Sage Karam

Sage Karam
Karam at Sonoma Raceway in 2023
Nationality	American
Born	Sage Rennie Karam (1995-03-05) March 5, 1995 (age 29) Nazareth, Pennsylvania, U.S.
IndyCar Series career
25 races run over 9 years
2022 position	34th
Best finish	20th (2015)
First race	2014 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)
Last race	2022 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)
Wins Podiums Poles 0 1 0
NASCAR driver
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
28 races run over 4 years
Car no., team	No. 26 (Sam Hunt Racing) No. 32 (Jordan Anderson Racing) No. 35 (Joey Gase Motorsports) No. 07 (SS-Green Light Racing)
2023 position	35th
Best finish	35th (2023)
First race	2021 Pennzoil 150 (Indianapolis G.P.)
Last race	2023 Road America 180 (Road America)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 2 0
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
1 race run over 1 year
Truck no., team	No. 21 (Floridian Motorsports)
2021 position	113th
Best finish	113th (2021)
First race	2021 United Rentals 200 (Martinsville)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
Previous series
2010 2011–2012 2013 2019	U.S. F2000 National Championship Star Mazda Championship Indy Lights Americas Rallycross Championship
Championship titles
2010 2013	U.S. F2000 National Championship Firestone Indy Lights Champion

Sage Rennie Karam (born March 5, 1995) is an American professional racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 26 Toyota Supra for Sam Hunt Racing, the No. 32 Chevrolet Camaro for Jordan Anderson Racing, and the No. 35 Toyota Supra for Joey Gase Motorsports. He previously competed full-time and part-time in the IndyCar Series. He is the 2013 champion in what is now the Indy NXT Series.

Karam was born in and grew up in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. He raced go-karts at Oakland Valley Race Park in Cuddebackville, New York in his youth.^[1]

After karting, Karam competed in the 2010 season of the USF2000 Championship for Andretti Autosport. Karam won nine of twelve races and the pole in all but one race and dominated the championship.^[2] For winning the championship, as a part of the Road to Indy program and the Mazdaspeed development ladder, Karam won a prize package valued at US$350,000 that allowed him to compete in the Star Mazda Championship in 2011, again with Andretti Autosport.^[3] Karam won back-to-back oval races at the Milwaukee Mile and Iowa Speedway and finished fifth in points, winning rookie of the year honors. He returned to the team and series in 2012 and improved to third in points with three race wins.

In 2013, he moved up the Road to Indy ladder to the Firestone Indy Lights series with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.^[4] Karam won the Indy Lights title that year, becoming the eighth rookie to win the series championship.^[5]

Karam was signed by Chip Ganassi Racing to compete in a number of endurance sportscar races in the United SportsCar Championship in 2014. He ran in the 24 Hours of Daytona,^[6] driving the No. 01 car alongside Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas and Jamie McMurray,^[7] and the 12 Hours of Sebring in the No. 02, next to IndyCar drivers Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan.^[8]

The Daytona 24 Hours was a short race for Sage, as they suffered engine troubles and dropped out early.

Taking over in hour four, Karam made his 12 Hours of Sebring debut a memorable one by taking the No. 02 car from third place to the lead in his opening lap then extending his lead through the end of his driving stint. Karam took the wheel for his second stint with the car in fourth place and proceeded to drive to the lead again before handing off to Dixon, who was then knocked off course of a back-marker, leaving them in sixth place at race end.^[9]

Back in the 01 car for Watkins Glen, teamed with Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, things went awry quickly for the trio as first Rojas was sent hard into the wall by a slower GT car. They returned to the race several laps down, only for Pruett to suffer similar consequences when knocked into the wall by a sports prototype.^[10]

With Rojas sidelined due to nagging back injuries,^[11] Karam started for his final appearance of the season at the Brickyard Grand Prix, teamed with Pruett in the 01 car. Starting sixth, he skillfully dodged a major melee as several cars came together at the start. The 01 team remained among the leaders and lead 11 laps before collecting a second place, podium finish.^[12]

During 2016, Karam worked as a test driver of 3GT Racing's Lexus RC F GT3. He competed at the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for the factory-supported team, where his best class finish was fifth at Mosport Park.

