The second week of the IndyCar offseason cooled off after a first week kept us on our toes from the moment the checkered flag waved at Nashville Superspeedway. We did not have any staggering announcements. No series legends changed teams and no other drivers are heading to Europe in pursuit of a Formula One opportunity. We still have 170 days until the first race of the 2026 IndyCar season. There is plenty of time for the remaining pieces to fall.
There were a few smaller pieces of news that came out, and some will not really change what we see in 2026. The biggest news from the week will not come to the forefront until this time next year when the 2026 season is over and we are looking toward 2027. With such a heads up, there is no reason to panic.
NTT Ending McLaren Sponsorship After 2026 Season
Reports came out that NTT will be ending its sponsorship with McLaren after the 2026 season, opting out of a contract that was reportedly through the 2028 season.
From reports, NTT had joined McLaren in anticipation of Álex Palou joining the team for the 2024 season. In 2022, Palou had made it known he was trying to join the McLaren program despite Chip Ganassi Racing having announced a contract extension with Palou for the 2023 season. Palou remained with Ganassi for 2023, but it was under the belief that once his contract was up, the Catalan driver would move to McLaren for 2024 and a preliminary deal was in place.
However, in the middle of the 2023 season, Palou announced he was remaining with Ganassi and would not honor the contract he had with McLaren. McLaren Racing sued Palou for nearly $23 million to recoup the investment made in Palou.
NTT had sponsored Palou at Ganassi in the 2021 season.
While NTT will leave after next season, McLaren did announce Mission Foods and Onsemi had signed multi-year extensions to remain with the organization this past week.
Robb Remaining at Juncos Hollinger Racing
The Indianapolis Star's Nathan Brown quietly confirmed that Sting Ray Robb will remain with Juncos Hollinger Racing for the 2026 season.
Brown reiterated that Robb had signed a multi-year contract with JHR ahead of the 2025 season, and both parties intend on remaining together for the 2026 season. Entering this offseason, many believed JHR had the possibility of two open seats going into next season, and both could see new drivers employed.
For Robb, this will be his first time remaining at a team for consecutive IndyCar seasons. In 2023, he entered IndyCar with Dale Coyne Racing before moving to A.J. Foyt Racing for the 2024 season. This is the first time Robb has remained with one organization for multiple years since he ran from 2019 through 2021 with Juncos Racing in Indy Pro 2000 and Indy Lights. His 2022 Indy Lights season was contested with Andretti Autosport.
While Robb had a ninth-place finish at Long Beach and he only score four fewer points in 2025 compared to 2024, he did drop to 25th in the championship, his worst championship finish after finishing 23rd and 20th in his first two seasons in IndyCar.
Indy Lights Entry Cap
Racer's Marshall Pruett reported this week a few regulations surrounding the Indy Lights grid could be tweaked ahead of the 2026 season.
Pruett reported a 24-car grid limit will be implemented for next season while teams will be capped at four entrants. However, teams will be able to continue to support additional entries with other teams. This exception helps Indy Lights' two biggest teams, as Andretti Global runs two cars in partnership with Cape Motorsports, and HMD Motorsports has announced it would run two cars in 2026 with Cusick Morgan Motorsports.
In the same article, Pruett reported that Chip Ganassi Racing plans on expanding its Indy Lights lineup to four cars, doubling its presence from the 2025 grid. It is believed the 2026 grid will see at least 22 entrants.
Théo Pourchaire Signs with Peugeot’s Hypercar Program
A bit of FIA World Endurance Championship silly season news, Théo Pourchaire was announced as a Peugeot Hypercar driver, and Pourchaire will make his debut at the 8 Hours of Bahrain on November 8 before running full-time in 2026.
Earlier this year, Pourchaire was reportedly looking for an IndyCar return, and he was working with Simon Pagenaud to get back into the series. In 2024, Pourchaire made six starts with Arrow McLaren with his best finish being tenth at Detroit.
How Do We Feel About This Week?
Nothing all that earth-shattering occurred.
The McLaren news is notable, but it also feels no different from the regular cycle of sponsorship changes in a motorsports series. One sponsor enters, and three or four seasons later, it is gone and we see another new company on the grid. Remember how quickly HyVee came and went from the series.
