There have been no IndyCar races during the month of September, but each week has kept us busy, as we are now 156 days until the 2026 season opener from St. Petersburg. It has never been boring, and right when there has been a lull, the next domino falls to catch your attention. That was the case this week, and we are ending the month of September with likely only three full-time rides left unclaimed for the 2026 season. We even started getting Indianapolis 500 entries confirmed this week.
Hauger to Coyne, Coyne Partners with Andretti
On Tuesday, Dale Coyne Racing announced it would have the 2025 Indy Lights champion Dennis Hauger join the team as one of its drivers for the 2026 season. Hauger joins Coyne as the team enters in a technical partnership with the Andretti Global organization.
Hauger won six of 14 races this season in Indy Lights, and he stood on the podium 11 times as he took the championship by 72 points over Caio Collet. Hauger had previous won the 2019 Italian Formula 4 championship and the 2021 Formula 3 championship.
This is not first technical partnership between Andretti Global and another team. From 2017 through 2024, the Andretti organization had a partnership with Meyer Shank Racing.
Ruzewski Hired as Andretti Global Team Principal
While forming a partnership with Dale Coyne Racing, Andretti Global has hired Ron Ruzewski as team principal.
Ruzewski had worked Team Penske for 21 seasons before he was dismissed from the team during the season after the team's penalties for illegal modifying the rear attenuator were found during qualifications for the Indianapolis 500.
At the time of his dismissal, Ruzewski was the managing director for Team Penske's IndyCar program while also working as race strategist for Will Power. There was no word made on whether or not Ruzewski would have a role on a timing stand for one of Andretti Global's entries in the 2026 season.
Harvey Returning to Indianapolis
We have our first confirmed Indianapolis 500-only entry of the 2026 season. On Thursday, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing announced Jack Harvey would be back to drive the #24 INVST Chevrolet. Harvey, D&R and INVST partnered to compete in this year's Indianapolis 500.
Harvey qualified 26th, and he was classified in 19th, two laps down after he sped on pit lane during his final pit stop. This was Harvey's eighth Indianapolis 500 start. He has only one finish inside the top fifteen. That was a ninth-place finish in 2020. His best starting spot is 20th, which came in 2020 and 2021.
Outside of the Indianapolis 500, Harvey did not compete in another race this season. He spent the rest of the year as a pit reporter for Fox's IndyCar coverage.
Indy Lights Calendar Released
Eight days after IndyCar announced its 2026 schedule, Indy Lights made public its 2026 calendar. The schedule is increasing to 17 races with three more rounds expanding to doubleheader weekends.
The season will begin on March 1 at St. Petersburg and Indy Lights will compete during the inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington weekend on March 15. Five of the six permanent road courses on the 2026 calendar will be a doubleheader weekend, starting with Barber Motorsports Park on March 28-29.
The series will take the next six weeks off before returning for a doubleheader from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on May 8-9. Detroit will follow on May 31 with the first oval race being Gateway Motorsports Park on June 7.
The series reaches the midway mark at the first of two Road America races on June 20 before starting the second half of the season on June 21. Mid-Ohio will host a doubleheader on July 4-5. Nashville will be run on July 19. Portland has a round on August 9 with Milwaukee taking place on August 30.
The 2026 season ends with a doubleheader at Laguna Seca on September 5-6.
How Do We Feel About This Week?
It was mostly expected Hauger would be racing at Dale Coyne Racing in 2026, and Andretti Global would have some involvement. For Hauger, he will be in good hands to learn though not necessarily in the same quality equipment as the actual Andretti Global team. We did see Coyne run competitively with Rinus VeeKay in 2025. Good results are not out of the question for Hauger.
Dale Coyne Racing should believe it is the big winner come the month of May. For the last two years, the only car to miss the Indianapolis 500 has been a Dale Coyne Racing entry. In each of the last three years, it has had at least one car competing in the last chance qualifying session. DCR should feel better about getting out of the mess that is just making the race, but it should be noted one of the other last chance qualifying participants this year was Andretti Global's Marco Andretti.
