While the IndyCar Series teams are already hard at work preparing for 2025, we’re taking one last look back at the 2024 season. We’re doing this through seven statistics, some of which you might not have seen before!

All statistics in a row:

Number of pole positions

Number of wins

Points scored on road and street circuits

Points scored on ovals

Laps led

Race laps completed, compared to all laps

Percentage of races retired due to an incident

Number of pole positions

When it comes to pole positions, Scott McLaughlin stands out with a significant lead. The Team Penske driver took five poles, while champion Alex Palou secured ‘only’ three. Notably absent is Will Power, the driver with the most pole positions in IndyCar history: for the first time since 2008, he did not secure a single pole.

1. Scott McLaughlin - 5
2. Colton Herta - 3
= Alex Palou - 3
4. Josef Newgarden - 2
5. Kyle Kirkwood - 1
= Linus Lundqvist - 1
= Santino Ferrucci - 1
= Felix Rosenqvist - 1

Number of wins

McLaughlin also performed well in terms of wins in 2024. He tops this list but shares the first place with Will Power and Pato O’Ward. This highlights the value of consistent scoring over simply winning, as champion Alex Palou won only two races that counted towards the championship.

1. Scott McLaughlin - 3
= Will Power - 3
= Pato O'Ward - 3
4. Colton Herta - 2
= Alex Palou - 2
= Josef Newgarden - 2
= Scott Dixon - 2

Points scored on road and street courses

Although the overall championship standings are known, a different picture emerges when we focus on road and street course performance. Palou earned his title primarily on these tracks, but Will Power was only 36 points behind. A surprising name in the top ten is Marcus Ericsson, who finished just fifteenth in the overall championship but performed significantly better on the road and street circuits.

1. Álex Palou - 371
2. Will Power - 335
3. Colton Herta - 329
4. Kyle Kirkwood - 265
5. Scott Dixon - 263
6. Pato O’Ward - 241
7. Scott McLaughlin - 221
8. Marcus Ericsson - 216
9. Christian Lundgaard - 207
10. Felix Rosenqvist - 206
11. Alexander Rossi - 202
12. Marcus Armstrong - 198
13. Josef Newgarden - 180
14. Santino Ferrucci - 177
15. Romain Grosjean - 167
16. Graham Rahal - 166
17. Linus Lundqvist - 147
18. Rinus VeeKay - 139
19. Pietro Fittipaldi - 114
20. Kyffin Simpson - 109
21. Christian Rasmussen - 96
22. Sting Ray Robb - 94
23. Agustín Canapino - 91
= Théo Pourchaire - 91
25. Jack Harvey - 81
26. David Malukas - 70
27. Nolan Siegel - 46
28. Toby Sowery - 45
29. Tom Blomqvist - 41
30. Luca Ghiotto - 27
31. Callum Ilott - 19
32. Hélio Castroneves - 16
33. Tristan Vautier - 12
34. Juri Vips - 11
35. Nolan Siegel - 10
= Colin Braun - 10
37. Conor Daly - 8
38. Nolan Siegel - 7
39. Hunter McElrea – 6

Points scored on ovals

Looking at the points scored on ovals, McLaughlin emerges as the leader. The driver, who raced his first oval race in 2021, leads by 63 points over teammate Newgarden. Champion Palou ranks only seventh, trailing by 111 points.

