Gen Z is shaking up IndyCar's Millennial, Gen X established order

Technology has played the greatest role in propelling the group to the front of the field.

What we're seeing is the simulator generation reaching their potential on an accelerated timeline. This is the first assembly of kids to grow up with iRacing in their bedrooms or basements. For previous generations, driving educations were largely reserved for weekends and available test days as they waited for the next kart race to explore their talent and learn from mistakes.

Thanks to simulators, IndyCar's Gen Z aces have never experienced that idle time. This group has only known the benefits of virtual driving -- making use of its 24-hour availability -- to fill the experiential gaps while waiting to get back to the track. Instead of three days on and four days off, the simulator generation -- like kids in other sports who are constantly developing -- have the ability to grow in daily ways that simply weren't possible for their predecessors.

They're also the first to have on-board data systems, both virtual and real, as lifelong study guides. Through computer systems attached to their karts or those replicated in simulators, they've been gathering intricate knowledge of the cars and their engineering principles, and improving their own driving techniques through computer systems, since their first laps were turned.

Put it all together, and Gen Z is the most learned collection of drivers to reach IndyCar, which accounts for their best representatives being able achieve front-running readiness at a much faster rate than their Gen X or Millennial rivals.

"I've been with technology my whole life," Malukas said to ESPN. "Being born into technology advancements growing up, that's definitely where I think a lot of our successes come from, and it's just nonstop. I can't even remember when I wasn't learning data, understanding how to examine it. Me and [Kirkwood], I raced with him in go karts ever since I was playing with Hot Wheels and picking my nose, and even back then, we were looking at data.

"So by the time we come to IndyCar, we're just so familiar with everything we've been doing pretty much our whole lives. It's just an everyday thing. You go on a simulator, you keep looking at data, in and out of the car, no matter what."

The generational dividing line between digital- and analog-era drivers will only deepen in the coming years as many of IndyCar's standard bearers start to retire. The transition to an all-Gen-Z IndyCar field isn't far away, but the series' championship leader says his group would be foolish to underestimate the threat that mid-to-late-career veterans like Josef Newgarden (35), Graham Rahal (37), Will Power (44) and Scott Dixon (45) pose to their ambitions.

"It's a privilege to be part of this generation," Kirkwood told ESPN. "It's weird how it comes in waves like this where it feels like there's this change all at once, but also, there's nothing to take away from the older guys, right? They're still beating us up on race weekends. [Rahal] was just on the podium at the last race and Power's already got a podium and could have won at least once. [Newgarden]'s won this year, and Dixon, we all know he can win any race he's in.

"That's also maybe something else we've never seen, right? Where so many of the older drivers -- older than me, at least -- are so competitive. There's no real fading going on. Alex Rossi is another one. It's a weird time to be alive, right? It's like, you're part of the next generation, but there's two other generations going at the same time and everyone can still win. But now we're starting to have the younger drivers show our strengths. It's cool to see."