Andretti, however, made the race with a four-lap average at 229.741 mph. Both VeeKay and Jacob Abel ran slower than 227 mph over four laps in the last chance qualifying session.
With the Hauger news, we have 24 of 27 entries confirmed for 2026. The remaining cars are the other Dale Coyne Racing entry, the #30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing entry, and the #76 Juncos Hollinger Racing entry. This is purely coincidentally, but the remaining three entries come from teams that occupied the bottom three spots in the entrants' championship.
We have filled all the good rides. We are not waiting for anymore splashy signings. What remains are the spots that a driver must really want if he or she wants to compete in IndyCar next year. We know these are not spots that are regularly at the front of the grid. It will require patiences and lots of struggle to get through an entire season. These are also seats no one is rushing to fill. No stunning driver is going to walk through the door and be the obvious hire. It will come down to some planning and discussing what each team wants out of these seats.
We have been seeing seats confirmed on a weekly basis. Do not expect that to continue next week. We might have a breather until the next full-time driver is announced.
Ruzewski was low-hanging fruit for whatever team wanted him in IndyCar. Penalties aside, Ruzewski is a championship strategist, and he was one of the brightest minds available in the paddock prior to this news. He only makes the Andretti Global program stronger. Partner him with Power and we know what havoc they can cause. This has been a notable offseason for the Andretti Global program. After a good year in 2025, the team clearly has its sights on big improvements in 2026.
It does feel odd that we are into Indianapolis 500-only entries in September. It is not unheard of. We knew all 34 entires for this year's race on March 11. In all likelihood, we will know at least 30 entries before the calendar year ends. It is the way the business works in the 21st century. There is no waiting for April to secure funding. No team is going to throw something at the wall in mid-May or roll out a car late in practice week to give someone an opportunity. The best chance to succeed is to have it all buttoned up sooner rather than later.
Harvey has not been the most electrifying driver at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but he is a known entity. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is not rolling on one of its Indianapolis 500 entries. It shows up to run one race a year. It will make sure the cars are in capable hands to at least get in the race.
There is a limited number of people who are trusted to race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Harvey is one of them, and as long as he can run competitive speeds and not get into accidents, someone will call his name for the month of May.
As for the Indy Lights schedule, it draws the same reaction as the IndyCar schedule. Yeah, that is what it is. It wasn't going to be much different from any other Indy Lights schedule we have seen. I do wish the series decided to run a doubleheader at Gateway, Nashville or Milwaukee. I think those oval weekends could benefit from a race on Saturday and Sunday rather than just one race being held three hours before the IndyCar race. Road America didn't need two races, neither did Mid-Ohio nor Laguna Seca. There are still only three oval races on the schedule. A doubleheader on an oval would benefit the drivers more than two at Mid-Ohio.
I do wish Indy Lights would adopt an inversion for one of the races on the doubleheader weekend. Either do it like GP2 where the results from Saturday set the grid for Sunday and the top eight are inverse or use qualifying and reverse the top eight or ten from qualifying for the Saturday race before the Sunday race is set by the actual qualifying time.
It is a little ridiculous Indy Lights never had inverse grids when it previously had an abundance of doubleheader weekends. We had many weekends where over two races there were no passes for the lead and very little passing in the top four or five spots. I don't think there is anything wrong with mixing up the grids and getting the best drivers in traffic. Maybe Indy Lights should go all out and inverse the entire grid for the first race of each weekend. It would at least get everyone's attention and be something to watch.
What is to Come?
How long until Dale Coyne announces his second driver?
When will Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing make some news?
What rush is Juncos Hollinger Racing in?
When will the other Road to Indy series announce their 2026 calendars?
Will someone call Tim Cindric now that Ron Ruzewski has been hired?
