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[h=2]INDYCAR 2016 Driver Review: Helio Castroneves[/h] by Marshall Pruett & Robin Miller / Images by IMS Photo & LAT

Just when you thought that the Verizon IndyCar Series had run out of ways to surprise, 2016 came along. The championship was won by a guy who looked all at sea 12 months earlier, his closest rival didn't even participate in the first race, and the winner of the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 was a recent F1 refugee who apparently figured out how to make a car work without fuel.


HELIO CASTRONEVES
NO. 3 TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET
2016 Best result: 2nd (IMS road course, Toronto)
2016 Championship position: 3rd (504 points)


Is it fair to say the Castroneves drove better than his third place in the championship suggested?
MILLER: Absolutely. Check out this fact: he only started outside the Top 10 one time in 16 races, and his average qualifying spot was fourth, with a pair of poles and three other front-row starts. Only teammate and eventual champion Simon Pagenaud had a more impressive resume for qualifying - and he's a decade younger. Sure he didn't win, but he had Detroit in the bag until R.P. left him out too long and he got hosed by a yellow flag, and he scored four podiums and led 143 laps in eight different races.

PRUETT: No, but we should add an extra helping of appreciation to the fact that he has yet to show any signs of drop-off at 41 years old. Helio was the only driver over 40 to record this kind of consistency, and after eight zillion years in IndyCar, his level of performance is truly remarkable. He was his usual "there or thereabouts", but was never a threat for the championship.

Hard to believe, but Castroneves hasn't visited Victory Lane since the second Detroit race in 2014: a 43-race winless streak. Does that matter, or is his role within the team different now?

PRUETT: It doesn't right now, but it will start to matter in the next year or two. He took valuable points away from Team Penske's title rivals, and is the biggest draw within Penske's portfolio of sponsors. Nothing against Power, Pagenaud or Newgarden, but fans and sponsors flock to the Brazilian for autographs and interactions, and in the absence of race wins, being a damn good wingman and spokesman is incredibly valuable.
MILLER: Maybe it should, since Juan Pablo Montoya won twice in the past two years (including Indy), and no longer has a full-time ride. But Castroneves is The Captain's longest-tenured driver ever because he's the consummate team player, a sponsor's delight, still popular with the fans and media - and still fast.

If he and Montoya had been out of contract at the same time, what was it about Helio's season that would have convinced RP to retain him when the time came to make space for Newgarden?

PRUETT: I'm not sure Helio had much to do with it. Castroneves, for all the reasons above, holds more value than any other Penske driver. Newgarden signed a one-year deal with ECR to stay in 2016 and keep his options open if Roger opened the door, JPM had a miserable year, and Penske unplugged the most expendable piece to get a head start on the future.
MILLER: All of the things listed above, and the fact he really didn't have one bad day (he got gored in a pit stop at Pocono) and was always on-pace.

It's often said that Castroneves's main value to Penske is at the 500, however that was one of his least memorable performances this year – he qualified ninth and finished outside the top 10. More surprisingly, he has only finished inside the top five at Indy once in the past seven years – and hasn't qualified higher than the second row during the same period. Should he still be considered a frontline threat every May?
MILLER: That's the standard response when anyone asks why HCN hasn't been replaced by a 20-something, because of his value at Indianapolis and the high price Roger Penske puts on success there. He certainly hasn't been the man to beat there for several Mays, but the fact he's still got a shot at number four appeals to The Captain. And, with Team Penske's dominance and preparation, yes he still has to be considered a contender at IMS.

PRUETT: It is possible the window has closed on Helio being the go-to answer on who will win the Indy 500 every year, but he'll always be a threat in good equipment. If he was falling behind everywhere else on the calendar, I'd be inclined to say he's ready for something different, but in light of his continued competitiveness, I have a hard time believing the three-time Indy 500 winner has lost the ability to go for number four.