The penultimate look back at 2014 with Jason and Adrian in our A to Z of the Verizon Indycar season. This week from P to T.

Despite racking up the most infractions during the season, Will Power still took home the title, despite not being able to slow down for pit lane, using other cars as breaks, blocking your team mate. It looked at one point this may cost him another shot at the Indycar title but he really cleaned up his act in the second half of the season and pushed on for the championship.

All said and done the qualifying king this year was easily Helio Castroneves, over the whole season finished with an average starting position of 5.7 on the grid, be it rolling or standing! The nearest driver in terms of an average was James Hinchcliffe with 8.2, something im sure he would trade in with delight for a little more race day luck! At the back end of the grid we had Sebastian Saavedra and Carlos Heutas with their average in the 17's.

For a very detailed breakdown, check out this post from IndycarMN

One very appreciated addition to the Indycar coverage towards the end of the season was the live streaming of practice and qualifying of NBCSN races, with commentary provided by Paul Page, Pippa Mann and the IMS Radio Network team. 

CMO C.J. O’Donnell said. “INDYCAR fans across the globe are unbelievably passionate about our sport and we’re happy to be able to provide them with additional live coverage from our events.”

It waits to be seen if this is something that will be carried on to 2015 and with the ABC races.

For the first time since 1981, the Indycar series ran two (full) races in one day. Heavy, and we mean heavy rain fall caused the postponement of the first race at Toronto meaning that both races would be run on the Sunday, both reduced in distance and taking place 3 hours after the chequered flag fell and Sébastien Bourdais took his first win since returning to Indycar. The second race was won by Mike Conway.

Part 1 - A - E
Part 2 - F - J
Part 3 - K - O

The final post, Part 5, will be published next Monday

As Bon Jovi once sang, woah we're half way there.

Part three of our end of season look back at 2014 in the Indycar series covers K to N. Jason and Adrian find the facts, the news, top opinion and pretty much discard them! (at times)

A stunning final few laps of the most important Car race in the world finished with an American driver in victory lane drinking the milk. The first U.S. Born driver to win the race since Sam Hornish Jr, Ryan Hunter-Reay added his name and likeness to the Borg Warner trophy with a brilliant and relentless charge to the finish of the Indianapolis 500. Once again, nobody does tradition like Indycar and to see a talented driver who many people gave up on 5 or 6 years ago, bending down to kiss the yard of bricks is just about as inspiring as it gets and don't think for a second the meaningfulness was lost on RHR, his post race comment? "I'm a proud American boy"

Once again the designers were hard at work and produced some beauties, here are just a few of my favourites from the year, with the obligatory SFHR Strike livery to fawn over... again...

Which were your favourites? (All pictures via Indycar.com)

For the first time since 2004 (Robby Gordon), a driver attempted the double in one day of the Indianapolis 500 and the Coke 600. After a few tests in an Andretti Autosport car we finally had confirmation that Kurt Busch was to attempt the 1100 mile feat on the 25th May. Having run well during the practice, dampened by one crash which he described as the result of "starting to feel comfortable". He ran clean all race, taking home a very solid 6th place and the Rookie of the Year award. In the other race his car broke with only 200 miles left to run. Back to Indy it was and the awards banquet, for those who do not follow NASCAR or maybe understand the history with Kurt and, say his attitude, we heard from a very humble man, hopefully the face fits and he will be back, maybe...

There are rookie classes and then there is the 2014 rookie class, a group of young men who with their performances might have cemented their status as one of the best rookie fields in Indycar history. Prior to the start of the season, the usual naysayers and critics lambasted the newcomers as just another crop of talentless ride-buyers. What followed silenced a lot of those people; 6 Podium finishes, numerous strong performances and even 1 Victory earned Munoz, Huertas, Hawksworth and Aleshin the respect they deserve and in my humble opinion, did enough to warrant all of them a 2nd Year in the series. Let's also not forget about the strong performances in May of Indy 500 rookies Sage Karam and Kurt Busch. Truly a banner year for the guys who stepped into an Indycar for the first time.

No, not ovals, ovaries and this year's Indycar season saw a distinct lack of them. While it was great to see Pippa Mann rocking the Pink Susan G. Koman car at Indianapolis, the fact that there was no full time female racer this past season was a bit of a disappointment. In addition to Pippa, over the past decade we've been spoiled with the likes of Sarah Fisher, Danica Patrick, Ana Beatriz, Katherine Legge and Simona De Silvestro, ladies that could go all out and show just as much heart and guts as any of their male competitors. Here's hoping that this year was a temporary blip and womankind finds a good representative for future Indycar seasons.

Part 1 - A - E
Part 2 - F - J
Part 3, P to T will be posted next Monday.

Each Monday Jason and Adrian look back over the A to Z of the 2014 Verizon Indycar Series. 

Part two this week covers F to J. We look at the tempestuous topics and some irreverent issues of an enthralling season, both on and off the track.

F is for Franchitti

When Dario Franchitti hung up his race helmet, Indycar lost one of it's best ever and someone with a genuine passion for his craft and an appreciation for the history of Indycar racing. Aside from a year out at Nascar, Franchitti was in an Indycar every year from 1997 so to not see him in a car this past season felt odd but thankfully he wasn't a stranger to the Indycar paddock and he has been playing an important role behind the scenes at Chip Ganassi racing. Don't believe me? Ask Tony Kanaan how important Dario's input has been, TK dedicated his Fontana win to Franchitti and thanked him for his coaching. Even out of a Car, Dario is still serving Indycar well and long may it continue.

