This weekend’s Hy-Vee doubleheader at the Iowa Speedway is a massive weekend in regards to silly season. With double the points for double the races ahead, there’s only 5 events left in the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season leaving here on Sunday evening.

With so many rides available for 2024, this weekend could pave the way for how silly season shapes up.

Romain Grosjean

Romain Grosjean came into the Month of May in Indianapolis beaming with confidence. He had finished runner-up for two straight races and sat 15 points out of the lead in fifth. At that point, a win felt was a foregone conclusion.

“I think we want to be a championship contender at the end of the year, so we used two mulligans in the season, so we’ve got to be here every race,” he said back in April at Barber.

“We’ve shown that the pace is there, which helps a lot to be at the front, but 100 percent want to score some points and finish the race. If it’s first, second, third, fourth, fifth, we don’t know, but what we know is we need to keep scoring points and be consistent for the championship.

“We executed very well this weekend. We had a fast car. Got pole. 20 seconds ahead of the two stoppers on the race finish. That shows how fast we were. We just didn’t have the right strategy today, so…

“I’d say we were not too bad. Put me P4 in the championship. Big picture, yes I wanted to win today, it hurts to not do it. We have a lot more occasions. If I can win Indy and the 500, it would be good.

“I think when your team boss comes to see you and says that’s probably the best drive he’s seen in INDYCAR, he’s been around for a long time, Michael, you take that as a win.

“Very proud of my engineer, my mechanics. We made P1, so we beat them on the back foot and got them with pole. We had a fast car today. With the fuel number we had to hit doing the lap times we were doing, pretty amazing. I’m really happy with that.”

At that point too, he and Andretti Autosport were nearing a contract extension for next season. Now, heading to Iowa in late July, he still has no contract offer in hand and appears that his brief stint with the team could come to a dire end.

That’s because Grosjean has struggled mightily since.

He has 2 poles and a third place start in the 4 races before Indy. In the 7 races since, he’s qualified 18th, 19th, 3rd, 19th, 14th and 9th respectively. In regards to finishes, Grosjean has finished 11th, 30th, 24th, 25th, 13rd and now 22nd.

Last Sunday in Toronto was his fifth crash in 10 races.

He crashed while battling for the win with 29 to go in the season opener at St. Pete. He crashed from the top five with two laps left in Texas. He crashed with 51 laps left in the Indy 500. He crashed after starting third in Detroit. He now crashed by himself in Toronto.

Grosjean has been slumping and went from fourth in points entering the Indy 500 down to 13th leaving Toronto.

“Yeah, I think there’s been circumstances, a few things in the last few races that made us fall back and look like it hasn’t been a great run,” Grosjean said on Friday.

“I think from my side I know where I can improve, but today just went smooth. We know we have a strong street package. Qualified first in St. Pete, third in Long Beach and third in Detroit, so always up there.”

He was second in practice and looked like a legitimate threat for the pole and race win this weekend at that point.

“It’s a good start,” he said then. “Obviously, as I said, the track is going to change a lot, but we need to keep working and keep improving. But generally happy with the car and happy with what we’ve been doing. Hopefully we can have a trouble-free weekend where everything goes and we don’t have any issue in the car and I don’t make any mistakes.”

Well, he made a costly mistake…

He can make up for it this weekend as Andretti tested here last month and looked stout in it. Grosjean was also 7th and 9th as a rookie last year. He just needs to see the finish in both races this weekend.

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Jack Harvey

It’s no secret that he’s likely out of RLL next season, but with RLL improving their pace now, Harvey needs to deliver.

Rahal started on the front row in Mid-Ohio. Lundgaard won the pole and the race in Toronto. What did Harvey do in that span?

18th and 24th respectively. Granted last weekend was a first lap crash not of his doing, but he still needs to deliver when his teammates are shining to audition for another team for next year.

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David Malukas

He was 14th and 8th as a rookie last year. Runner-up in Gateway too. Also, his best finish all season was a fourth place run back in March in Texas. As someone who said he’s going to test the open market this free agency period, a strong finish(s) in Iowa could make him even higher up in the pecking order.

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Conor Daly

A 2nd chance in 3 races has Daly with a door back open to a potential landing spot in 2024. Is it with MSR? We know they have at the moment two rides open for next season. Who among the full time drivers (Helio Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud) come back? Is Tom Blomqvist in that mix? What about Daly who filled in at Mid-Ohio, stayed around to help in Toronto and is now back again in Iowa.

This is a strong track for Daly.

He’s had seven race starts at the 0.875-mile tri-oval and a bundle of recent success. Iowa Speedway was the site of Daly’s first-ever INDYCAR SERIES pole position in 2020 as one of his three career top-three qualifying results, with the American racer earning his best race finish of eighth in 2020.

“I’m thankful to Mike and Jim to calling me up to fill in for Simon again this weekend in Iowa,” said Daly. “Obviously I’m wishing him the best and hope that he gets well soon.

“Iowa has definitely become one of my favorite tracks in the last couple of years. Obviously I have qualified really well there – qualified on the pole and started in the top three the last two years. Hopefully we can replicate that qualifying performance, but also deliver in the race. The team does an incredible job to prepare the car, so we’re going to do our best for Simon again. We’ll do everything we can to score some more points for the team and I’m thankful to drive this No. 60 car again for AutoNation and SiriusXm.”

