2026 IndyCar Team Preview: Prema

We are only ten days away from the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season opener from St. Petersburg, and we have previewed all the team, except one. It is with good reason. We don't know if Prema will compete at all in 2026. 

Prema did not compete in any preseason testing, including the official IndyCar test which just concluded from Phoenix Raceway. The Italian team has experienced some ownership changes as team founder Angelo Rosin and his son Rene were among those who left the organization. The team has said it is still working to make the grid at some point in 2026, but that is far from a guarantee.

With this uncertainty we aren't going to preview Prema, but discuss the team's situation, and what has been lost with the team shrinking from a full-time program. 

2025 Prema Review

Wins: 0

Best Finish: 6th (Laguna Seca, Portland)

Poles: 1 (Indianapolis 500)

Championship Finishes: 21st (Callum Ilott), 24th (Robert Shwartzman)

Where does Prema stand?

At this moment, it will not be full-time, and its first race of 2026, if it ever makes it to the racetrack, appears to be unknown. Funding has been the major issue for the program, and Prema has been looking for new backers since the end of the 2025 season. Team CEO Piers Phillips has reportedly been seeking support throughout the offseason.

Both drivers from the 2025 season are believed to be under contract with the team. Callum Ilott has taken on a full-time IMSA role with Wright Motorsports in the GT Daytona class. The only IMSA race that clashes with an IndyCar round is the August 23 race from Virginia International Raceway. This was originally not a clash until the Washington, D.C. round was added to the IndyCar calendar earlier this month. Robert Shwartzman has no reported deals in any series for this year.

Rumors state Prema will not be on the grid until Long Beach at the earliest though there has been no official timetable to the team's 2026 season.

What is lost?

Losing a two-car team will create space on the track and in the pit lane, which should give everyone a little more breathing room. It also clears up any issues with entering open entries. With a 27-car limit to every grid outside the Indianapolis 500 and 25 spots reserved for the chartered entries, Prema took the two available spots at every race in 2025. Without Prema, the door is open for a team to run an additional car without a risk of missing the race. 

There have been no official words about any teams adding cars for any races outside of the Indianapolis 500, but once we are through the first two or three months of the season and we know how active Prema will be, we could see a few teams roll out additional cars later in the season. 

While the loss has created opportunities, it does mean the likes of Ilott and Shwartzman will likely not be competing in 2026. Ilott has been racing in IndyCar since the end of the 2021 season. While at Juncos Hollinger Racing, Ilott had some impressive drives to top ten and even top five finishes. As a rookie, Shwartzman had two top ten finishes, but his 2025 season will be remembered for an incredible pole position at the Indianapolis 500.

We saw plenty of growing pains for Prema in its first year, but it was making strides. Ilott had four top ten finishes in the final five races, and we cannot forget the speed the team showed at Indianapolis. 

What has Prema's experience told us about IndyCar?

Prema may have been a year too late with its entry to IndyCar. Entering in 2025 with the introduction of charters saw the team miss out at least one, if not two, guaranteed spots on the grid while also competing for Leader Circle funding. Prema could not control when IndyCar would change its business model in terms of prize money for the teams, nor could it plan on being entirely left out in the cold. 

Prema did announce its IndyCar intentions for 2025 before the charter system was introduced. The team could have been given a spot considering it was committed to running full-time, but Prema was left to fend for itself. 

Being a European-based team that had predominantly competed in juniors series previously. Prema was not the first such team to enter IndyCar. Less than a decade ago, it was Carlin. Both teams experienced the same learning curve, and in Prema's case it was not going to overcome it in year one.

Both Carlin and Prema struggled with funding. Carlin's introduction to IndyCar largely came down to the team being partially owned by Grahame Chilton, father of Max Chilton, and then-CEO of Gallagher Insurance, while also having a second car backed with sponsorship from Charlie Kimball. In the junior series, there is always someone willing to fund a seat, especially one for a quality team. In contemporary IndyCar, funded drivers help, but they are not going to turn a team into a contender, let alone keep them alive for long. 

After year one, Carlin's second entry was on life-support and dependent on other funded drivers. Kimball stuck around on a part-time basis, but then Patricio O'Ward came in before briefly becoming a Red Bull junior driver. Sage Karam and RC Enerson brought some money for a few races, but after one-year of that experiment, Carlin shrunk to one-car and it was out of IndyCar after two more years. 

Prema was on the same path. It was largely self-funded, but it did not have the infrastructure to court sponsors in the United States, just like Carlin. It had to attract some kind of partner after year one and it has come up empty. 

Such a business model has its shortcomings with IndyCar. For junior series drivers, bringing money to a team has promise if it is leading to something greater. A driver can bring $2.5 million to a Formula Two team because there is something larger down the line. A driver could move into Formula One and that sponsor supporting a driver could easily gets its money back having a small decal on a Formula One car. The investment is work the risk. In IndyCar, the money required to fill a seat is nearly double that of Formula Two, and there is nothing higher. IndyCar is the limit and its popularity, or lack thereof, makes the price tag hard to justify. With no chance of moving up to another level and seeing a greater return on investment and more required to enter the series, IndyCar becomes a less attractive option.

Financing any IndyCar team is a difficult task. Not having the manpower to scout for sponsors and make connections makes survival bleak. We must acknowledge even if Prema had a charter entry and two charter entries, it was having issues greater than that base payment. It would have helped, but the team had greater financial issues and likely would have still been in an uphill battle entering the 2026 season. 

What comes next? 

There is hope Prema makes the grid, even if it is under a different name should someone purchase the assets. It feels like we could see an entry from this organization appear on the grid at some point. It could be a legitimate part-time entry and run a handful of races. It could be an Indianapolis 500-only program. It could see Ilott or Shwartzman in the car. It could see neither and be an entirely different driver. The program could never materialize. 

For Ilott, it is the second time his career has stalled out in IndyCar. First was the unceremonious dismissal from Juncos Hollinger Racing. For all the fanfare from within the paddock, he is a driver that has not received the big call when opportunities have presented themselves. Another year mostly on the sideline and running sports car race could be the final straw. If a bigger team does not call, or if at least a team is willing to give Ilott structure, his IndyCar career is likely over.

As for Shwartzman, your guess is as good as mine. He has etched a spot in folklore somewhere along Fabrizio Barbazza. That isn't a bad place to be.

This will be an ongoing story over the first few months of the season. Once we get through the Indianapolis 500, we will likely move on from it, especially if a car never makes it to the grid. 

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.

2026 IndyCar Team Preview: Dale Coyne Racing

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.

2026 NASCAR Season Preview

A new NASCAR season is upon us, and later tonight we will know the starting grid for the season-opening Daytona 500, and so will conclude an offseason that saw a great number of changes away from the racetrack. 

Permanent charters, a championship format change and slight changes to horsepower and aero packages all sprung from a busy winter, the most notable of which is the championship format reverting to something previously used. We haven't even mentioned the changes to the schedule. Mexico City, Chicago and the Charlotte roval are gone with a temporary race on Naval Base Coronado use outside San Diego scheduled for June. Chicagoland Speedway returns after a six-year hiatus. A second oval race is returning to Charlotte Motor Speedway. Meanwhile, the All-Star Race moves to Dover International Speedway with North Wilkesboro set to host a championship race for the first time in nearly 30 years.

Gone are the three-race rounds with eliminations and returning is a ten-race aggregate to decide the champion with 16 drivers competing for the title after the regular season concludes. The 16 drivers will be based on points. Win-and-in is gone. To compete for a championship, a driver must be in the top 16 of the championship after the first 26 races. 

The championship change shakes up the identity of the Cup Series and it alters how races and the entire season are approached. A driver 27th in the championship is not one victory away from a playoff spot. It is no longer wide open until the very last lap of the regular season. Simultaneously, a victory is not a golden ticket assuring a team a better pay day and a chance to be racing for something special as summer turns to autumn. 

With these changes, come a lot of questions ahead of the 2026 season. 

How will the season look different?

Victories do not carry the same weight they once did because a driver cannot go from the bottom to the top in a blink. If a driver is 21st in the championship, one victory will not turn him into a championship-eligible driver. To make the postseason, he will need to still get to 16th. A victory will be a consolation prize, one that will be cherished, but it does not outshine the true form over an entire season.