G is for Graham, or Babe

The son of 'stache had another forgettable season to add to his CV and although I firmly believe that the talent is there, there just seems to be something missing. Right now, Graham Rahal still has youth on his side (and a lovely girlfriend) but that's really it and even the youth is starting to slip away with very few good results to show for it. After his first two season with Newman Haas I would have put a lot of money on Graham not only being a multiple race winner by now but maybe a Champion too but sadly for him, and for Indycar, that hasn't happened. When he finally arrived with his Father's team, I think most of us suspected that there would be some positive results but in fact, there has been a regression and it's one that needs corrected and soon. The post season has saw changes already made to the engineering department at RLL with hopes of righting the ship for next season but the loss of National Guard is going to hurt a team that's already reeling. Here's hoping Father and Son Rahal can have a better 2015 than they did 2014.

H is for Hawk

I is for #Indysomniacs

Something for those fans east of Cape Cod, three night races at Texas Motor Speedway, Iowa and the finale at Fontana saw some great racing, drama, controversy and a flurry of red bull infused tweets. There is something special about following racing at 3 am, the challenge of staying awake, the . But for the final race of the season, this applied to the east cost of the states too, with the chequered flag falling and the champion being crowned at a respectable 01:30 am, I jest, the desire to see the season finish before the pigskin has its day, or well, months... This resulted in the race starting at sunset to avoid the glare of the setting sun and the unruly August temperatures and the champion being crowned in the wee small hours on the East coast, not idea or something Fontana want to see back!

J is for Juan Pablo Montoya

Back in American open wheel racing after 13 years away in Formula 1 and NASCAR, the season got off to a slow, steady start with only a 5th place to show after late race incidents moved him up the order. Enter May, and Juan was back, he was quick all month, qualifying in 10th and bringing home a 5th place for Penske. More podiums at Texas Motor Speedway and Houston followed, before a brilliant performance all weekend long at the Pocono 500, taking pole and then a win, despite the attempted interventions on team mate Will Power. JPM stayed in championship contention until the penultimate round. In his comeback year, Montoya finished a very respectable 4th, next year he can only be stronger.

Last weeks A - E is available here

Next week we look at K to O in Part 3

In the first part of our look back at the 2014 Verizon Indycar Series, Jason and Adrian will be covering some of the key, and not so key moments from the season, with each part being published each Monday (Its a long off season right?)

In Part One we look at A to E...

A is for Aleshin

Mikael Aleshin arrived in Indycar to the sounds of disapproving tuts from bloggers and tweeters worldwide but it wasn't long before the Mad Russian started to change people's tune. With an aggressive and hungry driving style, what young Mikael lacked in experience he more than made up for with enthusiasm and we all know that enthusiasm is infectious. Unless of course enthusiasm is dive bombing you into the first corner on a street course but I digress. Although there are still some haters out there, Aleshin did more than enough to turn people around on the stance that he was just a talentless, rich ride buyer and has even bagged himself a few fans in the process. During practice at the season Finale in Fontana, Mikael was involved in a horrific accident that will keep him sidelined for most of the off season but after a promising début year, hopefully the wreck won't put Aleshin off from returning to the series next year and in my opinion the kid has shown enough flashes of raw talent to warrant a another year with Sam Schmidt or another team.

B is for (adopts best crooning voice)..."Back Home Again in Indiana..."

Let's get one thing straight, when it comes to an appreciation for history and tradition Indycar does it better than any other race series and there may be no bigger Indycar tradition than Jim Nabors singing "My Indiana Home" every May at the Speedway. Sadly for us traditionalists, this year saw the last live performance from the great man at the hallowed track. Just how exactly IMS replaces this tradition I have no clue and frankly, I'm not sure they should. It's kind of difficult to find another former TV star who can make grown men weep at a car race just by singing a song. Rumour has it that even tough as nails Texan AJ Foyt has shed a tear or two during "My Indiana Home" renditions. Maybe.

C is for Colombia

The country that famously exports coffee, footballers and the ever lovely Shakira also gave Indycar a record number of full time drivers in 2014. Carlos Huertas, Carlos Munoz, Sebastian Saavedra and some guy called Montoya all lined up in honour of their home country this year and all faired pretty darn well. The proudest moment of all surely came when three of those four men stood on the podium in Houston Race 1. Motorsport Seems to go through phases where every few generations, a country seems to produce a pack of good drivers, in past years there's been an Italian invasion, a Brazilian invasion and even the Indy 500 had a British one headed up by Jimmy Clark and Graham Hill but right now, Indycar has a Colombian crew that in 2014 gained a couple of wins, pole positions and in the process turned a few heads. Couple that with the fact that another young Colombian named Gabby Chaves won the Indy Lights championship and you get the idea that right now, Colombia is where it's at when it comes to Indycar.

D is for Driven

No, not that film, but an attitude, a desire, a dream, let the short clip below explain more...

For more on the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation click HERE

E is for Ed Carpenter Racing

After trying out a full time run on road / street and ovals for the past two seasons, Ed stepped aside from the twistys to let a more accomplished driver take his seat. It could be said, he chose well. Mike Conway, a free agent after leaving AJ Foyt prior to the Finale at Fontana because he was no longer comfortable racing on ovals, some thought his time in Indycar was over, how wrong they were. The season got off to a great start with victory at Long Beach in only his second race for the team. Come May and in steps Ed, he duly obliges with pole for the 500 and was running strongly until a late race incident took him out of the race. Shortly after a win followed at Texas Motor Speedway for Ed before Mike added another victory at the double-day-header at Toronto. The season ended strongly with a podium at Fontana, the last for the team in their current guise before merging with Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing. It is worth noting that combined, the entrant stands at 514 points, good enough for 7th in the championship.