Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing
The cast: Race engineer – Matt Barnes. Race strategist – Tim Broyles. Chief mechanic – Bret Schmitt.
Twitter: @edcarpenter20, @CFHR_Indy
The car: No. 20 Chevrolet, Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka primary sponsor
The driver: Carpenter will turn 34 five days before the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series race in Brasilia, Brazil. … Lives in Indianapolis with his wife, Heather, and their three children. … He was a finalist in the media, entertainment and sports category of the 2014 Central Indiana Junior Achievement Best and Brightest program that honors young professionals.
Season finish: Carpenter placed 22nd in Verizon IndyCar Series standings, competing in a limited schedule. He drove in the six oval races, while Mike Conway was behind the wheel of the No. 20 car in the 12 road/street course races.
The gist: Carpenter, who has totaled 153 Verizon IndyCar Series starts since 2003, is the lone team owner/driver in the Verizon IndyCar Series. He competed in the full 2012 and 2013 schedule in the No. 20 entry before stepping back this season to focus on ovals and building the business. … In mid-August, he joined Sarah Fisher and Wink Hartman in announcing that Ed Carpenter Racing would merge with Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing to form CFH Racing for the 2015 season. Carpenter will continue to drive the No. 20 car in oval events. Carpenter earned his first Verizon IndyCar Series victory in 2011 at Kentucky Speedway driving for Sarah Fisher Racing. It was the team’s initial win, too.
Season stats: Carpenter earned the Verizon P1 Award for the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race for the second consecutive year with a four-lap average of 231.067 mph in the Fast Nine Shootout. … Recorded his third career victory in June at Texas Motor Speedway. Placed in the top five in three of his six races and four in the top 10. Contact in Indy 500 – after leading 26 laps and running in top five – was lone DNF. … Finished season with third place at Auto Club Speedway. He’s finished first, second and thrid the past three seasons at the 2-mile oval. … Overall, led four races for total of 122 laps.
Year over year: 2013 best qualifying first for Indianapolis 500 (17.6 average) in 19 races, best finish second at Auto Club Speedway in finale (15.1 average). 2014 best qualifying first for Indianapolis 500 (8.2 average in six races), best finish first at Texas Motor Speedway (9.7 average).
Video: Ed Carpenter reviews his season
He said it: "Overall, ECR team was just sensational throughout the year. I’m very proud of them.”
The chart (below): Looking at how Carpenter finished relative to his qualifying position:
Click to download the hi-res infographic