Ganassi secured Karam a seat in the 2014 Indianapolis 500 with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, which had not run an IndyCar race since the previous "500".^[13] Karam qualified 31st but drove an outstanding race to finish ninth, the second-highest-finishing rookie.^[14][15]

During the 2015 IndyCar Series season, Karam split the driving duties for the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 8 Dallara with Sebastián Saavedra,^[16] who ran four races on a limited budget. While his season started slowly, by finishing in the lower third of the field in his first three road/street courses events of the season, he proved to be a quick study on the ovals. At Indianapolis, he was at the top of the speed charts on the opening day of practice and consistently remained among the top cars in successive sessions. After qualifying 23rd, with a conservative setup, he was on top of the speed charts again during the post-qualifying practice and 7th quickest during Carb Day. Considered to be a dark-horse favorite on race day, it was all for naught as he was forced to settle with a 32nd-place finish in the 2015 Indianapolis 500, after contact with Takuma Sato. At the next race, in Detroit, during a heavy downpour, Karam was on pole with 90 seconds left in qualifying when IndyCar canceled the session due to track conditions. Following his 3rd place qualifying effort and leading five laps on his way to a 5th place finish at Fontana, Karam captured his season-best finish at the 2015 Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway in July, by finishing 3rd.

In his homecoming at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania for the 2015 ABC Supply 500 on August 23, Karam was leading with 21 laps remaining when he lost control exiting turn 1, eliminating his Chip Ganassi number 8 Dallara as it spun and crashed hard into the wall. Debris strewn from Karam's disintegrating car made contact with fellow competitor Justin Wilson's helmet, sending him into the infield wall where the safety team extracted him unconscious and unresponsive, necessitating an emergency medevac to Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest in Allentown where Wilson lay comatose, in critical condition.^[17][18] Wilson succumbed to his injuries on August 24, 2015.^[19]

With Saavedra back in the car for the 2015 season finale at Sonoma, Karam finished the 2015 IndyCar season 20th in points, bested by rival Gabby Chaves for 2015 rookie of the year honors. Replaced for the 2016 season, Karam's seat in the Chip Ganassi stable piloting the number 8 Dallara was secured by Max Chilton.

On a one-race agreement for 2016, Dreyer & Reinbold signed Karam for the Indianapolis 500, initially with Havoline and Gas Monkey Garage as sponsors. Steadily improving from his 23rd qualifying slot on grid, into the top 10, Karam crashed on lap 94, going into Townsend Bell in Turn One.

On a successive one-race agreement, again Dreyer & Reinbold signed Karam to drive the Mecum Auctions No. 24 Dallara-Chevrolet for the 2017 Indianapolis 500. Having improved from his 21st qualifying slot into the top 10, Karam retired his Mecum Auctions Dreyer & Reinbold entry at the 275-mile juncture, with a dead battery. He joined the team again in 2018, sponsored by Wix, but crashed the car on lap 154.

In 2019, he again drove for Dreyer & Reinbold in the 2019 Indianapolis 500. He started 31st and finished 19th. It was announced on July 2, 2019 that Karam would drive for Carlin in the Honda Indy Toronto.^[20]

On January 7, 2020, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing announced that they would be expanding their race schedule to at least four races with Karam driving them.^[21] These races include the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, GMR Grand Prix, 2020 Indianapolis 500, and Honda Indy Toronto. A pit error in the Indy 500 took the team out of contention.^[22]

On May 23, 2021, Karam joined Will Power of Australia and Simona de Silvestro of Switzerland as the final three drivers to qualify in the 11th and last row for the 105th running of the Indy 500. He earned the seventh position, his best Indy 500 finish ever.

Karam was signed by Dreyer & Reinbold Racing on a five-race contract for the 2019 Americas Rallycross Championship season.^[23] He performed well, never finishing lower than second and earned a win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.^[24] In 2021, he returned to rallycross with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing to compete in Nitro Rallycross.^[25] He finished second in the championship standings, earning five wins and seven podiums.