With a clear target of making the top 16 to make the playoffs, it should raise the bar of competition. There will be greater incentive to get the most out of every race. A team cannot wait for the drafting tracks or the road courses to try and steal a victory. Making the playoffs will require decent form across all disciplines. Some teams are going to struggle, but a great number of teams will be shooting for more each week to get as many points as possible, and points matter more. They are the only thing that matters to making the playoffs. 

That should change how races are run, especially since stage points still exist. Teams would previously decline stage points in strategy decisions to race for the victory. At certain tracks or in certain circumstances, teams would make a pit before a stage break from a top position only to be back at the front after the stage break because the rest of the field would stop and that team would inherit the lead. However, is turning down ten points for a potential stage victory worth it in this system? Points determine the playoff drivers, not victories. Those ten points go further than a race victory on its own. However, combined with a race victory, stage points will lift the top teams. 

The base points total for first position increased to 55 points. Winning both stages and the race could earn a team 75 points, 76 points if that team also scores fastest lap. A victory has never been worth more. There is a good chance a race winner could earn more than double what the second-place finisher earns in some races. Even if a driver scores 75 points, the most a second-place finisher can earn is 54 points (35 points for second, 18 points for finishing second in both states and a point for fastest lap). Second is only worth 72% of a victory. Under the previous points system, second-place could be worth as much as 93.333% of a victory. 

For well over a decade, NASCAR said it emphasized winning races but had systems where proportionately, winning was still not great enough and second on down was worth too much. Now it has a system where consistently winning races will separate those teams from the rest of the field. 

Who does this change benefit?

It benefits consistent drivers. Some of the top drivers will be fine. Kyle Larson, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano will all still be where they usually are. The cleanest of those drivers will excel the most. They will not have a pair of bad races in October crush their championship hopes because of the system.

There is still a reset after 26 races, and some drivers will lose an advantage while others will get a boost. The door will be open for someone else to rise, but instead of only needing strategic victories to be champion, a driver must be decent over ten races. 

Previously, a victory was all that mattered. If a driver won the first race in a round, he could finish last in the next two and it didn't change a thing. That is no longer the case. A victory cannot hide bipolar results. If a team is finishing outside the top twenty on a regular basis that will speak louder than a victory or two in the season. 

Who is in for a greater challenge?

I would say about a third of the grid had their playoff hopes squashed before the calendar even flipped to February. Everyone has the same target to shoot for, but 16th is quite out of reach for a fair number of teams. 

In the last four seasons, the best championship finish for a Legacy Motor Club driver is 19th. The best of three Front Row Motorsports drivers in 2025 was 27th in the championship. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. has finished outside the top twenty in the championship in six of the last seven seasons. In the other season, he was 16th because he won the Daytona 500 and qualified for the playoffs. Michael McDowell has never finished in the top twenty of the championship in a season where he did not win a race. Tyler Dillon's season is hopeless before it even begins.

Rick Ware Racing and Haas Factory Team are not going to stumble into a playoff spot thanks to a victory. Even Richard Childress Racing is an outside shot for the top 16. 

There are drivers and teams that are just not going to be good enough to make the top 16, and nothing is going to change that over the course of the season. It is over before it has even begun.

There will be drivers who need to be better.

Shane van Gisbergen was the first driver to come to mind when the format change was announced. One road course victory will not secure a playoff spot, but van Gisbergen's five victories would have been enough to make the playoffs last year had this system been introduced in 2025. 

That shows how much dominating races matters, but it also shows how much it will take for the likes of van Gisbergen to make it. There are also fewer road course races this season and there are no road course races in the final half of the season. Sonoma is the 18th race and that is when we will know truly how great van Gisbergen's postseason hopes are. It is unlikely he can bank on four victories getting him through, but that means he must improve and get his average finish of 21st down to something around 16th or 17th and combined with a pair of victories or a trio of victories, it could be enough to get him into the top 16.

The Rich Get Richer

The top teams are still going to be at the top. We already saw that last season. Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing split the top four drivers in the championship and took six of the top eight with Team Penske's Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney taking the other two spots. 

While the elimination formats combined with the current generation of car allowed for other teams to be in the mix for race victories and even contend for championships, we have been seeing NASCAR's biggest teams pull away. Introduce a system that rewards consistency more while also increasing what a race victory pays out, and the teams at the top are going to move further away from the rest of the field. 

There is still a chance 23XI Racing with Tyler Reddick can be competitive and break into the top group. Trackhouse or RFK Racing can still have good seasons and make championship runs, but it will require true speed and not fortunately timed results to be a threat deep into the season. 

Are the postseason drivers already set?

Four Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, four Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and three Team Penske Fords account for 11 drivers. If they all make the playoffs, that leaves little room for others. 

However, Joe Gibbs Racing has seen Ty Gibbs fail to make the playoffs in two of his three Cup seasons. Austin Cindric has made the playoffs in three of his four seasons, but in each of those Cindric won a race and he has never had ten top ten finishes in a season.

It is safe to say at least nine spots are claimed before a lap is run. 23XI Racing will be competitive and have at least one car, if not both cars in the top 16. Trackhouse has kept Ross Chastian in and around the top ten, and if van Gisbergen wins enough, he could make it. RFK Racing should benefit the most as Chris Buescher was tenth in the championship when the regular season ended last year, but the lack of a victory kept him out of the playoffs.

It is still going to be interesting for 16th, but there are a handful of drivers that just need to achieve the bare minimum to be a title hopeful. 

What counts as a surprise?

Kyle Busch turning it around and getting back into the top 16. 

Spire Motorsports rising and becoming a contender with Carson Hocevar. 

Josh Berry running well enough to make the top 16 after only making the playoffs thanks to a victory that looked more flukey as the 2025 season went along. 

A.J. Allmendinger having great consistency with a road course victory or two putting him in a playoff spot. 

All of these are not impractical to happen in the 2026 season but none of these we think will happen.

Could we see a championship clinched early?

This crossed my mind when the format was announced last month. Thanks to stage points, the 2026 season is likely the greatest chance we will see a championship decided with a race to spare since 2003. 

If a driver is truly dominant, especially in those final ten races, the championship could be decided with a race to spare. When considering how Corey Heim ran in the Truck Series last year and how Connor Zilisch did in the Grand National Series, if a driver picks up four or five dominant victories and is scoring a lot of stage points, he could enter the final race with a 62-point lead and not even need to turn a lap in the Homestead season finale. 

All these changes have been made in hopes of keeping the championship compelling to the final race. NASCAR just might have made a tweak that sees the return of a dead rubber finale. What would it do then? 

We will find out in 38 weeks.

2026 IndyCar Team Preview: Chip Ganassi Racing

Eighteen days from the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season opener, and we move to a team who enters this season looking for its 18th IndyCar championship. This would be its fourth consecutive and sixth in the last seven seasons. Chip Ganassi Racing has never been stronger, and it has previously had some historically dominant periods. 

Nothing has changed. Drivers are the same. Management is the same. It gained a new and notable sponsor. Other than that, Chip Ganassi Racing looks the same, and with no changes it is difficult to believe much will be different this season.

At A Glance... Wash, rinse, repeat

What do you want to hear about Chip Ganassi Racing? We know what this team is capable of, and it will likely achieve it again. Chip Ganassi Racing has won five of the last six championships. It has the best driver in IndyCar, and one of the greatest drivers in IndyCar history. It actually has two of the greatest drivers in IndyCar history.

What do think will be different? Ganassi is going to win races, it is going to have two strong drivers, Álex Palou is probably going to win the championship, and we are going to repeat what we have been saying for the entire 2020s. 

I don't know what to write about this group. Nothing changed. What is going to change now? Ganassi isn't going to struggle. It is not going to get lost and start making mistakes. The speed isn't going to disappear. Palou is going to be quick everywhere. Scott Dixon is going to be in Palou's shadow to a point where everyone will think he has lost a step but Dixon is still finishing fifth, and no one really cares about Kyffin Simpson's results. Simpson's results are not a reflection of the Ganassi organization's ability.

There are no surprises around this group. It isn't Team Penske, which is bringing in a young driver with a spotty track record to a group that has underground some managerial changes and is coming off its worst season in a quarter-century. It isn't Andretti Global, which has brought in a great driver but one who is over 40 and it is a team that largely under performs. It isn't Arrow McLaren, which is constantly changing drivers and is never satisfied. It isn't Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, which is constantly struggling to find speed. Then there is the other half of the grid that seldom win. Until Ganassi shows it has a weakness, it is pointless trying to look for one.

