SALINAS, Calif — On a day that saw so much chaos (8 cautions for 35 laps) and so many penalties (17), Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Callum Ilott battled his way through 95 laps of racing to come away with a strong result in the season finale.

That’s why he came from 20th to finish fifth in his No. 77 Dallara-Chevrolet tying a career-best result in his 36th career NTT INDYCAR SERIES start.

Ironically enough, the other fifth place run came in the season opener on the streets of St. Pete. He started 22nd on that day. This day, he gained 15 spots to bookend the season with a pair of career results.

“It was a crazy race today,” Ilott said. “We claimed P5 in the first race of the season, and now we have achieved the same in the final round. We’ll take the points, and even though it could have been a bit more, I’m still pleased with the result. Thank you to everyone in the team for their huge efforts this year.”

What’s impressive is the fact that Penske and Ganassi won all 7 natural road course events in 2023 and a year after going 1-2-3 here, they went 1-2-3-4. The top non Penske and Ganassi finisher?

Ilott.