1. Scott McLaughlin - 284
2. Josef Newgarden - 221
3. Pato O’Ward - 219
4. Scott Dixon - 193
5. Santino Ferrucci - 190
6. Colton Herta - 184
7. Álex Palou - 173
8. Alexander Rossi - 164
9. Will Power - 163
10. Rinus VeeKay - 161
11. Kyle Kirkwood - 155
12. Linus Lundqvist - 132
13. Christian Lundgaard - 105
14. Felix Rosenqvist - 100
= Marcus Armstrong - 100
16. Romain Grosjean - 93
17. Sting Ray Robb - 91
= Nolan Siegel - 91
19. Graham Rahal - 85
= Conor Daly - 85
21. Marcus Ericsson - 81
22. David Malukas - 78
23. Kyffin Simpson - 73
24. Pietro Fittipaldi - 72
25. Christian Rasmussen - 67
26. Jack Harvey - 62
27. Katherine Legge - 61
28. Ed Carpenter - 45
29. Conor Daly - 21
= Kyle Larson - 21
31. Callum Ilott - 20
32. Takuma Sato - 19
33. Agustín Canapino - 18
34. Hélio Castroneves - 10
35. Ryan Hunter-Reay - 6
36. Tom Blomqvist - 5
= Marco Andretti - 5
= Conor Daly – 5

Laps led

McLaughlin's potential as a strong contender for 2025 is evident in the number of laps he led. Palou had a less prominent role here, finishing fourth, as he mainly secured his championship through consistency. Notably, a total of 27 drivers led at least one lap!

1. Scott McLaughlin - 637 laps
2. Will Power - 367 laps
3. Colton Herta - 305 laps
4. Alex Palou - 263 laps
5. Pato O'Ward - 189 laps
6. Josef Newgarden - 137 laps
7. Kyle Kirkwood - 121 laps
8. Alexander Rossi - 109 laps
9. Scott Dixon - 98 laps
10. Christian Lundgaard - 53 laps
11. Sting Ray Robb - 31 laps
12. Linus Lundqvist - 27 laps
13. Conor Daly - 22 laps
14. Santino Ferrucci - 21 laps
15. David Malukas - 19 laps
16. Marcus Ericsson - 14 laps
17. Rinus VeeKay - 8 laps
= Nolan Siegel - 8 laps
19. Graham Rahal - 7 laps
20. Felix Rosenqvist - 5 laps
21. Marcus Armstrong - 4 laps
= Kyle Larson - 4 laps
23. Kyffin Simpson - 3 laps
= Ed Carpenter - 3 laps
25. Pietro Fittipaldi - 2 laps
= Katherine Legge - 2 laps
27. Callum Ilott – 1 laps

Race laps completed, compared to all laps

To finish first, you must first finish! For every driver, completing as many laps as possible and avoiding retirements is crucial. Topping this list is VeeKay, who, despite Ed Carpenter Racing experiencing frequent technical issues in the first half of the season, completed the most laps of all: 2,522 of 2,551 laps – 98.8% of all laps.

Among the title contenders, O’Ward and Newgarden underperformed with 84.6% and 82.1% of laps completed, respectively. If they want to contend for the title in 2025, they know what to work on.

1. Rinus VeeKay - 2522 laps/98,8%
2. Colton Herta - 2516 laps/98,6%
3. Santino Ferrucci - 2505 laps/98,2%
4. Kyle Kirkwood - 2497 laps/97,9%
5. Christian Lundgaard - 2470 laps/96,8%
6. Will Power - 2469 laps/96,8%
7. Alex Palou - 2446 laps/95,9%
8. Scott McLaughlin - 2425 laps/95,1%
9. Alexander Rossi - 2424 laps/95,0%
10. Scott Dixon - 2397 laps/93,96%
11. Sting Ray Robb - 2332 laps/91,4%
12. Romain Grosjean - 2312 laps/90,6%
13. Graham Rahal - 2309 laps/90,5%
14. Linus Lundqvist - 2294 laps/89,9%
15. Kyffin Simpson - 2273 laps/89,1%
16. Pietro Fittipaldi - 2189 laps/85,8%
17. Felix Rosenqvist - 2165 laps/84,9%
18. Pato O'Ward - 2157 laps/84,6%
19. Josef Newgarden - 2095 laps/82,1%
20. Marcus Armstrong - 2021 laps/79,2%
21. Marcus Ericsson - 2006 laps/78,6%
22. Jack Harvey - 1739 laps/68,2%
23. Nolan Siegel - 1730 laps/67,8%
24. Christian Rasmussen - 1547 laps/60,6%
25. David Malukas - 1438 laps/56,4%
26. Conor Daly - 1392 laps/54,6%
27. Katherine Legge - 1105 laps/43,3%
28. Agustin Canapino - 1057 laps/41,4%
29. Ed Carpenter - 928 laps/36,4%
30. Theo Pourchaire - 498 laps/19,5%
31. Tom Blomqvist - 358 laps/14,0%
32. Helio Castroneves - 350 laps/13,7%
33. Callum Ilott - 300 laps/11,8%
34. Toby Sowery - 273 laps/10,7%
35. Luca Ghiotto - 263 laps/10,3%
36. Kyle Larson - 200 laps/7,8%
37. Takuma Sato - 200 laps/7,8%
38. Marco Andretti - 113 laps/4,4%
39. Juri Vips - 109 laps/4,3%
40. Ryan Hunter-Reay - 107 laps/4,2%
41. Tristan Vautier - 99 laps/3,9%
42. Colin Braun - 99 laps/3,9%
43. Hunter McElrea - 57 laps/2,2%

Percentage of races retired due to an incident

Lastly, here’s a statistic where you’d rather not end up on top: the percentage of races in which a driver retired due to an incident. This doesn’t consider whether the incident was caused by the driver or someone else. Hunter McElrea, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Marco Andretti topped this list with 100%, but that was based on a single race. Among full-time drivers, Kyffin Simpson, Pietro Fittipaldi, and Marcus Ericsson scored the worst, with incidents in 23.5% of races.

Of the drivers who competed in all seventeen races, only one managed not to retire due to an incident even once: VeeKay.

1. Hunter McElrea – 100% (1 race)
= Ryan Hunter-Reay – 100% (1 race)
= Marco Andretti – 100% (1 race)
4. Ed Carpenter – 50% (4 races)
5. Katherine Legge – 28,6% (7 races)
6. Luca Ghiotto – 25% (4 races)
7. Kyffin Simpson – 23,5% (17 races)
= Pietro Fittipaldi - 23,5% (17 races)
= Marcus Ericsson - 23,5% (17 races)
10. David Malukas – 20% (10 races)
= Tom Blomqvist – 20% (5 races)
12. Agustin Canapino – 18,2% (11 races)
13. Sting Ray Robb – 17,6% (17 races)
14. Christian Rasmussen – 14,3% (14 races)
15. Alexander Rossi – 12,5% (16 races)
16. Will Power – 11,8% (17 races)
= Josef Newgarden - 11,8% (17 races)
= Kyle Kirkwood - 11,8% (17 races)
= Linus Lundqvist - 11,8% (17 races)
= Graham Rahal - 11,8% (17 races)
= Marcus Armstrong - 11,8% (17 races)
22. Nolan Siegel – 8,3% (12 races)
23. Jack Harvey – 7,1% (14 races)
24. Scott McLaughlin – 5,9% (17 races)
= Pato O'Ward - 5,9% (17 races)
= Colton Herta - 5,9% (17 races)
= Alex Palou - 5,9% (17 races)
= Scott Dixon - 5,9% (17 races)
= Santino Ferrucci - 5,9% (17 races)
= Christian Lundgaard - 5,9% (17 races)
= Romain Grosjean - 5,9% (17 races)
= Felix Rosenqvist - 5,9% (17 races)
33. Conor Daly – 0% (7 races)
= Rinus VeeKay - 0% (17 races)
= Kyle Larson - 0% (1 race)
= Callum Ilott - 0% (2 races)
= Theo Pourchaire - 0% (6 races)
= Toby Sowery - 0% (3 races)
= Helio Castroneves - 0% (3 races)
= Takuma Sato - 0% (1 race)
= Tristan Vautier - 0% (1 race)
= Juri Vips - 0% (1 race)
= Colin Braun - 0% (1 race)