A team needs to beat Ganassi, not impossible, but not something we have seen on a regular basis for quite some time. Can any team do that? Team Penske has done it, but it has been a minute. It has been a little longer for Andretti Global. Arrow McLaren could do it. We need to see it though, and it has proven to be quite difficult.

Until we see it, expect Ganassi to remain on top. 

2025 Chip Ganassi Racing Review

Wins: 9 (St. Petersburg, Thermal Club, Barber, Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Indianapolis 500, Road America, Mid-Ohio, Iowa II, Laguna Seca, Milwaukee)

Poles: 6 (Barber, Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Mid-Ohio, Iowa II, Laguna Seca, Milwaukee)

Championship Finishes: 1st (Álex Palou), 3rd (Scott Dixon), 17th (Kyffin Simpson)

Kyffin Simpson - #8 Sunoco Honda

Numbers to Remember:

6: Top ten finishes in 2025

10: Full-time drivers in which Simpson had more top ten finishes than in 2025

4.29411: Improvement in average finish from 2024 (19.47058) to 2025 (15.17647)

What is the best possible outcome?

An improvement and making a push for the top ten in the championship. 

Simpson did look better in his sophomore season, and he had a few races with really good pace. It netted him some strong results. From no top ten finishes to six is a big jump. There were still a few weak weekends and it shows there is still room for improvement. If he can get up to eight or nine top ten finishes, it would be a good step and it will likely see him in the conversation for the championship top ten. It would definitely get him in the top fifteen.

What is realistic?

Simpson's best results came due to some fortunate cautions and strategy in 2025. Take away his fifth at Detroit and third at Toronto and he is likely better than 21st in the championship, but he would not have been as good as 17th. I don't know if he is going to get a top five finish this season. He had three last season, but his overall pace does not suggest that will be a norm for him. He can still be competitive and get a half-dozen top ten finishes, though those finishes will likely be eighths, ninths and tenths. 

Scott Dixon - #9 PNC Bank Honda

Numbers to Remember:

2: Fast Six appearances in 2025 (St. Petersburg and Indianapolis 500)

12.647: Average starting position in 2025, his worst since 2005 (12.235)

3: Seasons in the last four with an average starting position worse than tenth

2: Seasons from 2001 to 2021 where Dixon had an average starting position worse than tenth. Along with 2005, the other season was his rookie year in 2001 (11.75)

What is the best possible outcome?

Dixon is a six-time championship. Enough said.

To expand on that, Dixon needs to fine a way to beat his teammate, which is trying to get from fourth to first in Dixon's case, and it wasn't long ago the New Zealander was the driver to beat at Chip Ganassi Racing. Few can match Dixon's consistency, and if Dixon remains consistent with any slip up from Palou, it could be Dixon controlling the championship even if he isn't winning eight or nine races. Dixon can be champion with three victories and 13 top five finishes. Few are going to be able to match that. If one of those three victories was the Indianapolis 500, it would be the cherry on top.

What is realistic?

It is realistic Dixon does not win a race this season. 

Let's just cover that straight up. Dixon could fail to win a race this season and it not be a disaster. You know why? Because Dixon was about six laps away from not winning a race n 2025 if Palou did not fall off the road from the lead at Mid-Ohio. Even if Palou had remained on the track, Dixon still would have finished second in that race and he still would have been third in the championship. A streak would have ended but in no way would it suggest Dixon had lost something. It just wasn't his year. 

It was only three years ago we went into the final four races and Dixon did not have a victory. He then won three of the final four. Just based on Dixon's consistency and the longevity of it, he is good enough to be the best for at least one race. It could be better than that and he could pull in multiple victories.

In the last 21 seasons, Dixon has finished in the top three of the championship 16 times. He has not finished worse than sixth since 2005. We know what Dixon can do.

Álex Palou - #10 DHL Honda

Numbers to Remember:

12: Palou was first in 12 statistical categories in the 2025 season (Victories, podium finishes, top five finishes, top ten finishes, pole positions, Fast Six appearances, Fast 12 appearances, races led, laps led, fastest laps, average starting position, average finishing position)

3.352: Average starting position in 2025

 

4.0588: Average finishing position in 2025

98: Career starts

What is the worst possible outcome?

We know the best possible outcome for Palou. He has won three consecutive championships, but what is Palou's worst possible outcome for the season? How bad could 2026 be? 

That is much harder to answer.

He is going to win at least one race. The worst possible 2026 season for Palou at Chip Ganassi Racing still includes one victory. It likely includes two. He isn't going to slow down, and he will likely still be a regular podium finisher. Five podium finishes feels like the lowest possible total for Palou. He is going to get two or three on road courses. He is going to get another two or three on street courses. Even on ovals he is likely good for one podium finish if not more. He could get two podium finishes in each discipline and we could view that as a dreadful season. 

A worst possible outcome includes some unfortunate results, which have largely been avoided in Palou's IndyCar career. This season would need to be a market correction of sorts. Something that looks like a Josef Newgarden season in recent years. Bad pit stops, collateral damage when other cars spin or miss a braking point, maybe a mechanical issue or two. There would need to be a slump, a genuine slump and not just one bad result because David Malukas' talent is limited. A three-race run outside the top ten with at least a pair of those outside the top fifteen would be a shock when it comes to Palou. 

However, even in Palou's worst possible season, it is probably still a pretty strong season. He might have four bad races, five tops, but it would still include a dozen good races.

The worst possible outcome is dropping to sixth or seventh. He has only one victory, he still has five podium finishes, but those four or five bad races take down his points total. A few early retirements mean he is finishing outside the top twenty and scoring single-digit points. While he has a bunch of podiums, he gets stuck in the back half of the top ten in more races. Finishes of seventh, eighth and ninth are good, but not great. 

Meanwhile, a combination of Scott Dixon being Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin both rising after a down season, Patricio O'Ward remaining a hassle, Will Power settling in nicely at Andretti Global, and Kyle Kirkwood running well sees Palou fall down to seventh. It is not great in Palou's terms but it could still be much worse.

What is realistic?

Again, we know Palou can be champion. It feels more likely he will be champion than not be champion, but let's reframe realistic in terms of the history book.

Palou is a driver with three consecutive championships and four total. He could win a fourth consecutive championship and join Sébastien Bourdais as the only drivers with four consecutive titles. That is realistic. It isn't crazy to think it would happen.

In terms of career victory, Palou enters this season with 19 victories. One more and Palou hits the 20-milestone, a good total to reach. If he wins eight races again, he will end with 27, which would put Palou level with Johnny Rutherford in 15th all-time.

It isn't impossible, but eight victories in a second consecutive season is a stretch. Only once in IndyCar history has a driver won at least eight races in consecutive seasons. That was someone called Mario Andretti in 1966 and 1967.

Six victories would still be a great season even if it is fewer than the previous season. IndyCar could tighten up quickly, but Palou will remain one of the best. Three or four victories is a great win total in nine seasons out of ten. Three victories would put Palou level with Tony Bettenhausen and Emerson Fittipaldi in the record book, and Palou is only in his seventh IndyCar season. Four victories for Palou puts him on 23 and it would put him tied for 20th all-time with Tommy Milton.

That is within reach.

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.

2026 IndyCar Team Preview: Andretti Global

And then there were 19 days until the opening round of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season. Less than three weeks until cars are back on track, Andretti Global will run three of them, but the team has undergone a change, and in a big way. One driver is off to chase a Formula One dream. Who does the team find to fill the void? One of the greatest drivers in IndyCar history. 

We do not see such driver movements often in IndyCar, but Andretti Global has made a big swing as it looks for its first championship since 2012. The pieces are there, and the team is coming off another respectable season. After winning three races in 2025, Andretti should be able to produce a contender. The only problem is too often this team is not in the conversation when it matters most.

At A Glance... We have no clue how this team will perform

We have no clue. 

Good. Bad. Great. Terrible. Wonderful. Horrid. We don't know.

We think Andretti Global will be competitive and should be respectable, but Andretti Global is pretty inconsistent. In the last two seasons, it had a driver finish in the top five of the championship. Prior to that, it struggled to have a driver finish in the top ten of the championship. In 2023, its best driver was tenth. But just a few seasons before that, Andretti was a regular top five finisher. 

