The IndyCar Series announced today the 2014 Leader Circle entrants and a new structure. The Leader Circle program was introduced in 2002 as a payout structure rewarding full-time entries with a guaranteed payout.
Noticeable changes to the program from 2013 include the dropping of Panther and Panther DRR.
Ryan Briscoe's #8 NTT Data entry is not included due to Ganassi running just three cars last season. Ganassi's Brownsburg based team ran two entries in 2011 and 2012, but lost a LC entry when they downgraded to a single-car Charlie Kimball effort last season when Graham Rahal left for RLLR.
Juan Pablo Montoya's Team Penske #2 is a new entry from last season, but is included in the Leader Circle program through a deal with Dragon Racing who had an entry last season but will not compete full-time in 2014. Dragon Racing is owned by Jay Penske, son of Team Penske owner Roger Penske.
Sam Schmidt's second IndyCar entry last season of Tristan Vautier was not included in the program but the team's rookie Russian pilot Mikail Aleshin is included this season.
Carlos Munoz's Leader Circle entry comes from a partnership with HVM Racing prior to last season. With Andretti Autosport running just three cars in 2012, they lost Danica Patrick's 2011 LC position. With the expansion back to four cars last year with EJ Viso, the team partnered with HVM Racing who would not be returning to a full-time effort to use the position earned by Simona De Silvestro's 2012 effort. The partnership will continue this season with Munoz.