn’t seem like he has been the same since. He missed the next race at Road America, and did not finish higher than sixteenth that season after the biking accident. In fact, his average finish in 2021 after the biking incident was 20.7. Needless to say, chatter about VeeKay becoming the next big thing quickly subsided.

VeeKay’s 2022 season had a few bright spots, highlighted by a podium finish at Barber and two fourth-place finishes at Mid-Ohio and Iowa. But those were sprinkled amongst mostly forgettable finishes that were mid-pack or worse.

There were fewer bright spots in 2023. The tenth-place finish in the Indianapolis 500 and a sixth at Portland were the only highlights. Mediocre to bad results was the theme for VeeKay in 2023. His teammate, Conor Daly, was the sacrificial lamb halfway through the 2023 season. Ryan Hunter-Reay was brought in, but he never got much out of the car either. The ECR cars were simply bad in 2023.

Rookie Christian Rasmussen will be piloting the No. 20 for ECR on the non-ovals, while Ed Carpenter will take the wheel on the ovals. There will be a third car for Rasmussen in next year’s Indianapolis 500.

This will put Rinus VeeKay in a different role. Since joining ECR as a rookie in 2020, VeeKay has been the apprentice – with Carpenter and Daly providing the experience for him to lean on. It’s hard to believe, but VeeKay will be entering Year Five with ECR. With Rasmussen as a teammate for most of the year, VeeKay becomes the veteran and the team leader.

Perhaps he will flourish in that role. You see that many times in sports and business. But if I’m being honest, I’ve seen nothing from VeeKay to make me think he will be comfortable stepping into that role. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if Rasmussen outperforms VeeKay, once he gets a few races under his belt. VeeKay has not impressed me with any consistency or maturity – only the occasional flash of speed here and there.

I’m not sure what VeeKay’s contract situation with ECR is beyond the 2021 season, but unless things improve dramatically next season – I wouldn’t expect VeeKay to be at ECR in 2025.

So to answer the question posed on social media the other day – no, I do not expect Rinus VeeKay or ECR to have a breakout year in 2024. The team needs a lot of work, and VeeKay needs more development than what he is getting at ECR. Personally, I think both could benefit from a mutual parting of the ways.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on December 6, 2023 at 4:02 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.