Which team will we see? 

You would think Will Power entering will boost this team, but this is a team that has had Kyle Kirkwood, Marcus Ercisson, Colton Herta, Alexander Rossi, Romain Grosjean, Ryan Hunter-Reay and James Hinchcliffe race for it full-time in recent seasons, and it has not had a full team effort lead to sweeping success. One driver shines at best or they all struggle. The organization hasn't had two drivers finish in the top five of the championship since 2018. 

In the last two seasons, it has had multiple drivers in the top seven of the championship. That is progress, but only once in the last seven seasons has Andretti had multiple drivers win a race in a season. The track record speaks for itself. Everything on paper can be saying this should be an outstanding group, but paper has been saying a lot of positive things about the Andretti organization for a number of years now, and it has yet to be right.

Kirkwood led the team last year, but Herta went from championship hopeful to winless and he was not threatening at all last season. Ericsson declined in year two with the team when year one was not that impressive to begin with. There is excitement with Power joining this team, and at its best, Andretti and Power should be a dangerous combination. Power has some juice and Andretti has cars that can lead to victories, but if it works for Power, will Kirkwood remain at the same level we saw in 2025? Can Ericsson also rise? It never feels like a tide is lifting all boats at Andretti. One of them is always taking on water.

Maybe we do have a clue how this team will perform. Not as good as we think. 

2025 Andretti Global Review

Wins: 3 (Long Beach, Detroit, Gateway)

Poles: 3 (Long Beach, Detroit, Toronto)

Championship Finishes: 4th (Kyle Kirkwood), 7th (Colton Herta), 20th (Marcus Ericsson), 34th (Marco Andretti)

Will Power - #26 TWG Honda

Numbers to Remember:

6,384: Days since Power's last IndyCar start with a team other than Team Penske and his scheduled Andretti Global debut (September 7, 2008 at Chicagoland with KV Racing)

357: Points in 2025, matching his fewest with Team Penske, which previously occurred in 2021, and ironically in both of those seasons Power finished ninth in the championship

6: Finishes outside the top twenty last season

What is the best possible outcome?

Power comes in and it is a hit immediately. The street course form of Andretti Global accentuates Power's best ability and that is his launching pad to more. He looks like the Will Power of old. He is back to being one of the quickest we have seen, and the speed translate to every circuit. Power looks like he is a veteran with the organization and makes you think he has always been with Andretti. 

The best is opening the season with a victory in St. Petersburg, picking up another three or four victories, one being the Indianapolis 500 to boot. Everyone realizes Team Penske made a mistake as Power takes a stunning championship.

What is realistic?

I do think Power will excel with Andretti on street courses and that will be the best discipline of his season. He should be a regular top ten finisher and be able to bring another Andretti car into the conversation for the top five in the championship. The concern is we have seen Power have off days at Penske and we have seen Andretti have its slumps. A few of those seem unavoidable. If Andretti is off, I don't see Power being enough to lift the team on his own.

He is going to win multiple races. He is going to win on a street course and probably an oval. In all likelihood, Power is going to be the best Andretti driver in the championship.

Kyle Kirkwood - #27 Siemens Honda

Numbers to Remember:

7.889: Average finish in the first nine races of 2025, which includes being classified in 32nd for the Indianapolis 500 after being disqualified for modifications to the Energy Management System cover

14: Average finish in the final eight races of 2025

10.667: Average starting position in the first nine races of 2025

13.25: Average starting position in the final eight races of 2025

105: Laps led in the first nine races

9: Laps led in the final eight races

What is the best possible outcome?

Kirkwood repeats the first half of his 2025 season and then repeats it in the second half of 2026. Kirkwood is able to get more out of the car. He becomes a driver to beat at almost every race, and he gives Álex Palou a run for his money. If Kirkwood turns into a six-race winner and takes points away from Palou while also being a regular top five finisher. Kirkwood and the season learning from last season could turn him into a championship contender.

What is realistic?

Kirkwood had a great season last year, and he was Palou's toughest competition for the first half. Then it fell off in the second half. Kirkwood likely could be better than fifth with a more complete season. The speed is there to win, but there will be additional competition from within the organization on street courses with Will Power. That will take some points from Kirkwood. This will be a good year for Kirkwood, but it will be tougher for him to crack the top ten. He should have a spot comfortably in the top ten.

Marcus Ericsson - #28 Delaware Life Honda

Numbers to Remember:

9.34375: Average finish in 64 starts at Chip Ganassi Racing

16.3939: Average finish in 34 starts at Andretti Global

30: Finishes outside the top ten in Ericsson's first five seasons

24: Finishes outside the top ten in Ericsson's two seasons with Andretti Global

What is the best possible outcome?

Everything clicks in year three at Andretti. Bad days do not bite him. Ericsson is able to keep up with his two teammates and Andretti Global is an organization that is getting all three cars to the second round of qualifying regularly. On some weekends, all three are sneaking into the Fast Six. For Ericsson, it is returning to being a top ten finisher. Every race we are noting he is in seventh or eighth again. A few races a season, he is a little higher than that and gets on the podium. Anything in the championship top ten would be a smashing season for the Swede.

What is realistic?

Championship top ten is not impossible, but if it not click in year two with Andretti and it actually got worse, I don't see a major leap forward in year three. It should get better. If it isn't, Ericsson will be replaced. It is tough to run well in IndyCar. Someone has to finish 20th in the championship. Andretti doesn't think it should be one of its drivers. Ericsson can do better, but it doesn't feel like he is going to be a threat to win races, unlike his teammates. Top ten finishes should come his way, but I don't think they will be enough to get the championship top ten. Twelfth feels like the ceiling. 

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.

2026 IndyCar Team Preview: Juncos Hollinger Racing

One day closer to the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season and one more team to preview to share. Only 24 days from the season opener, and we are onto a team that has made some changes again. For the third consecutive season, Juncos Hollinger Racing has a new driver lineup. 

The team has been stagnant ever since it became a full-time IndyCar team. Every driver who has came through JHR hits the same level. The team has never had a top fifteen finish in the championship. It has yet to win a race. Each year, JHR shows some sparks and it has a few good days, but most races see the team out of the picture, and no one looks to it as a threat. 

JHR has brought in a driver that has been above its pedigree, but the question hanging over this team is can anyone outperform its current limits?

At A Glance... This team goes as far as Rinus VeeKay goes

It is pretty self explanatory. If Rinus VeeKay has a good season, Juncos Hollinger Racing is going to have a good season. If Rinus VeeKay does not have a good season, Juncos Hollinger Racing is not going to have a good season. It is black-and-white for this group, a team that has yet to have an overwhelmingly good season in IndyCar since it became a full-time entrant in 2022.

Sting Ray Robb is not going to make a difference. In his three-year career, Robb's best average finish in a season is 19.3529. He has two top ten finishes in 51 starts. Both of those results were ninth. He struggles to qualify in the top twenty. We know the limits of Robb, and he is not going to be the one carrying this team. All eyes are on VeeKay.

VeeKay has been the model of consistency over his six IndyCar seasons. He has never finished better than 12th in the championship, but he has also never finished worse than 14th. In four of those seasons he has had a podium finish. In five of those seasons he has had at least one top five result, and he has been doing it with mid-level equipment. Let’s not forget, he does have a race victory though it came nearly five years ago.

Ed Carpenter Racing has not been a regular contender for a decade, but VeeKay was the best driver every year he was there. An argument could be made VeeKay went to the worst team in IndyCar, or charitably the least-resourced team in IndyCar in Dale Coyne Racing, and he competed in the top ten and fought for top five finishes. At Toronto, he was in the conversation for victory. VeeKay can get the most out of a race car. The question will be how much is there in JHR's machines?

We have seen JHR have good days, but those are seldom, and we see its drivers struggle to be average. Every driver seems to have a good day or two. Callum Ilott had a few top five finishes and had some good qualifying runs. Romain Grosjean had a few good races and scored a top five at Laguna Seca. Conor Daly got the most out of the car on ovals and scored JHR's its best result, its lone podium finish, but all those results were uncommon, and most weeks these three drivers were struggling to break into the top fifteen.

