The 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series was the 19th season of the IndyCar Series and the 103rd season of American open wheel racing. Its premier event was the 98th Indianapolis 500, held on Sunday, May 25. Scott Dixon entered the season as the defending IndyCar Champion, while Chevrolet entered as the reigning Manufacturers' champion.
The 2014 season featured eleven different winners, tying a record previously set in 2000 and 2001. Heading into the final race of the season, Will Power led Hélio Castroneves by 51 points. In a race in which Ryan Hunter-Reay's spin produced the only yellow flag, Power finished ninth, while Castroneves – who was penalized for a pit entry violation – finished fourteenth. As a result, Power clinched his first series title by 62 points, and the first drivers' title for Team Penske since Sam Hornish Jr. in 2006. In the manufacturers championship, Chevrolet successfully defended their title ahead of Honda.
Confirmed entries
All chassis were composed of a Dallara DW12 "IndyCar Safety Cell" base chassis, and Dallara aerokit. All teams competed with Firestone tires. On December 21, 2012, Firestone signed a five-year contract extension with IndyCar to be the official supplier for IndyCar through 2018. The original engine lease contracts that were signed by the teams prior to the 2012 season were up for renewal prior to the 2014 season, and several teams switched engine providers for the 2014 season. The list below reflects drivers who competed in the 2014 season. denotes an IndyCar Series rookie.
Team and driver news
Juan Pablo Montoya returned to IndyCar in 2014 after a 13-year absence, driving the No. 2 Chevrolet, for Team Penske. Due to his previous CART experience, he was not considered as a rookie. Another Colombian driver, Indy 500 runner-up Carlos Muñoz, debuted full-time with Andretti Autosport in their fourth car for the 2014 season, replacing E. J. Viso. Tony Kanaan left KV Racing Technology and joined Chip Ganassi Racing to replace the retired Dario Franchitti. Sébastien Bourdais left Dragon Racing for KV Racing Technology in a 2-year deal. Bourdais' teammate at Dragon, Sebastián Saavedra, was announced as his teammate at KV on February 12. Andretti Autosport returned to racing with full-works Honda engines in a multi-year deal, after running Chevrolet engines in 2013. Andretti Autosport received free engines from Honda and thus earned full factory support from Honda Performance Development. Dario Franchitti announced his retirement from motorsport on the medical advice of his doctors following his accident in the Sunday race of the 2013 Grand Prix of Houston. In December, Kanaan was announced as Franchitti's replacement in the No. 10 car. 2010 Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion Mikhail Aleshin replaced Tristan Vautier in the second Schmidt Peterson Motorsports entry, becoming the first Russian driver to compete in the series. Ryan Briscoe returned to full-time racing in the No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Dragon Racing did not return to run a full-time IndyCar schedule in 2014 in order to prepare the team to compete in the 2014–2015 Formula E season. Simona de Silvestro departed the IndyCar Series after four seasons to take on a testing role with the Sauber F1 team. Panther Racing did not field an entry in the 2014 IndyCar Series after the loss of its National Guard sponsorship to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
Schedule
The 2014 IndyCar Series schedule was formally announced on NBC Sports Network's INDYCAR Championship Preview Show on October 17, 2013. The schedule consisted of eighteen races, hosted across 15 tracks and 14 venues. Included were three doubleheader events, in Detroit, Houston and Toronto. Also new was a race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway revised road course to kick off the month of May festivities. The IndyCar Triple Crown featured the three 500-mile races, at Indianapolis, Pocono and Fontana, and offered a $1,000,000 bonus to a driver if they won all three events, with a $250,000 consolation prize if a driver won two of the three events. Neither prize was ultimately claimed.
This was the first season since 2002 that the IndyCar Series did not feature international races outside of the United States of America and Canada after the removal of Surfers Paradise (Australia) in 2009, Motegi (Japan) in 2012 and Saõ Paulo (Brazil) in 2014.
Notes
Oval/Speedway
Road/Street course
BOLD indicates a Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka Triple Crown event.
