Only two IndyCar team previews remains as we are within a fortnight of the 2025 IndyCar season opener from St. Petersburg. Exactly 11 days from the first race, we are near the end and we now know the full entry list for the season opener as last week Dale Coyne Racing confirmed its second driver.
It will be a pairing of a veteran and a rookie, a past race winner and a competitive Indy Lights graduate. With these signings, Dale Coyne Racing will have 94 different starters in its 40-plus year history. Last season, Dale Coyne Racing did not have a single top ten finish despite having nine different drivers rotate through its two entries.
At First Glance... At least we know the drivers
Who had this one coming? There is a reason why Dale Coyne Racing is one of the final team previews every year. I was fully expecting another year of open riffing on what should happen for a team that had made no announcements. Jacob Abel was announced rather early, and last week it was confirmed Rinus VeeKay would round out the lineup.
After a season of musical chairs, Coyne has brought in two respectable drivers who will be looking to make the most of a full season.
For VeeKay, it keeps him on the grid after five consistent but unfulfilled season at Ed Carpenter Racing.
For Abel, it is a chance at IndyCar after it appeared he would be shutout from the grid due to the increased competition for seats and the grid limit the charter system agreement set.
It is two drivers who have a greater objective in mind. It isn't a driver who has scrapped together enough funds for a race or two or three. It is not someone who has been out of open-wheel racing for more than a decade getting a chance to race an IndyCar with no real plans of turning it into a full-time gig. These are two drivers that want to be in IndyCar and are looking for more than what they have now. Coyne is a place, but it is not the place either want to be long-term.
To be fair, Coyne is no one's place for long.
Both drivers are hoping this can be a springboard. In VeeKay's case, it is back to a competitive seat that can have him fighting at the front. Abel is hoping that this can be the successful first act that leads to a lengthy IndyCar career. Both are motivated and have sights beyond 2025 and this team. Coyne can live with that. The team knows its place in the series.
The concern for these drivers is DCR has been taking steps back for a number of years now. It was not close to competitive last year. Jack Harvey isn't the greatest driver in the world, but he is good enough to score respectable results. He couldn't break the top ten. At no point did Coyne have it click and the speed show up for both its entries to run competitive. At every race, it was fighting from the back and not making up much ground. Dale Coyne Racing was responsible for the only car to fail to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 last May.
That is the limit VeeKay and Abel will face in 2025. For as hard as they may try, the limit may be reached sooner than they wish. This entire season will be about pushing beyond that limit and hoping it is enough to impress others.
2024 Dale Coyne Racing Review
Wins: 0
Best Finish: 13th (Barber, Mid-Ohio, Nashville)
Poles: 0
Best Start: 13th (Milwaukee II)
Championship Finishes: 25th (Jack Harvey), 29th (Katherine Legge), 31st (Toby Sowery), 34th (Luca Ghiotto), 38th (Tristan Vautier), 40th (Colin Braun), 41st (Hunter McElrea)
Rinus VeeKay- #18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda
Numbers to Remember:
4: Seasons with at least one top five finish
47: Races since VeeKay’s most recent podium finish (third at Barber in 2022)
13.9375: Career average finish in 80 IndyCar starts
What does a championship season look like for him?
Dale Coyne Racing having a time machine, and bringing the pace from 2017 and 2018 into 2025 for VeeKay. All of a sudden, VeeKay goes from being on the fringe of the top twenty to a top ten car and pushing for more.
The season would start relatively slow, finishing in the top ten but not showing signs as the driver to beat. The Indianapolis 500 is where VeeKay shines and the stunning speed has the Dutchman at the front. After appearing to have taken a step back from Ed Carpenter Racing, VeeKay moves forward with Dale Coyne Racing, and he finishes first in one of the most stunning results in the 109 editions of the race.
One victory changes everything. From a feel-good story to Cinderella, VeeKay continues his consistency of top ten finishes but he wins Gateway and picks up podium finishes in Road America and Mid-Ohio. He wins one of the Iowa races and finishes in the top five in the other. He wins Laguna Seca, which convinces people a championship is not only a dream, but a possibility. Another podium finish in Milwaukee and a victory in Nashville cap off the improbable.
What does a realistic season look like for him?
What firepower Coyne brings to the track will determine how VeeKay does in the championship. VeeKay has finished between 12th and 14th in every season he has raced in IndyCar. That is the baseline based on what Ed Carpenter Racing provided and what VeeKay could do with it. Dale Coyne Racing is a step back. It is realistic to expect a step back.
VeeKay will find a way to get into the top ten, but it will likely be a rare occasion. Those will be good days, but most days will be fights to be respectable. He should be able to achieve that occasional, but there will be a few races where he will not be able to pull this car into the top half of the field.
Considering that the two DCR cars ended up 26th and 27th in the entrants' championship out of 27 full-time cars, this team can only move up. VeeKay should pick up the pieces and put this entry into a Leader Circle spot. He can crack the top twenty, but it will be difficult for him to break into the top 15 or 16.
Jacob Abel - #51 Abel Construction Honda
Numbers to Remember:
42: Indy Lights starts
30: Indy Lights starts for Abel to get his first career victory
71.42: Percentage of Abel’s Indy Lights podium finishes came last season (Ten out of 14)
What does a championship season look like for him?
Pretty much identical to what VeeKay's hypothetical championship season looks like. Dale Coyne Racing finding speed it has really only had once in its history and Abel's skill making a massive leap in development from Indy Lights to IndyCar despite having seldom seat time testing in the preseason.
Top tens are a good place for a rookie to start. Each race gets a little better for Abel. Top tens slowly become top five finishes. With each race, he grows in confidence and after eight consecutive top ten finishes to open the season, Abel's first career victory does at Road America. From there, he continues running at the front and getting a few more top five finishes.
It is a championship season built on remarkable consistency the likes of Tony Kanaan and Álex Palou. He wins at Laguna Seca and Portland, and he ends the season having completed every lap with 17 top ten finishes in 17 races.
What does a realistic season look like for him?
Far fewer than 17 top ten finishes.
Abel had good consistency in Indy Lights, and he grew slowly, improving over every season. While he was good in Indy Lights, it will require a higher level for him to be competitive in IndyCar. Plenty of Indy Lights drivers have fizzled out in IndyCar driving for better teams than DCR.
This will be a season where results will be harder to come by but as the season goes along, Abel should feel more comfortable and be improving. Top ten finishes will be asking for a lot considering the team he is driving for, but he should be pushing for the top fifteen more as the season goes along.
However, breaking into the top twenty is difficult to imagine, and Abel is likely to finish third among the three rookies on the 2025 grid.
The 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season opens on Sunday March 2 with the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Fox's coverage of the season opener will begin at noon Eastern Time.