The NTT news is more notable because of its tie to Álex Palou and the contract saga that is still being played out in court. This is one of the reasons McLaren is looking for damages after Palou decided not to go through with a reported agreement with the organization. The belief was Palou would sign and be at McLaren for an extended period of time. With no Palou, NTT had an opt-out in its contract, and now two years of sponsorship is gone from the McLaren portfolio. You can see why McLaren is looking for $23 million.
McLaren will be fine. It did announce two other sponsors will return. That doesn't mean it will be easy finding a partnership that can fill the hole NTT is leaving. Does it mean McLaren will contract from three full-time cars in 2025 to two in 2026? It is too early to tell. The prevailing thought is McLaren will spend a year looking for another sponsor and the team is strong enough that it should be able to keep its third car on the grid, but that is not a guarantee.
I don't think this decision from NTT says anything about its future as IndyCar's title sponsor. The 2026 season will be NTT's ninth as title sponsor, IndyCar's longest reigning title sponsor since PPG had a 17-season run as CART's title sponsor from 1980 through 1996. Verizon was IndyCar title sponsor for five seasons prior to NTT's involvement and Izod was title sponsor for the four seasons prior to that.
Naturally, there will come a point where NTT considers its future involvement with the series. It has been sponsoring teams in IndyCar for well over a decade, dating back to Ryan Briscoe with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2014. I don't know if NTT will still be on a car come 2027, whether that be returning to Ganassi and Palou or moving somewhere else.
This could be the first domino to fall in a sequence that will see a branding change of the entire series. For now, it is one team who will have a slightly different livery come 2027. Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.
The Robb news does make silly season a little less silly, though there is plenty of time for it to be turned upside down. With the reported funding Robb has had at his disposal, it is not surprising Juncos Hollinger Racing is keeping him for another season and honoring a multi-year contract. It doesn't mean results will see a significant improvement, but it does mean one car is secure for 2026.
It also means a spot for a potential new driver entering the series is gone. I think we all were thinking if both JHR seats were open, at least one of those would go to a driver moving up from Indy Lights or coming in from another motorsports series. With Robb staying, it seems wise that JHR would want an experienced driver in that second seat to maximize results. That could mean retaining Conor Daly should Daly find the funding. It could mean bringing in someone who spent most or all 2025 on the sidelines, say Linus Lundqvist.
Either way, it is almost certain that as we are less than a fortnight removed from the finish of the final race of 2025, there are only four vacant seats for the 2026 season, and one of those we have a strong inkling on who will be occupying it.
The Pourchaire news is not a surprise. Despite his interest and enjoyment running in IndyCar, he has not been high on any team’s list though he was improving each race and was showing competitiveness. Next year’s WEC calendar is out, and in all likelihood, at least five of the eight rounds will clash with an IndyCar race, meaning any chance of running both series is off the table.
It is a shame that Pourchaire couldn’t find his way into an IndyCar seat. He is immensely talented and could develop into a race winner or more.
To finish on the Indy Lights news, I don't see a need to cap the entrants just yet. At best, we are looking at 22 cars for 2026 and maybe a 23rd materializes. I don't see a benefit of limiting Indy Lights entrants when 99% of those teams are the drivers funding the efforts. If there are 30 drivers willing to fund full-time Indy Lights programs, and it is a series that does not have pit stops so it is not a case of worrying about pit lane space or even paddock space, let all 30 drivers race.
I will say it is a refreshing problem to have because four years ago, when the series returned after going on hiatus for 2020, there were only nine full-time drivers and every race had only 12 or 13 cars. For the last three seasons, the grid has been between 18 and 21 entrants with most of those races hitting the 20-car mark. That is a big change, and a stark change for how Indy Lights looked from about 2011 through 2022.
Now it is a question of what quality drivers fill the Indy Lights grid.
What is to Come?
Still waiting on some news from Team Penske.
If history has taught us anything, we should bring a book in the wait for driver news from Dale Coyne Racing.
Sting Ray Robb will need a teammate at Juncos Hollinger Racing.
We are still waiting for a calendar for 2026. I wonder when and where and how IndyCar will announce its 2026 campaign considering we are only getting deeper into the offseason from here and it has no clear platform to shout its good news from.