On July 26, 2021, it was announced that Karam would make his NASCAR debut in the No. 31 for Jordan Anderson Racing in the Xfinity Series' Pennzoil 150 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.^[26] His schedule with JAR was eventually expanded to include the Xfinity races at Bristol Motor Speedway and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, as well as the Camping World Truck Series event at Martinsville Speedway.^[27]

Karam signed with Alpha Prime Racing for a part-time Xfinity schedule in 2022.^[28] At Road America, Karam had an on-road scuffle with Noah Gragson, resulting in Gragson intentionally spinning out Karam and triggering a 13-car pileup on lap 25. Gragson was fined US$35,000 and docked 30 driver and owner points for the incident.^[29]

On September 14, 2022, Karam stated in an interview with Dustin Albino from Jayski that he would like to have a full-time NASCAR ride in 2023 after having run part-time in 2021 and 2022.^[30] On December 2, it was announced that Karam would return to APR to run at least 17 races for them in 2023 with the possibility of a full season if sponsorship can be found.^[31][32] Sponsorship for a full season was not found and Karam ran part-time for APR again in the Xfinity Series in 2023. He also drove the Sam Hunt Racing No. 24 car in the race at Road America.^[33] Karam would end up finishing 4th in that race. He battled for the win in the closing laps and held the lead for part of the second-to-last lap. After his impressive performance in that race, he got a ride for the race at Michigan the following week in the MBM Motorsports No. 66 car.^[34] Karam also stated in an interview after his top 5 finish at Road America that he hopes to get a full-time NASCAR ride in 2024.^[35]

Karam did not end up getting a full-time NASCAR ride again in 2024 and on January 23 was announced to run part-time for Sam Hunt Racing again in the Xfinity Series beginning at the season-opener at Daytona in the team's No. 26 car.^[36] On February 27, it was revealed that Karam would run the Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas in March for Jordan Anderson Racing in their No. 32 car. Karam previously drove part-time for JAR in the Xfinity and Truck Series in 2021.^[37]

Karam is of Lebanese heritage.^[38][39][40] He lives in Easton, Pennsylvania with his wife Abigail and three dogs. The two were married on July 16, 2021.^[41] He has a younger sister, Sydnee Karam, a swimmer.^[41] He graduated from Nazareth Area High School in 2014.^[42]

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2009	Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda		14	2	2	2	4	339	3rd
2010	U.S. F2000 National Championship	Andretti Autosport	12	9	11	9	11	351	1st
2011	Star Mazda Championship	Andretti Autosport	11	2	2	2	4	364	5th
2012	Star Mazda Championship	Andretti Autosport	17	3	2	3	10	325	3rd
2013	Indy Lights	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	12	3	3	1	9	460	1st
2014	IndyCar Series	Dreyer & Reinbold - Kingdom Racing	1	0	0	0	0	57	27th
	United SportsCar Championship - Prototype	Chip Ganassi Racing	4	0	0	0	1	104	23rd
2015	IndyCar Series	Chip Ganassi Racing	12	0	0	0	1	197	20th
	United SportsCar Championship - Prototype		1	0	0	0	0	26	27th
2016	IndyCar Series	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	1	0	0	0	0	22	32nd
2017	IndyCar Series	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	1	0	0	0	0	23	34th
	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD	3GT Racing	12	0	1	0	0	244	15th
2018	IndyCar Series	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	1	0	0	0	0	10	40th
2019	Americas Rallycross - ARX2	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	5	1	0	0	5	129	6th
	IndyCar Series	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	1	0	0	0	0	39	27th
		Carlin	2	0	0	0	0
2020	IndyCar Series	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	4	0	0	0	0	32	29th
2021	IndyCar Series	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	1	0	0	0	0	53	30th
	NASCAR Xfinity Series	Jordan Anderson Racing	4	0	0	N/A	N/A	62	45th
	NASCAR Camping World Truck Series		1	0	0	N/A	N/A	0	NC†
	Nitro Rallycross - NEXT	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	10	5	0	0	7	385	2nd
2022	IndyCar Series	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	1	0	0	0	0	14	34th
	NASCAR Xfinity Series	Alpha Prime Racing	7	0	0	N/A	N/A	152	37th
		Our Motorsports	2	0	0	N/A	N/A
2023	NASCAR Xfinity Series	Alpha Prime Racing	8	0	0	N/A	N/A	160	35th
		Sam Hunt Racing	1	0	0	N/A	N/A
		MBM Motorsports	3	0	0	N/A	N/A
2024	NASCAR Xfinity Series	Sam Hunt Racing	4	0	0	N/A	N/A
		Jordan Anderson Racing	1	0	0	N/A	N/A
		SS-Green Light Racing	1	0	0	N/A	N/A
	NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series	Floridian Motorsports	1	0	0	N/A	N/A

