#14 – Santino Ferrucci, 19th in championship standings (219 points) – 17 races
#55 – Benjamin Pedersen, 27th in championship standings (129 points) – 17 races
Joey Barnes: There were little expectations for a squad going into the year with a rookie in Pedersen, and Ferrucci who had only run eight races – for three separate teams – in 2021-22. It was known the season would be an uphill battle, which put a necessary emphasis on the Indianapolis 500, where Ferrucci shined and, if not for a late caution that negated his outside pass to challenge for the lead on a late restart, might have won the whole thing. Still, he finished a career-best third in what was without question the best performance by him and the organisation all season.
Qualifying put Foyt behind to start the weekend, yet Ferrucci was able to improve on his starting position in 11 of 17 races. Meanwhile, Pedersen advanced from his qualifying position on six occasions. Even still, Pedersen finished 20th or worse in 15 of 17 races and ended the season last in the standings among full-timers, and also behind four drivers that ran a partial schedule.
The silver lining was shown with the Indy 500 performance, which demonstrated that the AJ Foyt Racing squad can have success when allocating all the focus and resources to a specific effort; they just need more depth to be able to work from, and that could be the case next year in the partnership with Team Penske.
Source: Autosport