This will now be VeeKay's battle, and while he has been able to pull out more top ten finishes than others in similar equipment, there comes a point where the cars are just not there for good results on a regular basis. JHR can put the pieces together for a race or two, but most weekends it looks like the team is fighting from behind. It is fighting just to get firmly in the middle of IndyCar and not be stuck toward the back. 

VeeKay worked some impressive magic last year at Dale Coyne Racing. The last driver hired for the 2025 season, he was the toast of the series for the first half of the season, and it briefly looked like he could sneak into the championship top ten. It was a tougher end to the season, but VeeKay took a team that did not finish better than 13th all season in 2024 and showed it could be competitive. Not that it was a surprise considering we have seen Coyne be competitive before, but nobody was expecting that big of a leap for Coyne.

Can VeeKay replicate that form at JHR? The team has never had a driver finish in the top fifteen of the championship, and VeeKay has never finished outside the top fifteen. One of those streaks will end this year.

2025 Juncos Hollinger Racing Review

Wins: 0

Best Finish: 5th (Nashville)

Poles: 0

Best Start: 2nd (Iowa I)

Championship Finishes: 18th (Conor Daly), 25th (Sting Ray Robb)

Rinus VeeKay - #76 JHR Chevrolet

Numbers to Remember:

16.04: Combined average finish of Callum Ilott, Romain Grosjean and Conor Daly at Juncos Hollinger Racing

13.91753: VeeKay's career average finish

4.75: Juncos Hollinger Racing's average number of top ten finishes in a season since 2022

5.333: VeeKay's average number of top ten finishes in a season

What is the best possible outcome?

VeeKay can have seven or eight top ten finishes, though none are all that impressive, but they are good results, and even when he is not finishing in the top ten, he is finishing in the top fifteen and scoring respectable points totals on a consistent basis. There could be a race or two where JHR has good form and VeeKay is pushing for the top five, which helps his championship total.

At best, we see VeeKay match his personal best championship finish, and that is 12th. The top ten feels like it will be just out of reach, but VeeKay can firmly keep himself in the territory he has been occupying his entire career.

What is realistic?

It feels like we are about to see VeeKay's worst season in IndyCar, and it is not because of a diminished skill set or the grid improving drastically. It is a driver moving to a less successful team and at some point the pieces don't all fall in place and everything becomes more difficult.

Even when Romain Grosjean had six top ten finishes for the team in 2024, he was 17th in the championship, and Grosjean had only two retirements that season, one of which was for a gearbox issue in the season opener at St. Petersburg, and Grosjean was collected in an accident at Iowa.

Any more than five top ten finishes would be overachieving for VeeKay. Even if he does that, at best he finishes 15th, which would technically be his worst championship result in IndyCar, but it would not be a disaster or an embarrassing season for the Dutchman. It would actually be another honorable result showing he can punch above the weight of the team.

Sting Ray Robb - #77 Goodheart Animal Health Center Chevrolet

Numbers to Remember:

20.35294: Career average finish

23.41176: Career average starting position

7: Top twenty starts in 2025

2: Top twenty starts for Robb in his first two seasons

What is the best possible outcome?

The best result for Sting Ray Robb would be if Prema is unable to run full-time and gifts him at least two positions in the championship. Take out some of the competition and Robb will be guaranteed an improvement no matter what happens on track in 2026.

Robb is more comfortable with the car, and his qualifying form did pick up in 2025, but he is still miles from being competitive. We are never expecting him to be in the mix to get out of the first round of qualifying on a road or street course.

The limits are Robb qualifies in the top twenty in the majority of the races, he has about six finishes in the top fifteen and he has an average finish around 18th. That might sneak him into the top 20 in the championship.

What is realistic?

Two fewer Prema cars competing full-time would actually help Robb out a lot. It is not what is preventing him from finishing in the championship top ten, but a few more points here and there can make a difference. It should be noted he was 25th in the championship and 30 points behind Robert Shwartzman in 24th. The only other full-time drivers behind Robb in 2025 were Devlin DeFrancesco, who scored ten fewer points, and Jacob Abel, who missed the Indianapolis 500 but was still 58 points behind Robb.

Robb had three top fifteen finishes last year. He was ninth at Long Beach but that included impressive tire strategy and not losing an excessive amount of time on the alternate tire.

Maybe he is in for one fortunate result a season, but it is not going to completely swing his championship. He could finish in the top 20, but 20th feels like the limit. Even if there are only 25 full-time cars, it feels like Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing improved greatly by taking DeFrancesco out for Mick Schumacher, and it seems like Dale Coyne Racing could be set for a big improvement in its second car. Even without Shwartzman, Robb was 32 points from the next driver in the championship, and that was Nolan Siegel.

Do we really think Robb is going to outscore an Arrow McLaren driver?

Someone must finish last among the full-time drivers. I think we have found our guy.

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.

2026 IndyCar Team Preview: Meyer Shank Racing

We are within the final month of the IndyCar season, and with 25 days until the first race from St. Petersburg, we are heading into the final half of our team previews. We reach Meyer Shank Racing, which is coming off its best season in IndyCar across two entries. Both MSR entries cracked the top eight in the championship, a first for the team, and MSR beat IndyCar stalwarts in the process. 

However, for all of MSR’s speed and success, one thing eluded the team. It didn’t win a race, meaning the team still has something to shoot for in 2026 that would be a clear step forward from last season. The toughest thing to do is follow up your best season with something even better. Everyone is improving, and MSR has a mighty task to be just as good as they were the year before. 

At A Glance... Meyer Shank Racing is knocking on the door

All things considered, Meyer Shank Racing was about as close as it could be to be a race winner and not win a race in 2025. A couple of podium finishes, a few more top five finishes and both its drivers finished in the top eight of the championship. I don't think it has been stated enough that both Meyer Shank Racing drivers finished ahead of all three Team Penske drivers in the championship last year. Nobody had that before last season began.

Meyer Shank Racing has been trending in the right direction in the last two seasons. Since hiring Felix Rosenqvist, the team has been consistently more competitive, and it has been turning out some impressive results. The technical partnership with Chip Ganassi Racing yielded better results last year, and the team was in the picture when it came to winning a race on a few occasions. It just didn't get there.

If things keep trending in the same direction as the last two seasons, MSR is going to remain in the mix, and it is only a matter of time before something goes in their favor and they win a race.

Think about how Ed Carpenter Racing won a race last year, and that was one very good race for the team. ECR wasn't as consistently good as MSR was. There were weekends where ECR was not a factor, and yet on one weekend in Milwaukee, the speed was there and a series of events fell fortunately for ECR, and the team ended up with an unexpected victory. If it can happen to ECR, it can happen to MSR.

You take a win anyway you can get it, and MSR likely does not want to be banking on a timely caution and favorable tire strategy to be what gets them a victory, but the team has done a better job of at least being in the front. It is not going to take a great fluke for MSR to win. It could be their weekend when they are running fourth and end up stopping on the right side of a caution when the top three have yet to stop. It might be stealing a victory, but it would not be a felony robbery.

However, MSR might not even need that. The pace has been so that it could win a race outright. Rosenqvist has constantly been in position, but his biggest issue is converting qualifying pace into race pace. Too often does the Swede start in the top five and never factor. All it takes, though, is one race where it clicks and a top four starting position could turn into a victory. Marcus Armstrong has also improved over each of his first three seasons in IndyCar. It is not unthinkable that everything could click for MSR one weekend and one of its two drivers come out on top.

MSR has come a long way from 2023. It is a legitimate contender. Now is the time for its second breakthrough, approaching five years after it won the Indianapolis 500.

2025 Meyer Shank Racing Review

Wins: 0

Best Finish: 2nd (Road America)

Poles: 0

Best Start: 2nd (Iowa II, Portland)

Championship Finishes: 6th (Felix Rosenqvist), 8th (Marcus Armstrong)

Felix Rosenqvist - #60 SiriusXM Honda

Numbers to Remember:

33: Top five starting positions in his career 

5: Times finishing equal or better than his starting position when starting in the top five

12.4545: Average finish when starting in the top five

13.1: Average finish when starting outside the top five 

12.9115: Career average finishing position

10.0085: Career average starting position

What is the best possible outcome?

