[h=2]INDYCAR 2016 Charlie Kimball[/h]CHARLIE KIMBALL NO. 83 CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET

2016 Best result: 5th (IMS road course; Indianapolis 500)
2016 Championship position: 9th (433 points)
Kimball equaled his career-best championship finish this year: ninth. Is there more to come?

MILLER: There could be, because surprising people appears to be Charlie's forte. He wasn't rated by many when he joined IndyCar and had that field-filler look the first two seasons before scoring his victory at Mid-Ohio. Qualifying can still be hit or miss (except at Mid-Ohio, where he's always quick), but the guy always seems to go forward in the races. And those charges (16th to fifth at Indy 500, 16th to sixth at Texas and 14th to sixth at Watkins Glen), and keeping his nose relatively clean, are what propelled him into the Top 10. Getting higher than ninth might be a stretch - but maybe not.

PRUETT: It's something I've started to wonder as well. Chuck has two ninth-place finishes in six seasons, he's made progress - steady progress - since Dario Franchitti transitioned into his role as coach and analyst, and with a couple of years of intensive effort, Kimball has become a reliable performer. Eleven finishes inside the top 10 last season tells us this is true, but what we don't know is if there's significant speed still waiting to be unearthed.
Did he make the sort of progress that you'd expect from a guy in his sixth season with the same team?

MILLER: Absolutely. He almost won the pole at the Indy GP, but what's most noticeable about "Charlie Murphy" is his aggression: Hans Solo outside the car, and Darth Vader when the shield goes down. He no longer gets pushed around, and fights hard for every position.

PRUETT: He did. Kimball was a much better oval driver in his first three or four seasons, and was less of a factor on the road and street races that dominate the schedule. Not only has that dynamic been changing in recent years, but he used 2016 to prove that on race day, he's capable of being in the mix somewhere between fifth and ninth at the finish.
Chuck is a hard charger, and that's not something we observed in his formative years with Ganassi. His next big area of growth is to improve his qualifying performances. Yes, it's great that he doesn't sit idle once the green flag waves, but eight of his 11 road/street course starts were from 10th or worse, and four were from 13th or lower on the grid. If he can make big gains on Saturdays, his Sundays should be much easier.
He ruffled a few feathers over the course of the season for some of his conduct on-track. Was that justified, or did Charlie generally remain within the realms of healthy aggression?

MILLER: Juan Pablo Montoya says he hates running with Charlie, and even Rick Mears was critical after his contact with Will Power at The Glen, so having that kind of royalty throwing down on you is never wanted. And maybe Kimball gets a little too ambitious at times, but so does just about everyone else who amounted to anything. He's made some bodacious passes in the past couple seasons, and it's clearly a case of his getting more and more confident.

PRUETT: Meh. There was some scapegoating involved in at least one instance, but I wouldn't argue that Charlie tends to own the road he's on a little more than some of his rivals. As long as he doesn't make a habit of knocking others off track, this is a non-issue
His maiden win at Mid-Ohio was three years and 56 races ago. Did you see anything during 2016 to suggest that win number two is on the horizon?

MILLER: He's been a factor at Indy the past two Mays (third and fifth), and one of the quickest cars at the end, so that would seem like his best bet, although he'd be a title contender if the series ran every race at Mid-Ohio. But another win isn't the long shot it seemed like in 2013.
PRUETT: In a straight fight where fuel strategy and attrition doesn't come into play, no. Mid-Ohio was awesome to see, but it was a byproduct of great strategy and timing. Until Kimball starts putting Dixon, Power, Pagenaud, Newgarden, Rahal, and a few others in his rearview mirrors on sheer pace, wins aren't a serious consideration without wonky circumstances entering the equation.
Would having a more experienced hand in the No.8 car have been of any benefit?

MILLER: Naw. He's had Dario, Dixie and T.K. to lean on, and that's more than enough help.

PRUETT: No.