We didn’t go over last week in IndyCar silly season because nothing happened. There are even off weeks during the offseason, who knew? We made up for it this week as a full-time seat has been confirmed, a test was held, a test has been scheduled, and we are wondering what seats are actually available, and which ones aren’t.
Rinus VeeKay to Juncos Hollinger Racing
On Tuesday morning, Rinus VeeKay was announced to be joining Juncos Hollinger Racing for the 2026 season. VeeKay spent the 2025 season with Dale Coyne Racing where he was 14th on the championship. His best finish was second at Toronto, his first podium finish since 2021, and VeeKay had seven top ten finishes after no Dale Coyne Racing driver finished better than 13th the season before.
VeeKay previously drove for Juncos Hollinger Racing in the Road to Indy. Together, they won the 2018 Pro Mazda championship and they were second in the 2019 Indy Lights season.
Earlier this offseason, it was believed VeeKay was in contention to join A.J. Foyt Racing for the 2026 season.
IMS Road Course Test Results
Seven drivers participated in a test on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on Monday.
According to Racer Magazine’s Marshall Pruett, Dennis Hauger led the test with Dale Coyne Racing with a lap at 70.768, though timing issues plagued this test. Alexander Rossi was reportedly second quickest while Mick Schumacher was third, just over two-tenths of a second behind Hauger driving for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
Caio Collet was fourth driving for A.J. Foyt Racing while Lochie Hughes was fifth in an evaluation test with Andretti Global. Christian Rasmussen had technical issues prevent him from fully participating in the test, and Rasmussen with sixth while James Roe, Jr. rounded out the test driving with Juncos Hollinger Racing.
IMS Oval Test to Come
Next week, testing will continue at IMS, but it will shift to the oval. On Tuesday and Wednesday, four drivers will test with Patricio O’Ward and Álex Palou testing new Firestone tire compounds after part of the track was repaved on the exit of turn two.
Alexander Rossi and Takuma Sato will be testing brake and shock components at the behest of IndyCar. Sato will be testing with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
How Do We Feel About This Week?
When reports were coming out that VeeKay was not in consideration for A.J. Foyt Racing, he was immediately linked to JHR, and for about three weeks we have been waiting for this news to be confirmed. The belief is VeeKay will take over for Conor Daly, and Sting Ray Robb will remain as Robb signed a multi-year prior to the 2025 season.
Moving from Coyne to JHR is very much a lateral move at best. That is the case for about half the teams in IndyCar. There is not much difference between them. VeeKay has never finished better than 12th in the championship and is coming off finishing 14th while JHR has never had a driver finish better than 16th in the championship. It doesn’t feel like a move up.
For Daly, it is another offseason at a crossroads. It always felt ominous that Daly would get another season at JHR. Daly was good but not great, and in a series where two-third of the races are on road and street courses, you need to be respectable and even finishing in the top ten in four oval races isn’t enough to be retained. I am not sure where else he could go.
As for the test on Monday, this was the second time Collet has tested for Foyt this offseason, which suggests this is the next driver confirmation. As Alexander Rossi pointed out on the Off Track podcast, each team gets one evaluation test, meaning any additional test comes from the team’s regular allotment. No one gets a second test unless they are serious.
With VeeKay confirmed at JHR, it seems Roe, Jr. was strictly an evaluation test and JHR taking advantage of this test day. Hughes was definitely a gift with Andretti after a respectable Indy Lights season.
Which brings us to Schumacher. The German driver had a pleasant test at IMS, and Schumacher suggested if he were to move to IndyCar, he would be fully invested.
Speaking of invested, with Rahal Letterman Lanigan a racing funding this test and bringing in additional support from Honda, this day was a serious audition and not just playful flirtation. Schumacher spoke about how much he would like to return to single-seater racing. Besides IndyCar, the only single-seater series that comes close to replicating Formula One is Super Formula, but that has about half the race weekends and would like require Schumacher having a sports car component to his career. IndyCar could be a full-time role with any additional racing being seldom if he so desires.
What is to Come?
We are still waiting on three seats, RLLR, DCR and Foyt.
For Foyt, it feels like they have their guy.
For RLLR, it feels like they know who they want.
For DCR, your guess is as good as anyone.
It is curious to see how these seats are filled. Devlin DeFrancesco is still there and his funding could be the deciding factor for one of these riders. Daly could be in play for Coyne, though we know Coyne was interested in reuniting with Romain Grosjean. It doesn’t feel like there are any other outsiders at play, but we still have four-and-a-half months left in the offseason.
Coyne did set a deadline of Halloween to decide on his second driver. So far, Coyne has only tested Hauger this offseason. Any hint on which way the team is leaning has not been public, and I doubt in the next two weeks we will see Coyne tip his hand, but time is running out on that self-imposed deadline, which has no consequences if not met.
