IndyCar's official open test from Phoenix Raceway is underway, and we are 11 days from the first race of the season from St. Petersburg. Normally, we end our team previews with the defending champions, but Dale Coyne Racing took so damn long to finalize its driver lineup that it has claimed the tail end of our previews. We have known about one of its drivers since September 24, 2025, 158 days prior to the 2026 opener. We learned about its second driver on February 13, 2026, 16 days before the first race. One driver is a rookie. The other is a returnee for Dale Coyne Racing, and IndyCar in general.
At A Glance... It is a pretty good lineup
Romain Grosjean is back in IndyCar after a year away as a Prema's reserve driver, and he is returning to Dale Coyne Racing after Grosjean made his IndyCar debut with the team in 2021. Grosjean will be driving the #18 Honda for the team. Meanwhile, Dennis Hauger will take charge of the #19 Honda in an entry that is run in partnership with Andretti Global.
It is a good lineup, and it could be fruitful.
Grosjean did not win in his first four seasons in IndyCar, though he had a few close calls, including at Dale Coyne Racing. The lack of a victory, especially after a pair of seasons at then-Andretti Autosport, was a surprise. There were plenty of good days but Grosjean never broke through and it felt like a near certainty especially after some brilliant performances.
We learned a lot about Grosjean, and for all the sparks of speed we will see, he is prone to falling into a rut and being in bad form for a few races. There would be those two or three races a year that would stand out, but we would then see Grosjean hit a stretch of races where he was not competitive, and he was not fighting in the top half of the field. It led to outbursts that could not be ignored. Moving to Juncos Hollinger Racing only set him further behind, and Grosjean had some impressive drives, but there was a limit to his success.
This Dale Coyne Racing is arguably in a better spot than where it was in 2021. That was a good team as Grosjean had Ed Jones as his teammate with Vasser-Sullivan support. Coyne is coming off a good rebound in 2025 after a horrendous 2024, and combining where it was with an Andretti partnership for its second car, Coyne should be able to maintain where it was last season with Rinus VeeKay. A top fifteen championship performance is in play, but it should have two cars fighting to reach that level.
Hauger is ready for IndyCar, and Andretti Global has great interest in his success. I am not sure the #19 Honda is going to be a de facto fourth Andretti entry, but it certainly will not be what the second Dale Coyne Racing car has been in recent seasons. I don't think Coyne should be worrying about an entry missing the Indianapolis 500 for a third consecutive year.
Last year, Hauger showed he was better than Indy Lights, but he learned most of these circuits and is not joining the series blind. The support will be there, and he will be working closely with the Andretti group while also having a teammate that is rather comfortable and had plenty to teach the Norwegian. It is still IndyCar, and rookies have had teething problems in recent seasons, but Hauger is entering with more talent than most of the other recent rookies, and few have had this kind of support.
This is a sneaky good lineup. This could have been a Formula One lineup in a different universe where Grosjean doesn't have his career good sideways at Haas and if Hauger had more support in the ladder system. Instead, it is in IndyCar with one of the least resourced teams on the grid, but a group that has a history of punching above its weight. Coyne could be in for a memorable season.
2025 Dale Coyne Racing Review
Wins: 0
Best Finish: 2nd (Toronto)
Poles: 0
Best Start: 5th (Barber)
Championship Finishes: 14th (Rinus VeeKay), 27th (Jacob Abel)
Romain Grosjean - #18 Bitcoin MAX Honda
Numbers to Remember:
14.3906: Career average finish in IndyCar
3: Races where Grosjean led more than four laps
50: Percent of his starts have been lead lap finishes, 32 out of 64 starts.
What is the best possible outcome?
A sneaky run into the top ten of the championship.
There is a reasonable season where Grosjean has a podium finish or two, about five or six top five finishes and has ten top ten finishes, and that gets him somewhere between eighth and tenth in the championship. Marcus Armstrong was eighth in the championship last year with one podium finish, two top five finishes and 11 top ten finishes. That is feasible for Grosjean, and you know what? He could win. VeeKay had competitive speed and was fighting for podium finishes. He was a little fortunate at Toronto that the stars aligned that he could be leading late, but Grosjean could be put in that same position.
A race victory would be a terrific story and would cancel out whatever else happened during the season. Grosjean could be 15th in the championship and it would not matter.
What is realistic?
We must look at the entire picture with Grosjean, because for all of his positives and all the promise he still has in IndyCar, this is a driver who never finished better than 13th in the championship and his most top five finishes in a season is four. In each of his final three seasons in IndyCar, Grosjean ended the year without have a top five finish in the final nine races, 13 races and nine races. Two of those seasons were with Andretti. We must also keep in mind Grosjean is returning after a year away from IndyCar, and he only competed in five aces last year, the five IMSA endurance races with Lamborghini.
Matching VeeKay's output would be a terrific return season for Grosjean. That would be a podium, two total top five finishes and seven top ten finishes. I think Grosjean could do a little better than seven top ten finishes, but Grosjean has never had more than seven top ten finishes in a season. Keep that in mind.
There are going to be a few weekends where we hear Grosjean's frustration, but we will also have weekends where we see Grosjean as one of the more joyous drivers post-race.
Dennis Hauger - #19 Ault Blockchain Honda
Numbers to Remember:
21.24: Average championship finish of qualified rookies season since 2020
14: Best championship finish for a Rookie of the Year since 2020
95: Hauger is on track to be the 95th different driver to start an IndyCar race for Dale Coyne Racing
What is the best possible outcome?
Hauger is essentially another Andretti Global driver and he is constantly in the second round of qualifying and pushing the top ten. He is the best Dale Coyne Racing finisher more times than not, and that is a source of frustration for his French teammate. Hauger improves each race and top ten results slowly become top five results. There is a weekend or two where it clicks and he is in the Fast Six and pushing for a podium.
It is somewhere in that eighth to tenth territory where a handful of top five finishes and a majority of top ten finishes sets Hauger above most of the competition.
What is realistic?
Rookies have struggled in IndyCar lately, and it feels like the hybrid system has not been making it easier. Hauger is still learning this year, and it is a new system he has yet to experience. Last year's rookie class was rather good, but Louis Foster and Robert Shwartzman each struggled. Shwartzman was running for an entirely new team, but Foster was with a good group, and even when we saw flashes, we saw Foster come back to earth during races and fail to finish in the top ten.
Hauger could crack the top fifteen in the championship, but I believe he will be outside of that group. He will still have a few really good races and there could be a weekend or two where he is outstanding, but we must remember this is Dale Coyne Racing. Andretti Global's resources will help, but we just saw an Andretti car end up 20th in the championship last season. Not everyone can crack the top ten. Not everyone can crack the top fifteen. That doesn't mean the season is a failure.
Any finishes in the top five with at least seven or eight top ten finishes is what Hauger should be shooting for. Remember, it was not long ago Kyle Kirkwood failed to finish better than tenth as a rookie and he was soon winning races.
The 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season begins on Sunday March 1 with the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Fox's coverage will begin at noon Eastern.