There is a world where Rosenqvist wins two races and finishes somewhere in the top five of the championship. When you look at Rosenqvist's qualifying form, there is a world where he is taking second and third-place starting positions and turning a few of those into victories, finishing in the top five regularly after starting in the top five and it gets him fourth or fifth in the championship.

It is unlikely his consistency would be good enough to turn him into a championship contender or even steal a title, but if Christian Lundgaard can get six podium finishes and finish fourth in the championship, Rosenqvist could do something similar.

What is realistic?

When we consider where MSR was in 2023, it is difficult to imagine both cars are going to finish in the top eight of the championship for a second consecutive season. Even both cracking the top ten feels like a stretch. We saw last year the very best of Rosenqvist, and it got him sixth in the championship. In 2024, we saw an inconsistent Rosenqvist, and despite a great start, a rough second half of the season dropped him to 12th in the championship.

We aren't sure which Rosenqvist we are going to get. For how well things went in 2025, he still did not have a top five finish in the final eight races. In 2024, he had one top ten finish in the final 11 races. We see a pattern developing. We cannot feel certain he can put together a full season, and a strong start will only take you so far. Outside of his rookie season, he has never really had a complete season.

Just inside the top ten of the championship feels about right for Rosenqvist. He should be able to get a few top five finishes and be in the top ten in about half the races, if not a few more. If he maximizes those top five results, he could be sixth again. If he gets a pair of fifths, then maybe he is eighth, maybe he is ninth.

Marcus Armstrong - #66 SiriusXM/Root Insurance Honda

Numbers to Remember:

11: Top ten finishes in 2025, tied for fourth-most in IndyCar last season

9: Fast Twelve appearances, tied for third-most in IndyCar last season

7: Races led, tied for third-most in IndyCar last season

10.882: Average finish, tied for sixth-best in IndyCar last season

What is the best possible outcome?

The best possible outcome for Armstrong is he finds the speed to usurp the place of his teammate Rosenqvist, and Armstrong is the one who is qualifying in the top five more times than that, he is running in the top five consistently, and he is the best finishing MSR driver a dozen times or so in 2026.

There is no reason to not believe that Armstrong couldn't replicate Rosenqvist's results from 2025 and end up finishing sixth in the championship. These two drivers were pretty even last season. Only eight points separated them. The results could flip, and Armstrong could be in position to steal a victory or two. A race could be his where he is one of the fastest cars and strategy lines up right combined with outstanding pace. In that case, the championship top five is in play. Each season, Armstrong gets a little bit better, and I don't see a reason why to believe that will not continue.

What is realistic?

It feels like one of the MSR drivers is going to be competitive and respectable but not both in 2026. One of them is going to get in the championship top ten and the other is going to end up outside. That doesn't mean the season would be a disaster. A 13th-place championship finish is still good for MSR.

Armstrong had 11 top ten finishes last year. Even if he had a slight decline and had eight top ten finishes, that isn't a bad season for him or the team. He could take a slightly larger step back and only had six or seven top ten finishes. The range is quite wide for both MSR drivers. They both could be pushing for the championship top five. They both could slip and end up outside the top ten but just inside the top 15. It also comes down to how strong the competition is and if the likes of Team Penske and Andretti Global pick up their results.

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.

2026 IndyCar Team Preview: Ed Carpenter Racing

We move a day closer to the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season, and now 31 days, a month from the first race, we move to a team that ended 2025 with a surprise victory. Ed Carpenter Racing was hoping to find a spark with a new driver lineup, as the team focused on a pair of drivers while Ed Carpenter stepped back to only run the Indianapolis 500. 

Results did not come easy, but things did take a turn. The team made strides late in the season, and it ended with unexpected success in Milwaukee. It might have been more than the team could have hoped for, but it showed how high the team's potential is. Now it must continue on that run.

At A Glance... It must prove the end of last season wasn't a fluke

I don't think anyone believed Ed Carpenter Racing would win a race during the 2025 season. Not only did it, but its victory came at the hands of its sophomore driver. Over half the teams didn't win in IndyCar last season. Many notable names went winless as well. Ed Carpenter Racing was not one of them, and it ended up exceeding expectations. 

That only means the bar is higher for 2026. It is only going to get harder.

Ed Carpenter Racing ended on a strong note. Christian Rasmussen won. Alexander Rossi ended with three consecutive top ten finishes, two of which were top five finishes. Overall, the season left room for improvement, but ECR was moving in the right direction. It achieved more but it didn't really perform higher than where the team has been for the last few seasons. We need to see more.

Rasmussen won, but he did start the season with five consecutive finishes outside the top ten. Rossi had a good start to the season and a good finish, but he had a middle where he was struggled and he was not a factor in races. In turn, ECR remained solidly in the middle of the field. Not the worst team on the grid, but it was also not a threat for the championship top ten, and it wasn't a regular contender. The team was one fluke caution due to a sun shower away from not even being close to victory. While it was a great day, Milwaukee is misleading.

There are plenty of areas where this team can improve. For most of the season, it did not feel like Rossi could do better than seventh or eighth on his best days. Rasmussen had good oval races, but his road and street course form remains lacking. 

Results are going to need to come early, and they need to be more consistent. Neither driver can afford going five or six races without top ten finishes, something both drivers did last season. Rossi had a seven-race run without a top ten finish. ECR cannot afford that again. 

The 2025 season was encouraging. Both ECR drivers cracked the top fifteen in the championship. It has felt ECR has been stuck in 13th and could not get a second car into the discussion as well. It is there, and the next goal is the championship top ten. It is not unobtainable, but to get there ECR must make an actual step forward and not rely on a lucky combination of a caution, fresh tires and a few drivers not making a pit stop to make everyone believe ECR is a contender. 

The numbers will tells us if ECR is better or not.

2025 Ed Carpenter Racing Review

Wins: 1 (Milwaukee)

Poles: 0

Best Start: 6th (Thermal Club, Portland)

Championship Finishes: 13th (Christian Rasmussen), 15th (Alexander Rossi), 30th (Ed Carpenter)

Alexander Rossi - #20 Java House/Splenda Chevrolet

Numbers to Remember:

25: Race podium drought, the longest of his IndyCar career

13.764: Average finish in 2025, Rossi's worst in season

0: Top five starts in 2025, Rossi's fewest in a season since his rookie season in 2016

What is the best possible outcome?

Even if he is just regularly cracking top ten and not really in the conversation much for top five finishes, Rossi can be ninth or tenth in the championship, where was living for the previous five seasons before joining ECR. ECR has what it takes for Rossi to get seven or eight finishes between seventh and tenth and then get a few sneaky top five finishes, most likely on ovals. Those are plausible results, and if the pace is good enough Rossi could take another surprise victory for the team.

What is realistic?

It does feel like the ceiling for Rossi is 12th, where ECR has been stuck for the last decade. We have not seen the killer flawlessness from Rossi to think he can snag a bunch of top five finishes, and we know Rossi is not a special driver who can master the alternate tire compound to his advantage. He is a particular driver and if things do not line up for him, he struggles to be competitive. 

ECR isn't the team that can give Rossi that particular car. Andretti was the only team who could give Rossi what he wanted, and that only worked for two seasons. There are going to be days where Rossi hits his limit early and he will be fortunate to finish seventh or eighth. That is not going to be the norm, and in half the races he will be outside the top ten and in the other half they will go in his favor with a few brighter spots. If he can maximize those bright spots or ECR finds something special, he can crack the championship top ten.

Christian Rasmussen - #21 Splenda/Java House Chevrolet

Numbers to Remember:

21.2: Average finish in road and street course races in 2024

17.454: Average finish in road and street course races in 2025

2: Top ten starts in 31 career starts

What is the best possible outcome?

Matching his 2025 results. While Rasmussen didn't run all the races in 2024, he did run all the road and street courses. Now, he got to run them all a second time, and things were not much better. That doesn't mean they cannot improve in year three, but let's not kid ourselves to think if it wasn't working in the first two seasons with ECR, it isn't going to be that much different in year three. If it isn't going to be that much different, the results will be the same. 

The hope is he is even better on ovals, and maybe he doesn't snag a victory, but if he has three or four top five finishes it will lift his championship finish and possibly be enough to sneak him into the championship top ten, but likely it will keep him around 13th or 14th.

What is realistic?

