How Does Meyer Shank Racing shake its bad mojo?
From IndyCar to IMSA, Meyer Shank Racing has run into problems in virtually every race thus far this season.
Although the team grabbed a race victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, in which points were almost immediately taken away after race officials deemed that the systems the team ran with were illegal, the team has been
towards the bottom of each race in the GTPs so far in the IMSA season, and in terms of IndyCar, Helio Castroneves has brought the team its only top-10 finish in Texas, in which he finished 10th.
With these early woes affecting the entire Meyer Shank Racing camp, people will start to wonder when the usually competitive pink and blue machines can turn the corner and rebound from this "start."
Don’t Forget the Names
Looking at IndyCar, which races this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, MSR has two of the greats in four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Castroneves and his former Team Penske teammate, Simon Pagenaud.
Although they both had a slow start since piloting and ultimately winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Castroneves and Pagenaud have not been able to find their mojo. Whether that be running into trouble early, resulting in race exits, or even just the cars not holding their own against the competition, the Meyer-Shank machines have not been ideal.
However, if you look at the numbers, this team truly has taken a step back in performance over the last 1 1/2 years, with the two-car squad finishing in the lower parts of the top 10 or even being in the back of the pack.
To put it in perspective, the team's last win came in 2021, when Castroneves grabbed his 4th Indy 500 crown. Since that win, the team hasn’t been the same on the IndyCar performance side of things.
While it may not be the driver's fault, it is more of a mix of performance and age. While Castroneves and Pagenaud are veterans of the sport, both are getting older, and with younger drivers coming into the sport with top equipment such as Colton Herta, Pato OWard, and Kyle Kirkwood, the competition level has greatly expanded in recent years, pushing back some of the top vets that have dominated the sport.
It may look as though those have been the causes of their downfall, but remember that these two world-class drivers have combined for 40 wins in total in their joint IndyCar career, still showing that they can be a threat in any given race.
Get out of trouble.
Turning the page to IMSA, it’s true that if it weren’t for the massive points loss due to the Rolex 24 penalty debacle, MSR would be a bit higher up in the standings as a team.
However, with that comes what has been the unlucky downfall in races for the No. 60 Acura.
Truly, MSR's IMSA program has been fast all season, racing at the top of the timing charts in the most recent Long Beach race; however, if it wasn’t for a clip in the rear in the first sector of the opening minutes, Meyer Shank could’ve had a chance at its second victory of the season.
The team currently sits at the bottom of the IMSA standings, not even scoring over 300 points on the year yet. However, if the Acura, piloted by Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun for the full season, is able to stay clean in some of these upcoming races at Laguna Seca in Monterey and Watkins Glen -- in which the team finished 2nd overall as well as 2nd in class in both races -- then it could be the turnaround the squad needs heading into the midway point of the season.
However, with neither track being raced on with the new GTP cars, there is that unknown going in. Even so, teams have already taken these cars in lengthy races such as the Rolex 24 and the Sebring 12-hour endurance race.
What’s Next for Purple and Blue?
Although it hasn’t been the ideal start to the year that one might hope for with such a competitive team as Meyer Shank, both camps in IndyCar and IMSA have the racing talent to still turn things around at this point of this rocky season.
If there is any cause for concern, it would be more on the IndyCar side of Meyer Shank’s camp, as the team’s speed just hasn’t been the same as it had been the last couple of years.
And with Helio and Simon both on the tail ends of their respective careers, you wonder which direction the team goes in to build the future of its IndyCar program. While Helio, who turns 48 on May 10, may have another year or two, Pagenaud, who turns 39 on May 18, arguably has another 3-5 more years -- provided MSR keeps him around.
It will be an interesting rest of the year for this bunch as the IndyCar crew looks toward Alabame next to hopefully begin a significant turnaround next weekend, with IMSA staying in California for Laguna Seca in Monterey in two weeks.