(key)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2010	Andretti Autosport	STP 1	STP 1	ORP 2	IOW 1	NJM 1	NJM 9	ACC 2	ACC 1	ROA 1	ROA 1	ATL 1	ATL 1	1st	351

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points
2011	Andretti Autosport	STP 15	BAR 9	IND 3	MIL 1	IOW 1	MOS 13	TRO 4	TRO 5	SON 4	BAL 2	LAG 16							5th	364
2012	Andretti Autosport	STP 8	STP 7	BAR 2	BAR 12	IND 2	IOW 1	TOR 21	TOR 3	EDM 2	EDM 2	TRO 2	TRO 1	BAL 15	BAL 1	LAG 7	LAG 19	ATL 2	3rd	325

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2013	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	STP 3	ALA 4	LBH 3	INDY 3	MIL 1	IOW 1	POC 2	TOR 6	MDO 8	BAL 2	HOU 1	FON 3	1st	460

(key)

Year	Team	Chassis	No.	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Rank	Points	Ref
2014	Dreyer & Reinbold Kingdom Racing	Dallara DW12	22	Chevrolet	STP	LBH	ALA	IMS	INDY 9	DET	DET	TXS	HOU	HOU	POC	IOW	TOR	TOR	MDO	MIL	SNM	FON	27th	57	[43]
2015	Chip Ganassi Racing		8		STP 19	NLA 18	LBH	ALA 18	IMS	INDY 32	DET 16	DET 12	TXS 12	TOR	FON 5	MIL 19	IOW 3	MDO 22	POC 14	SNM			20th	197	[44]
2016	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing		24		STP	PHX	LBH	ALA	IMS	INDY 32	DET	DET	ELK	IOW	TOR	MDO	POC	TXS	WGL	SNM			32nd	22	[45]
2017					STP	LBH	ALA	PHX	IMS	INDY 28	DET	DET	TXS	ELK	IOW	TOR	MDO	POC	GTW	WGL	SNM		34th	23	[46]
2018					STP	PHX	LBH	ALA	IMS	INDY 26	DET	DET	TXS	ELK	IOW	TOR	MDO	POC	GTW	POR	SNM		40th	10	[47]
2019					STP	COA	ALA	LBH	IMS	INDY 19	DET	DET	TXS	ELK									27th	39	[48]
	Carlin		31												TOR 21	IOW 22	MDO	POC	GTW	POR	LAG
2020	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing		24		TXS	IMS 23	ROA	ROA	IOW	IOW	INDY 24	GTW	GTW	MDO	MDO	IMS 23	IMS 24	STP					29th	32	[49]
2021					ALA	STP	TXS	TXS	IMS	INDY 7	DET	DET	ROA	MDO	NSH	IMS	GTW	POR	LAG	LBH			30th	53	[50]
2022					STP	TXS	LBH	ALA	IMS	INDY 23	DET	ROA	MDO	TOR	IOW	IOW	IMS	NSH	GTW	POR	LAG		34th	14	[51]

* Season still in progress.

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (non-win)**	Top 10s (non-podium)***	Indianapolis 500 wins	Championships
4	2	16	0	0	1	2	0	0

** Podium (non-win) indicates 2nd or 3rd-place finishes.

*** Top 10s (non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th-place finishes.

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
2014	Dallara	Chevrolet	31	9	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
2015	Dallara	Chevrolet	22	32	Chip Ganassi Racing
2016	Dallara	Chevrolet	23	32	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Kingdom Racing
2017	Dallara	Chevrolet	21	28	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
2018	Dallara	Chevrolet	24	26	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
2019	Dallara	Chevrolet	31	19	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
2020	Dallara	Chevrolet	31	24	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
2021	Dallara	Chevrolet	31	7	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
2022	Dallara	Chevrolet	22	23	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class)

