Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske

The cast: Race engineer – Ben Bretzman. Race strategist – Kyle Moyer. Chief mechanic – Billy Vincent.

Twitter: @SimonPagenaud, @Team_Penske

The car: No. 22 Chevrolet

The driver: Turned 31 on May 18. … From France and resides in Mooresville, N.C. … Completed first season with Team Penske.

Season finish: Placed 11th in Verizon IndyCar Series standings (fifth in 2014 and third in 2013 with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports).

Video: Simon Pagenaud reviews his season

Season stats: Pagenaud advanced to the Firestone Fast Six segment of qualifications in six of the eight races (rain at New Orleans and Belle Isle-2 set starting lineup by entrant points), and he posted front-row starts at all four of the superspeedways (pole at 2-mile Auto Club Speedway). … He recorded two podium finishes (Belle Isle-1 and Mid-Ohio) and nine top 10s. … Was running at the finish in 14 of the 16 races (contact at New Orleans, 20th-place finish and mechanical at Indianapolis road course, 25th place). … Led six races for total of 132 laps (high of 59 laps at Texas Motor Speedway).

Year over year: 2015 best qualifying of first at Auto Club Speedway (5.3 average), best finish of third at Belle Isle-1 and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (10.6 average). 2014 best qualifying of first at Houston-1 (8.6 average), best finish of first at Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and Houston-2 (8.8 average) in 18 races with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.

The gist: Pagenaud has competed in 85 Indy car races since 2007 (first start on Las Vegas street course). … Made Verizon IndyCar Series debut in 2011 with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, and moved to the team co-owned by Sam Schmidt in 2012. … Won two races each in 2013 and 2014 seasons. … Won American Le Mans Series LMP championship in 2010. … Was honorary chairman of Rev charity event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May that was a rousing success.

The chart (below): Looking at how Pagenaud finished relative to his qualifying position: