This is part eight in a 12-part series previewing every team set to compete in the 2019 IndyCar season. I will be previewing two teams per week on Push2Pass leading up to the season opener in St. Petersburg on March 10. Today’s team: A.J. Foyt Enterprises
One is 44 years old, and one is still not old enough to drink. One has 360 starts in IndyCar, while the other has 17. Although the Brazilian duo of Tony Kanaan and Matheus Leist couldn’t be more different on paper, they will aim to work together to bounce back from a dissapointing 2018 season for A.J. Foyt Enterprises.
The team is owned by racing legend A.J. Foyt, who has won four Indy 500’s and iconic races like the Daytona 500, 24 hours of Le Mans and 24 hours of Daytona. Foyt also holds the record for seven IndyCar series titles, with Scott Dixon still trailing him by two.
Foyt was an owner/driver for the team from 1979-1993 in the later years of his career, and he also employed other drivers for select races. The team never won a race in its 17 seasons in the CART series, but Scott Sharp won the first race for the team in 1996-97 season in the Indy Racing League, which would eventually become IndyCar. Sharp actually tied to win the championship during the three-race 1996 season that concluded the first year of the split with the CART series. Kenny Brack won the IRL title in 1998 by winning three races, and he came in second the following year after the team’s sole Indy 500 win.
As teams like Penske, Andretti and Ganassi moved to the IRL series in the earlier 2000’s, Foyt’s team began to face stiffer competition. Airton Dare won a race in 2002 at Kansas Speedway, and Foyt’s grandson raced for the team for the next three years. It wasn’t until 2013 that Foyt would stand on the top step of the podium after Takuma Sato won his first career IndyCar race at Long Beach. The team hasn’t been on a podium since 2015 with Sato, and their best result was a fifth-place finish for Conor Daly at Gateway.
The Drivers
Tony Kanaan (#14)
Career: 360 starts, 17 wins, 15 poles, 77 podiums, 220 top-10 finishes
2018: Avg. Qualifying 14.9 (18th), Avg. Finish 13.8 (16th), 16th overall
Kanaan is the oldest driver in the field at 44-years old, and he has consistently racing in an IndyCar since the 1998 CART series. He won the series title in 2004 while still at Andretti Autosports, but he last finished within the top-three of the championship standings in 2008. His last win was at the season finale at Fontana in 2014, and his only other win since 2010 came with a victory at the Indy 500 in his 12th attempt to win the big one.
Kanaan qualified ahead of Leist in 12 of the 17 races and finished ahead of him at the checkered flag in 14 of the races. Kanaan was clearly the leading driver within the team, but Foyt’s Chevy-powered team still continues to struggle to find consistent results.
Matheus Leist (#4)
Career: 17 starts, Best Finish: 11th (Pocono)
2018: Avg. Qualifying 17.6 (23rd), Avg. Finish 16.8 (22nd), 18th overall
Leist had a very difficult first season in IndyCar, failing to finish in the top-10 in any of his 17 races. He qualified third in the season opener before failing to qualify within the top-10 the rest of the season. He came into his rookie season after a successful 2016 season in British Formula 3, which saw him claim the title after winning four races. He followed that up in 2017 by winning three races in Indy Lights, including the Freedom 100 race at Indianapolis in Leist’s first-ever oval race.
Outlook for 2019
Sticking with the same lineup after a tough year shows more stability from A.J. Foyt Racing, and it is clear that the team still has confidence that Leist can be a solid driver in the series. Kanaan will have another year to mentor his 20-year-old Brazilian teammate and try to set him up for a strong future in the sport. I’m still surprised that Kanaan was re-signed by the team for his 22nd season in IndyCar, and unless he gets on a few podiums, I expect this to be his final season in the sport.
The Verdict
I think both drivers will have another difficult year, and a talented group of rookies means the A.J. Foyt drivers will finish further down the standings. I expect Kanaan to finish 17th overall and Leist 20th overall, but I think Kanaan will find himself within the top-five on an oval course. Leist should be able to get his first top-10 finish in the series.
Next week- Preview #9: Carlin
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