Carlos Huertas, Dale Coyne Racing

The cast: Race engineer – Robert Ridgely. Race strategist – Darren Crouser. Chief mechanic – Greg Senerius.

Twitter: @Carlos_Huertas, @dalecoyneracing

The car: No. 18 Honda, Café de Colombia primary sponsor

The driver: Turned 23 on June 22 – six days before his initial Verizon IndyCar Series victory. … A native of Bogota, Colombia. … He was among four first-year drivers in the series. ... Teammate to veteran driver Justin Wilson.

Season finish: Placed 20th in Verizon IndyCar Series standings.

The gist: Huertas was confirmed by the team as the driver of the No. 18 car for the season opener at St. Petersburg a day before the first practice session. He tested at Sebring International Raceway in January and February for Panther Racing as he was seeking to break into the series after competing in Formula Renault 3.5 last year. Twentieth in the championship might not be considered a productive season, but Huertas made the most out of opportunities by advancing a cumulative 37 positions relative to his qualifying (chart below) in his 18 starts.

Season stats: Huertas won the first race of the Houston doubleheader, advancing 18 positions from his qualifying spot and leading a Colombian podium sweep (Juan Pablo Montoya was runner-up and Carlos Munoz finished third) in the timed race. … He was the seventh different winner in the nine races through June 28. … Had one of the best quotes of the season after the win: "I might not show on the outside, but I'm smiling on the inside." ... He added two other top-10 finishes through the 18 races and was running at the finish in 13. … In 10th-place finish at Long Beach and eighth at Belle Isle1, he improved his position relative to qualifying a total of 15 positions. He finished better than/tied his qualifying spot 12 times.

Year over year: 2013 N/A. 2014 best qualifying 10th at Mid-Ohio (17.9 average), best finish first at Houston (15.9 average).

Video: Carlos Huertas reviews his season

He said it: “I got the (season-long) pretty late, which made things even harder for me so I think I did the best I could with what I had and learned a lot. To win in the first year is difficult."

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

Click to download the hi-res infographic