Ryan Briscoe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
The cast: Race engineer – Allen McDonald. Race strategist – Robert Gue. Chief mechanic – Ron Catt.
Twitter: @Ryan_Briscoe, @SPMIndyCar
The car: No. 5 Arrow/Lucas Oil Honda
The driver: Turned 34 on Sept. 24. … From Sydney, Australia, and resides in Farmington, Conn.
Video: Ryan Briscoe reviews his season
Season finish: Placed 18th in Verizon IndyCar Series standings through eight races. … Came on board with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports as replacement for the injured James Hinchcliffe for the Indianapolis 500. Conor Day drove the car at Belle Isle and Toronto as Briscoe had sports car commitments with Chevrolet. He competed at Texas Motor Speedway and the final six races of the season.
Season stats: Briscoe had a best finish of fifth in the season finale at Sonoma Raceway after qualifying 17th. Added top-10 finishes at Texas (eighth), Iowa Speedway (eighth) and Pocono Raceway (eighth). Also to be noted is gain of 19 positions in the Indianapolis 500 after having to start from back row because of driver switch. … Led two races for 10 total laps and was running at the finish in six of the eight races (contact late at Auto Club Speedway, 16th place, and at Milwaukee, 21st place).
Year over year: 2015 best qualifying second at Milwaukee (17.8 average), best finish fifth at Sonoma Raceway (12.0 average). 2014 best qualifying fourth at Milwaukee (12.8 average), best finish fourth at Pocono Raceway (10.6 average) in 18 races with NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing.
The gist: Briscoe has competed in 137 Indy car races since his first start with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2005. … Has seven career victories and 13 poles. … Was teammate to James Jakes this past season. … He co-drove in TUDOR Unified SportsCar Championship races for Corvette Racing this season, earning class victories in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring. … Has been mentioned as potential driver with the Ford GT program in the Le Mans GT Endurance class for 2016.
The chart (below): Looking at how Briscoe finished relative to his qualifying position:
