Team Chevy Set for 2024 INDYCAR Green Flag

The 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season is full of potential for Team Chevy. The Bowtie Brand is coming off a season in which it scored its eighth manufacturer championship in 12 years, while also taking victory in the Indianapolis 500.

Now, the Chevrolet contingent returns with a stable of drivers and teams made up of multiple-time Indianapolis 500 winners and series champions. In addition, a NASCAR superstar is set to make his Indy debut, while one of the world’s most popular competitors is also joining the Team Chevy contingent in 2024.

Among the leaders in the Chevrolet camp is the always-stout Team Penske. This season, the team will again field three cars for Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin and Will Power. Newgarden scored his first Indianapolis 500 victory last May, giving“The Captain” Roger Penske his 19th triumph in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Newgarden, a two-time series champion, won a total of four races in 2023 and came home fifth in the point standings.

“I'm so thankful we were able to win an Indy 500 last year, but I'm thinking about the next one,” Newgarden said. “How do we get a second one, and if we're lucky enough to get a second one, how do we get a third, and if we can get a third, how do we get a fourth? It's a never-ending process of trying to stack success on to one another. That's what motivates me.

“The tough part about it, and I think the easy way to stay motivated, is it's always changing. Just because we were successful one year and we figured out a formula to win the 500 last year, that does not guarantee the same formula next season, and we see that time and time again. There's always a different challenge in front of us, and we're going to have to find a new way and a new path, so that also motivates me. I enjoy the new challenge that we're always coming up against.”

Despite Newgarden’s success in 2023, it was his teammate Scott McLaughlin who scored highest in the championship among Chevrolet drivers with a third-place points finish. He won one race and used consistency throughout the year to achieve that result.

“I felt like we had our best year last year leading the three of us, and I felt really good with my process,” McLaughlin said. “It was just a matter of putting together things a little bit earlier on in the season and winning races when we probably should have.

“There were a couple of races we kind of let go as well. But I'm super excited for the year. I feel very comfortable with where I'm at with the team. Nothing is going to change on my team as far as I know, which is nice to go into the season ready to go.”

Meanwhile, 2014 NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion and 2018 Indianapolis 500 victor Will Power will look to get back to Victory Lane with Team Penske this season. He currently sits fifth in all-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES wins with 41 and leads the discipline in pole positions with 70.

The Arrow McLaren team in the Chevy camp will also once again feature a stout lineup with Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi returning to the team, while David Malukas joins the program for the full slate. However, Malukas will be sidelined to start the year after undergoing wrist surgery late in the offseason.

O’Ward came home fourth in the series standings last year to lead the team.

“I feel good. I feel really good, physically, mentally,” O’Ward said. “I'm excited for the challenges ahead because I know it's not going to be an easy year, just like it never will be. We ended the year very hungry, and I think I can speak on behalf of everybody at Arrow McLaren.”

Arrow McLaren is also set to field a fourth car for 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson in this year’s Indianapolis 500 in tandem with Hendrick Motorsports. Larson is widely regarded as one of this generation’s most versatile drivers on both pavement and dirt, and his first Indianapolis 500 start will add to his ever-growing legacy.

“I really love this facility,” Larson said after his rookie orientation at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in October. “I think every time I come in, I realize more and more, this is the most beautiful racing facility that we get the honor to go to. I think Mr. Penske [IMS owner] has done a great job with it since he's taken over. Getting to turn laps around here in an Indy car, getting to feel what that feels like, it makes it even more special. I've gotten the chance to race here on the dirt track, I ran the road course, the oval. We get to thankfully come back on the oval in the Cup car. This place is just awesome.”

Juncos Hollinger Racing also has big news heading into the 2024 campaign as popular Formula 1 racer turned INDYCAR standout Romain Grosjean joins the team. Grosjean has yet to reach Victory Lane in the INDYCAR ranks, but the ferocious competitor has been involved in several epic battles for race wins. He’ll join Augustin Canapino who is coming off a strong rookie season.

Grosjean is set to take on the challenges of a new, young team.

“I think it may be early to speak about wins,” he said. “For sure we're going to try to do everything we can, but we also have to be realistic that we are up and coming. The team has been doing really good for the last few years, but it's still a three-year-old team. So, a lot to do, but I think everyone is very motivated and very aware of what we can achieve and what we cannot achieve. That's good.”

The opposite of a young team is A.J. Foyt Racing, helmed by motorsports legend A.J. Foyt. Foyt’s Chevrolet-powered outfit will again field two cars for the entire 2024 calendar, piloted by Santino Ferrucci and team newcomer Sting Ray Robb.

Longtime Chevrolet outfit Ed Carpenter Racing will also be on the grid again this year with two cars competing full-time. Rinus VeeKay will compete in the full slate of races, while team owner Carpenter is set to contest the ovals in the team’s second car, with rookie Christian Rasmussen taking on the road courses and street circuits. Carpenter will field a third entry for Rasmussen at the Indianapolis 500.

As always, multiple Chevrolet-powered organizations have also announced plans to make single starts at Indy. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is set for Ryan Hunter-Reay and Conor Daly to steer its cars during the Month of May, and rookie R.C. Enerson will be behind the wheel of the Abel Motorsports entry at the Brickyard.

Since Chevrolet returned as an engine supplier for the 2012 INDYCAR season, the 2.2-liter, direct-injected V-6 twin-turbo Chevy engine has taken 111 checkered flags in 199 races, including five in the Indianapolis 500. In addition, Chevrolet-powered racers have earned seven driver championships in that time to go along with the eight manufacturer crowns.

What’s more, today’s twin-turbo V-6 engines have inspired a wide variety of the efficient technologies found in Chevrolet production models.

Chevrolet also competed as a manufacturer in Indy car racing from 1986-1993 and 2002-2005, utilizing V-8 power plants. In that time, the Bowtie Brand scored 111 wins, the 2002 manufacturer title, seven Indianapolis 500 wins and six driver championships.

Now, Chevrolet is set to add to that impressive legacy.

The 17-race 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season kicks off with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Sunday, March 10.

Keep watching The BLOCK throughout the year for coverage of INDYCAR, Chevrolet Performance and all motorsports disciplines.