Not everyone can get better, and Rasmussen's best two results in 2025 were a third at Gateway when a late pit cycle jumbled up the order, and Rasmussen overcame a botched pit stop and botched strategy to steal that result, and the aforementioned Milwaukee victory where a freak rain shower on a sunny day set up the dominoes for Rasmussen to take fresh tires and somehow pull off crazy passes on a restart before being able to take advantage of Álex Palou on worn tires to win the race. 

Those things are not going to happen again. He probably should have been in the top ten at Gateway, but not third. He definitely should have been in the top ten at Milwaukee, but maybe even the top five. Take 40 points away from Rasmussen and he drops to 17th in the championship. It will likely be a greater fight just to remain in the top fifteen for Rasmussen than for him to push the championship top ten.

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.

2026 IndyCar Team Preview: Arrow McLaren

There still might be 32 days until the first race of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season, but Arrow McLaren already picked up an early victory. This was in the form of a favorable court decision in the case relating to Álex Palou reneging on his McLaren contract. In a form of universal comedy, this preview was always planned for this date. It just so happened that the court decision came just a few days before. 

Perhaps the legal victory can spur on more success on the racetrack, something McLaren had a fair amount of in 2025. The team made great strides as it made another driver change, but this one seemed to work as McLaren had two bonafide challengers after being stuck with one. McLaren may have made progress, but there is still one thing it has yet to achieve, and it is within its grasp. 

At A Glance... McLaren has what it takes to win the championship

Year one with Christian Lundgaard saw McLaren's best results since it took over the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports program ahead of the 2020 season. Two McLaren drivers cracked the top five in the championship, a first for the organization. Patricio O'Ward was second in the championship, a new best. The team won twice. All the pieces are there for McLaren to come out as champion. 

It will not be an easy task. Álex Palou will remain the top driver to beat, and Palou is not going to slow down. Winning the championship will require finding ways to beat Palou and not making any missteps along the way. It will need to be near perfection. Chip Ganassi Racing is not going to slip up, and others are lurking as a challenge.

Team Penske is not going to remain down after a tough 2025 campaign. For the first half of 2025, Kyle Kirkwood and Andretti Global was Palou's main championship rival. Throw in Will Power at Andretti, and it is another challenger that is looking to muddle up McLaren's title hopes. It doesn't matter if you beat Palou if others are beating you both. 

The organization must find another level if it wants to claim the ultimate prize. O'Ward is there, but he must make another step. It is not going to be good enough to only win twice. Races cannot slip from his grasp when he is in control. He must be cutthroat and make the bold moves stick. Too many races have been lost because someone outmaneuvered the Mexican. That must change in 2026 if he hopes to be champion. 

O'Ward responded greatly in 2025 when Lundgaard entered and was the best McLaren driver through the first quarter of the season. What could have been a domino falling in favor of the new driver and casting O'Ward into the secondary role flipped and O'Ward increased his grip on the team. He showed he was the best McLaren driver and was keeping the flickering hopes of a championship alive deep into the season. He is McLaren's #1 bullet, but he must hit the target. The #2 option is pretty damn sharp as well. 

Lundgaard did not win a race in 2025, but when he was a threat he got everyone's attention. Six podium finishes is just as many as O'Ward pulled last season. What cost Lundgaard were a few mistakes, and he is still finding comfort on ovals. Plenty of drivers have overcome oval shortcomings. It means being near lights out on the road and street course, a difficult level to reach but not improbable for the Dane. 

McLaren has two drivers it can rest its championship hopes on. That is something the team has not had in the previous six seasons. Two is all it needs. The team has already expressed how little faith it has in Nolan Siegel, a driver racing for his job with a Herculean task of cracking the championship top ten to assure he continues for another season. Two cars are serious seats and the other is a sideshow. McLaren is hoping soon enough it will become a three-headed monster. We will likely know that answer come the middle of July. 

The pieces are in place for McLaren to come out as the best in IndyCar. It now must show it can put everything together. This is year seven of McLaren's involvement in IndyCar. It likely thought it would have won a championship by now. At some point, we will hear a clock ticking. There is one surefire way to silence it. 

2025 Arrow McLaren Review

Wins: 2 (Iowa I, Toronto)

Poles: 3 (Thermal Club, Portland, Nashville)

Championship Finishes: 2nd (Patricio O'Ward), 5th (Christian Lundgaard), 22nd (Nolan Siegel), 33rd (Kyle Larson)

Patricio O'Ward - #5 Arrow Chevrolet

Numbers to Remember:

10: Top five finishes in 2025, O'Ward's most in a season

3: Consecutive seasons with at least six podium finishes

196: Points behind Álex Palou in the championship last season

What is the best possible outcome?

It is the championship, but that would likely come with at least five or six victories. That would mean that losing a race after leading 80% of it. It would mean success on all three track disciplines. It could include an Indianapolis 500 victory, or it could be a top five finish in that race with a pair of oval victories or even a trio of oval victories. It would mean nearly eliminating all the mistakes and mechanical issues that cost him good results, and he would need probably a dozen top five finishes with 14 or 15 top ten finishes. 

It would also mean Palou isn't as flawless as we saw in 2025. It is a double-edged sword. O'Ward would need to improve combined with Palou taking a dip in form, something that is easier said than done. O'Ward needs to combine his best season ever with Palou being slightly less great than we have seen for the last three years.

What is realistic?

A championship is realistic, but at worst, O'Ward is middle of the championship top ten. He should be a lock for the championship top five. The biggest concern is the team around him. Will it still have strategy snafus cost it potential victories? Will there still be races where McLaren cannot break into the top ten and is fighting just to finish 12th? In an attempt to make up for a deficiency, does O'Ward go over the line and cost himself? 

If this team starts behind, it could be a long season chasing, and chasing only makes it prone to mistakes. No one can afford a slow start against Palou, but O'Ward especially. He is going to pick up his handful of victories and podium finishes. That likely will not be enough for the championship. He must avoid those occasional poor races, and some of those are out of his control. 

Nolan Siegel - #6 Arrow Chevrolet

Numbers to Remember:

3: Longest streak of top fifteen finishes in his IndyCar career (9th at Barber Motorsports Park, 13th at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and 13th at the Indianapolis 500 last year)

2: Times as the best finish McLaren driver, and on both occasions did his both his teammate finish outside the top fifteen

6: Starts in the top 12 last season

17.833: Average finish in those races starting in the top 12

16.9: Average finish in Siegel's other ten races starting 13th or worse

What is the best possible outcome?

Siegel is able to harness a fraction of the McLaren speed that we see in the other two cars. He is consistently completing laps and finding pace on each race weekend, which turns into more top ten finishes though he is still the third best McLaren in the field. A race or two break his way thanks to a timely pit stop or caution and those lead to a podium result or top five result. The middle of the field is a complete mess and it means there are not as many challengers for the championship top ten. 

Basically, the best possible outcome is if Siegel mirrors Santino Ferrucci's 2024 season with about ten or 11 top ten finishes, but most of those are finishes between seventh and tenth, but it is good enough to be ninth or tenth in the championship and at least fulfill the ultimatum McLaren team president Tony Kanaan set, securing Siegel another season at the organization.

What is realistic?

I am not sure Siegel can crack the top fifteen in the championship. The car can. The other two McLarens were in the championship top five. What is Siegel's excuse? He was 22nd in the championship in 2025 with two top ten finishes. He started outside the top fifteen in nine of 16 starts. In five races, he retired due to accidents. That can all improve, but still not look remarkably competitive. 

Siegel was 69 points behind Kyffin Simpson, and Simpson was moderately competitive. Siegel's best day never came close to Simpson's, and Simpson only had six top ten finishes. Maybe something swings and Siegel is able to pick up five or six top ten finishes, but that is the best outcome, and even if he does that, he isn't going to finish better than 17th or 18th in the championship. Alexander Rossi was 15th last year and Rossi had seven top ten finishes, two of which were top five results. Is Siegel going to match that output? I don't think so.

Christian Lundgaard - #7 Arrow Chevrolet

Numbers to Remember:

3: Times as the best finishing McLaren driver in the first four races of the 2025 season

3: Times as the best finishing McLaren driver in the final 13 races of the 2025 season

3: Top ten finishes on ovals in 2025

2: Top ten finishes in 16 oval starts with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing from 2022 to 2024

What is the best possible outcome?