The scoring points for the team is also another factor here. They need to get into the Top 22 in entrant points for that ever so crucial Leaders Circle bonus program. Right now, the 60 car is in 23rd, eight points behind.

With two races at stake this weekend, if Daly can come in and contribute some top 15 results, maybe even a top 10, that would do wonders for the entrant points standings which is why this was a home run hire.

Plus, MSR works closely with Andretti Autosport and it’s no secret Daly has ties to the family and team. This move makes a ton of sense in a lot of ways and can help Daly for his future too.

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Callum Ilott

He said this winter that this was a big season for him. He felt like now that he’s seen the full schedule once, it was time to capitalize. He expected more out of Juncos Hollinger Racing and his words lately are holding them accountable.

He was signing a different tune around this time last year when it was announced that he had signed a multi-year extension to remain with JHR for the foreseeable future.

“After seeing the results that we have been able to put forward at JHR for most of the year and the work that has been going on in the background by Ricardo and Brad to improve for the years beyond, made sense to continue with the team and keep building,” said Ilott last July at Indy. “The potential that we have shown as a one car team can only get better as we grow and expand this program. I am super happy to continue working with all the team members at JHR, we have created a great foundation together this season. The effort that everyone puts in and the working environment that they have is amazing. From where we started at a year ago, to where we are now, I am confident that we will find more success together.”

That success last year started drawing some attention due to his speed with the single car team. However, Ilott values his word. He never tested the open market last summer. He didn’t want to.

He heard the talks. He felt though like he owed it to the team to talk with them first.

His deal was an extension of the current deal he was in last year as he, his manager and team officials sat down and worked out a longer-term deal last summer to keep this relationship growing.

“Yeah, it was the extension of an existing deal,” Brad Hollinger said then. “We really didn’t have an option. We decided to sit down with Callum and Martin, his manager, and say we’d like a long-term arrangement, and they both agreed. They thought that was a really good idea, liked what they saw, and our willingness to invest heavily in the team, which we’re doing, and I think the fruits of that labor are beginning to bear out significantly.”

Hollinger said that this was decided after the 3 races in 2021 that Ilott was a driver of their future. They couldn’t let him get away.

“We decided after the last three races — the first three races last year that Callum was someone we really wanted to be with the team for several years, not just one season,” he continued. “I think it gives us a much better chance at advancing the ball, which is where we want to be, obviously at the very front.

“We just didn’t get into it to participate, we got into it to win it. I think with Callum we have that opportunity to do it.

“It takes a little bit of time to gel the team, not just the driver. Having a few years under our belt makes it’s a much more palatable experience for everybody. It allows us to set not only one season goals but the next two, three season goals so we keep moving up the ladder and keep fighting for the championship over the next couple years.

“That was the objective. We negotiated a longer-term agreement.”

Ilott says then that he’s a man of his word and even with the team not holding an option on him for 2023, he still welcomed discussions. While his name was brought up to several open seats in the paddock, Ilott didn’t want to listen.

“The last couple weeks have been interesting for the whole paddock I think,” said Ilott last July. “It’s been quite entertaining.

“But before that, the idea was to have a long, long career in INDYCAR, learn and take my time, help the team progress.

“At the end of the day Ricardo and Brad have put a lot of investment in from the beginning, gave me the opportunity to come out here. The trust in them and the trust in me, vice versa, I really respected that.

“We did the deal quite early on this year to continue. I’m a man of my word. Of course, there was a lot of interest from other people, but I was very honest from the very beginning if anyone approached me, Look, this is what the situation is.

“But, yeah, I’m very happy to continue. I think we’ve got a lot of momentum. Also there’s interest for engineers and people to join as well. I think as a team we’ll grow, hopefully quickly. It could be slowly, but we’re definitely on the right track to improve.”

Now, things look different. He may not only be willing to listen, he may be the one fileding the calls and reaching out too. Rumors are that he’s been eyeing a new venture with a new team outside of JHR. However, he knows that the results aren’t helping his stock either which puts JHR in a slippery position.

Great results could be Ilott’s ticket out of there. Bad results could force them to host a disgruntled driver. Plus, could push him further down the leaders circle standings.

Ilott started the 2023 season with a fifth place run on the streets of St. Pete then followed that up with being ninth in Texas. His best finish over the next eight races was 12th.

He fought a bad handling car for all of the open test at Indy as well as most of the practice week leading up to qualifying. He made mention that he can stay at JHR as long as he wants and made it seem like an option for 2024 is in his hands, not the teams.

Last year, Ilott finished 12th and 11th here last year. A solid weekend could shape his future this time around too.

He knows that he has the speed to compete here and knows that if given the right amount of time and a fast race car, he can win.

“Yeah, if I be really, how would I say, factual, I’m very quick,” Ilott said on Day 2 of INDYCAR content days back in February. “If you put me in the quickest car, I don’t think there’s many people quicker than me, honestly. Looking at Laguna, we had a good car and I was able to put it there.

“I’ll be saying the whole year, once it’s there, I can always compete with it. So that’s up to them to do it. I rarely make mistakes in qualifying.

“If it’s slow, it’s partly maybe 5 percent of the time it could be me. It’s a bit — I feel a bit cocky to say it, but I can tell them when I’ve nailed it and when I’ve not. Normally I’m quite honest if I messed up.”