Honda is looking to try to snap back from a disastrous Indycar 2022 campaign in which it was trounced in the manufacturer’s race, and lost the driver’s title as well. The bright spot came in the competition that matters most, the Indy 500, which Ganassi-Honda’s Marcus Ericsson won.

Chevy came out with much improved drivability and won 11 of the 17 races, including the first four.

Has Honda done anything about that? We will find out in the first two races of the year at St. Petersburg March 5th and Texas April 2nd. Street races had been Honda’s private playground until 2022, largely due to Honda’s ability to put power down smoothly on the typically slippery street pavement. But in 2022 Chevy won three of the five street races (St. Pete, Long Beach, and Detroit) before Honda won the final two street races at Toronto and Nashville. Ovals outside of Indy have been a headache for Honda since 2020.

If nothing significant changes on either of those fronts, Chevy should dominate again.

How does Honda improve?

Team performance: The Chevy vs. Honda battle in most ways is a battle between their two top teams: Penske and McLaren for Chevy against Ganassi and Andretti for Honda. Those four teams won ALL the races in 2022.

The major change for Andretti this season is the replacement of Alexander Rossi (who moved to McLaren) with second-year driver Kyle Kirkwood. If it means anything, Andretti did well at the “Spring Training” sessions, as did Honda.

Even if Kirkwood has a better season than Rossi did in the 27 car last season, Andretti and Honda need better years from Romain Grosjean and Colton Herta. In the driver standings for 2022, Herta finished 10th and Grosjean 13th. There needs to be a five-place improvement from both of them in order for Honda to challenge Chevy. Similarly, Kirkwood finished 24th for the AJ Foyt-Chevy team last season. He is commonly thought to have top 5 or top 10 talent, and he’s going to have to show it.

While Ganassi was the top Honda team last season winning four races, it needs improvement. It is likely to get it in the number 11 car replacing the 48. The 11 will be shared by Indycar rookie Marcus Armstrong on road and street courses and veteran Takuma Sato on ovals. Together, they should improve significantly on the 21st place performance of Jimmie Johnson in the number 48.

Shameful Short Ovals?

Honda has not won an oval race outside of Indianapolis in almost two years. It was so bad last year that it resembled a two class race. Doing well in the four shorter ovals on the schedule this season is going to take some significant research and development from Honda Performance Development and the teams.

New for 2023

New fuel: Shell is the new fuel supplier this season bringing a sustainable fuel to the series. While it is said to be performance neutral, I do not believe that. It will use sugarcane waste for the ethanol portion and other biofuels to create what is called a “sustainable” blend.

Clearly, either Honda or Chevy is going to get the fuel “right” and have an advantage over the other in an area such as fuel mileage, power delivery, etc. We should start to see if that has happened in St. Petersburg and Texas.

New tires: Firestone will be bringing tires made from Guayule (a desert shrub) rubber to all five street races this season. How will this affect the competition? Hard to say, other than to point out that Honda drivers dominated the only race contested on those tires last season (Nashville). Four of the top five positions in that race were Hondas. Does that mean that the Hondas were easier on the green tires? St. Petersberg should be revealing.

How is Honda going to do?

Honda’s fate for the season should be clear after the first two races: St. Pete and Texas. St. Pete is almost a make-or-break race. Honda needs to either win or get two drivers on the podium, or both, to prove that it has found its street course mojo.

In Texas I want to see Hondas fighting for the lead on merit. Hondas lead less than 20 laps total of the 250-lap race. That number needs to be north of 100 for you to think Honda has put its non-Indy oval game back together.

Teams and Drivers

*Honda *
Chip Ganassi Racing
Marcus Ericsson
Scott Dixon
Alex Palou
Marcus Armstrong (Rookie)/Takuma Sato (ovals)

Andretti Autosport
Colton Herta
Kyle Kirkwood
Romain Grosjean
Devlin DeFrancesco

Rahal Letterman Lanigan
Graham Rahal
Jack Harvey
Christian Lundgaard

Meyer-Shank Racing
Simon Pagenaud
Helio Castroneves

Dale Coyne Racing
David Malukas
Sting Ray Robb®

Chevy

Team Penske
Will Power
Josef Newgarden
Scott McLaughlin

Arrow McLaren
Pato O’Ward
Felix Rosenqvist
Alexander Rossi

Ed Carpenter Racing
Ed Carpenter (ovals)
Conor Daly
Rinus Veekay

Juncos-Hollinger Racing
Agustin Canapino®
Callum Ilott

AJ Foyt Racing
Santino Ferrucci
Benjamin Pedersen®