Year	Team	Class	Make	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2014	Chip Ganassi Racing	P	Ford EcoBoost Riley DP	Ford Ecoboost 3.5 L V6 Turbo	DAY 11	SEB 6	LBH	LGA	DET	WGL 8	MOS	IMS 2	ELK	COA	PET		23rd	104
2015	Chip Ganassi Racing	P	Ford EcoBoost Riley DP	Ford Ecoboost 3.5 L V6 Turbo	DAY 6	SIR	LBH	LGA	DET	WGL	MSP	ELK	COA	PET			27th	26
2017	3GT Racing	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	Lexus 5.0 L V8	DAY 27	SEB 18	LBH 6	COA 9	DET 6	WGL 6	MOS 5	LIM 12	ELK 8	VIR 7	LGA 14	PET 10	15th	244

(key)

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Rank	Points
2019	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Olsbergs MSE	ARX2	MDO		GAT		TRR		COTA	MDO		6th	129
				2	2	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	2	1	2

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Rank	Points
2021	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Olsbergs MSE	NEXT	UT		ERX		WHP		GHR		FIRM		2nd	385
				DNS	5	7	1	1	1	3	2	1	1

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

NASCAR Xfinity Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	NXSC	Pts	Ref
2021	Jordan Anderson Racing	31	Chevy	DAY	DAY	HOM	LVS	PHO	ATL	MAR	TAL	DAR	DOV	COA	CLT	MOH	TEX	NSH	POC	ROA	ATL	NHA	GLN	IND 26	MCH	DAY	DAR	RCH	BRI 16	LVS	TAL	CLT 25	TEX	KAN	MAR	PHO 25	45th	62	[52]
2022	Alpha Prime Racing	44	Chevy	DAY	CAL	LVS	PHO	ATL 32	COA 16	RCH	MAR	TAL	DOV	DAR	TEX	CLT	PIR	NSH		ATL 38	NHA					DAY 5	DAR	KAN									37th	152	[53]
		45																	ROA 31			POC 20	IND 13	MCH	GLN
	Our Motorsports	02	Chevy																										BRI 18	TEX	TAL	CLT 30	LVS	HOM	MAR	PHO
2023	Alpha Prime Racing	45	Chevy	DAY	CAL	LVS	PHO	ATL 31																	IRC 15	GLN 15	DAY	DAR	KAN	BRI							35th	160	[54]
		44							COA 35	RCH	MAR	TAL	DOV	DAR 31	CLT	PIR	SON 34	NSH DNQ	CSC 22	ATL	NHA	POC 38
	Sam Hunt Racing	24	Toyota																				ROA 4
	MBM Motorsports	66	Ford																					MCH 25							TEX 23	ROV 27	LVS	HOM	MAR	PHO
2024	Sam Hunt Racing	26	Toyota	DAY 28	ATL			COA 17	RCH	MAR	TEX	TAL	DOV	DAR	CLT	PIR 34					CSC 33	POC	IND	MCH	DAY	DAR	ATL	GLN	BRI	KAN	TAL						48th	59	[55]
	Jordan Anderson Racing	32	Chevy			LVS 36	PHO
	Joey Gase Motorsports	35	Toyota														SON DNQ	IOW	NHA	NSH
	SS-Green Light Racing	07	Chevy																													ROV 29	LVS	HOM	MAR	PHO

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	NCTC	Pts	Ref
2021	Jordan Anderson Racing	3	Chevy	DAY	DAY	LVS	ATL	BRI	RCH	KAN	DAR	COA	CLT	TEX	NSH	POC	KNX	GLN	GTW	DAR	BRI	LVS	TAL	MAR 32	PHO		113th	01	[56]
2024	Floridian Motorsports	21	Ford	DAY	ATL	LVS	BRI	COA	MAR	TEX	KAN	DAR	NWS	CLT	GTW	NSH	POC 33	IRP	RCH	MLW	BRI	KAN	TAL	HOM	MAR	PHO	89th	01	[57]

^* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

• Official website
• Sage Karam on Twitter
• Sage Karam career summary at DriverDB.com
• Sage Karam driver statistics at Racing-Reference

Sporting positions
Preceded by Tristan Vautier	Indy Lights Champion 2013	Succeeded by Gabby Chaves