Sage Karam, Chip Ganassi Racing Teams
The cast: Race engineer – Eric Cowdin. Race strategist – Scott Harner. Chief mechanic – Ricky Davis.
Twitter: @SageKaram, @CGRTeams
The car: No. 8 Comfort Revolution/Big Machine Records Chevrolet
The driver: Turned 20 on March 3. … Native of and resides in Nazareth, Pa. … Competed in 12 of the 16 Verizon IndyCar Series races in second season with the team. He was signed as a development driver and drove in the 2014 Indianapolis 500 in addition to four sports car races.
Video: Karam reviews his season
Season stats: Karam had a best finish of third at Iowa Speedway after qualifying 10th and recorded another top-five finish at Auto Club Speedway (fifth) after qualifying 10th. … Had an average of 14.5 in qualifying (best of third at Milwaukee) and average finish of 15.8 (best of third at Iowa). … Had an average finish of 14.1 on the six ovals, 15.6 on three street courses and 19.3 on three road courses. … Led two races (Auto Club Speedway, Pocono Raceway) for total of 12 laps. … Was running at the finish in nine of his 12 races (contact at start of Indianapolis 500 for 32nd-place finish, contact late at Milwaukee and contact late at Pocono).
The gist: Karam, the 2013 Indy Lights champion, earned the Hard Charger award for the 2014 Indianapolis 500 – his first Verizon IndyCar Series start – for advancing 22 positions relative to his qualifying to finish ninth when he was 19 years old. … He graduated high school a week after his Indy 500 debut. … Was a state-ranked wrestler in high school. ... Teammate to reigning and four-time Verizon IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon, 2004 series champion Tony Kanaan and race winner Charlie Kimball. Sebastian Saavedra drove the No. 8 entry in the other four races.
The chart (below): Looking at how Karam finished relative to his qualifying position in his 12 races:
