Between the road/street course prowess of Mike Conway and the oval mastery of Ed Carpenter, the group at Ed Carpenter Racing could find their No. 20 Chevrolet fighting toward the front more regularly in the 2014 IndyCar Series.
But what about a possible entrant’s championship as well? Carpenter, a two-time IndyCar race winner, seems confident that his team can pull it off – if they can keep from making mistakes in a competitive series where problems are magnified.
“It’s a rarity, but I feel like we have all the tools and the combined talent of Mike and I and the team’s overall ability, the potential is there to make [an entrant’s championship] a reality,” Carpenter said as part of an INDYCAR offseason report. “Like everything, it’s going to come down to execution and overachieving every weekend.”
Conway will be driving the No. 20 Chevy in all road and street events this coming season, while Carpenter has relegated himself to ovals-only duty for the greater good of his franchise.
Carpenter says he really started exploring the idea of stepping out of the car for road races after the 2013 season ended, and feels like he’s made the right choice to help bolster his team’s presence in the series.
“It’s definitely going to be an adjustment,” he said. “I’m still going to have the mentality of a driver on those weekends. I think I’ll be able to bring additional help to the team and help Mike and certainly have a little more time to focus on the business side of things.
“That’s the main objective…Making sure Ed Carpenter Racing is in a position to be sustainable and be a long-standing team in the series.”
Carpenter was an observer as Conway tested the No. 20 at Sebring International Raceway before the Christmas holiday. The English driver, who won last year in Race 1 at the Detroit Belle Isle doubleheader, turned more than 200 laps during that test and all indications are that he’s fitting in nicely at ECR.
“It’s just a really good fit for what he wants to do, what his skill set is and his professional approach is really in line with how we operate,” Carpenter said of his new teammate’s role. “It’s early, but we’ll all expecting to do great things.”
