#26 – Colton Herta, 10th in the championship standings (356 points) – 17 races
#27 – Kyle Kirkwood, 11th in the championship standings (352 points) – 17 races
#28 – Romain Grosjean, 13th in championship standings (296 points) – 17 races
#29 – Devlin DeFrancesco, 22nd in championship standings (177 points) – 17 races
#98 – Marco Andretti, 35th in championship standings (13 points) – 1 race
Joey Barnes: Let’s start at the obvious and that is the mystery of how things fell apart between Andretti Autosport and Romain Grosjean. On paper, it was the perfect marriage that should have thrust both to several race wins and podiums on the path to compete for a championship. What it ended up being was unfilled potential, with only two poles and two runner-up finishes that also stood as Grosjean’s only top-five results in 2023. The pace was evident but, through a blend of scenarios, the partnership between a really talented driver and good team failed to live up to expectations.
Kyle Kirkwood made an immediate impact by winning in only his third race with Andretti and did so by showing tremendous poise fending off team-mate Grosjean. If there was action happening on the track, usually Kirkwood’s No. 27 was seen right in the mix of it - good or bad. While Long Beach and Nashville were tremendous drives that led to wins, I thought his comeback from early chaos and contact in Detroit to finish sixth was his best performance of the year. Simply put, if he can limit being on the backfoot and establish more consistency as a routine top-five contender, he’ll be a big-time threat to challenge for championships.
I certainly didn’t have Colton Herta going winless on my bingo card in 2023. It has to be noted how there seemed to be a role of musical chairs on race strategy happening atop his timing stand as Andretti tried to find the best combination to bring the most out of Herta. It seemed as if there was trust that needed to be rebuilt on that end. There were flashes of mid-season pace, but it seemed like every strong start led to an equally devastating collapse in some form. Every good driver goes through a slump or two, and Herta is far too talented for it to continue in 2024.
Source: Autosport