Lundgaard turns about half of those podium results from 2025 into victories in 2026. He isn't throwing away results, and he is taking cars that don't belong better than eighth into the top five. He is constantly the quickest McLaren driver and he is able to keep O'Ward in his mirrors. Ovals click for Lundgaard, and he is not only finishing in the top ten but in the top five and maybe sneaking onto a podium or two. 

With three or four victories, about nine podium finishes and 13 top five finishes with his worst result all season being 13th, Lundgaard is able to take advantage of others not being as consistent as him, including Palou, who has a little bit of Josef Newgarden's luck rub off on him and about four races are much worse than they should have been due to things out of Palou's control. This opens the door and Lundgaard takes a slightly surprising championship though one that is not entirely implausible.

What is realistic?

Lundgaard is probably ranked somewhere between sixth and ninth in terms of championship favorites. It isn't crazy to think he could pull it off, but it is tough to imagine this will be the year he bests Palou, O'Ward, Scott Dixon, and all three Team Penske drivers. It is better than most, but for it to occur we would need to see a special start from Lundgaard and his oval results would need to be impressively better. Finishing ninth on the ovals is not going to be good enough. 

Though he was fifth in the championship in 2025, Lundgaard can still approve. Though he finished 84 points behind O'Ward in the championship, on Lundgaard's best day he was carrying McLaren with ease. There were a few slip ups and some of that was down to rough days on ovals, but if he is the best McLaren driver at every road and street course, Lundgaard will end the season best in the team. 

A victory feels highly likely. He was too close last year for none to occur again. A victory or two with another half-dozen podium finishes is basically what O'Ward did to finish second in the championship in 2025. Lundgaard can match that.

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.

2026 IMSA Season Preview

The one thing to look forward toward in the cold of January is the 24 Hours of Daytona, and with a winter storm brewing that could swarm most of the Eastern part of the United States, the sunshine and palm trees of the Atlantic Coast could be a nice distract. A 24-hour race will keep plenty busy inside as the weather turns inhospitable outside. 

Daytona is more than just an endurance race, but the opening round to the IMSA season, which will see 11 rounds contested through the first weekend in October. 

Schedule

In terms of venues, there are no changes to the 2026 season, but race lengths are changing at a pair of events.

With the 24 Hours of Daytona opening the season this weekend, the 12 Hours of Sebring will follow as the second round on March 21. One month later, the GTP and GTD classes will run at Long Beach on April 18. GTD Pro will join those two classes on May 3 at Laguna Seca. GTP and GTD Pro will race at Detroit on May 30. 

The 6 Hours of the Glen marks the halfway point of the season on June 28. In July 12, LMP2, GTD Pro and GTD will race at Mosport. Road America will host a six-hour race on August 2, the first time it has hosted an endurance race since IMSA's reunification. 

The only GT-only race will be on August 23 at Virginia International Raceway. All four classes will run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on September 20, the only regular distance race with every class competing in this season. Petit Le Mans closes the season from Road America on October 3.

What is Different?

GTP

The defending GTP champions are not defending. Porsche Penske Motorsport has three new full-time drivers. Mathieu Jaminet has left the program to race for the Genesis Magma Racing program in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Matt Campbell will be an Endurance Cup-only driver this season in the #6 Porsche. Laurens Vanthoor and Kévin Estre will be back as the full-time drivers. 

Felipe Nasr is the one returning Porsche Penske driver with Julian Andlauer being his full-time co-driver. Laurin Heinrich will be the #7 Porsche's Endurance Cup driver after running for AO Racing in GTD Pro.

Team WRT has taken over the BMW M Hybrid V8 program from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. The full-time drivers are the same but Sheldon van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor will be in the #24 BMW with Philipp Eng and Marco Wittmann taking over the #25 BMW.

JDC-Miller Motosports is back, but it has Nico Pino joining Tijman van der Helm full-time.

LMP2

TDS Racing has an entirely new lineup with Tobias Lütke and David Heinemeier Hansson move over from Era Motorsport, and they will have Mathias Beche joining the program. 

Era Motorsport has set an endurance lineup of Ferdinand Habsburg, Naveen Rao and Jacob Abel. Logan Sargeant will run at the 24 Hours of Daytona.

Intersport Racing is back running with HMD Motorsports. Oliver Jarvis and Jon Field will be the full-time drivers. Seth Lucas will run the endurance races. 

Bryan Herta Autosport and PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports have partnered with Misha Goikhberg moving back after six season in GTD. Harry Tincknell will be his co-driver.

GTD Pro

With Heinrich moving to the Porsche Penske Motorsport GTP program in an endurance role, AO Racing has taken in Nick Tandy for the #77 Porsche, and Harry King will be the second co-driver after King spent 2025 in GT World Challenge Europe and racing a GT300 entry in Super GT.

Klaus Bachler moves from AO Racing to Manthey Racing to drive the #911 Porsche in an Endurance Cup entry with Ricardo Feller and Thomas Preining. Ayhancan Güven will complete the lineup at Daytona.

Pfaff Motorsports will have Sandy Mitchell partner Andrea Caldarelli in the #9 Lamborghini.

VasserSullivan is reuniting Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat in the #14 Lexus.

Ford Multimatic Motorsports has shaken up the #64 Mustang entry with Dennis Olsen and Ben Barker both expanding from Endurance Cup drivers to full-time drivers. The 2025 full-time drivers Mike Rockenfeller and Sebastian Priaulx will run the endurance races in the #64 Ford and #65 Ford respectively. 

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing remain in IMSA, but RLLR will now run the McLaren program in GTD Pro. Max Esterson and Nikita Johnson will be the full-time drivers.

GTD

With Barnicoat back in GTD Pro, Aaron Telitz drops to GTD and he will share the #12 Lexus with Benjamin Pedersen, and Frankie Montecalvo will be the Endurance Cup driver.

Riley Motorsports will run a Ford Mustang in the class, and its full-time drivers will be Felipe Fraga and Sheena Monk. Jenson Altzman will join the #16 Ford lineup for the endurance races.

Heart of Racing Team will have Eduardo Barrichello as one of its full-time drivers in the #27 Aston Martin. Barrichello will have Tom Gamble, Zachary Robichon and Mattia Drudi join him at Daytona. 

Manny Franco has a new co-driver at Conquest Racing. Albert Costa will join him in the #34 Ferrari.

Mason Filippi will be full-time for DXDT Racing in the #36 Corvette. Charlie Eastwood and Salih Yoluç will run the endurance races. 

Gradient Racing has Joey Hand and Jake Walker together in the #66 Ford Mustang. 

DragonSpeed is back in the category with the #81 Corvette for Giacomo Altoè and Henrik Hedman. 

Callum Ilott has added full-time IMSA driver to his IndyCar responsibilities. Ilott will be in the #120 Porsche for Wright Motorsports with Adam Adelson. 

What is the Same?

GTP

None of the three Cadillac teams changed its drivers. Whelen Racing will have Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber in the #31 Cadillac while Wayne Taylor Racing has kept Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque together in the #10 Cadillac. Jordan Taylor and Louis Delétraz remain a pair in the #40 Cadillac. 

Meyer Shank Racing has kept Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun together in the #60 Acura, and unchanged is the #93 Acura of Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly.

Aston Martin THOR Team will run Roman De Angelis and Ross Gunn in the #23 Aston Martin.

LMP2

The champions are back with Dane Cameron and P.J. Hyett together in the #99 Oreca for AO Racing.

Dan Goldburg will be in the #22 United Autosport Oreca with a co-driver for the full season still undecided. 

Sébastien Bourdais and John Farano remain together in the #8 Oreca for Tower Motorsport.

CrowdStrike Racing by APR continues with George Kurtz driving alongside Malthe Jakobsen, Alex Quinn and Toby Sowery.

Inter Europol Competition has Jermey Clarke and Bijoy Garg together in the #43 Oreca.

Pratt Miller Motorsports will continue with Pietro Fittipaldi and Chris Cumming in the #73 Oreca.

GTD Pro

Corvette is unchanged. Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims will defend the class championship in the #3 Corvette. Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg will drive the #4 Corvette.

Paul Miller Racing has kept the #1 BMW with Connor De Phillippi and Neil Verhagen, but the #48 BMW is gone. However, Max Hesse remains as an endurance driver. Dan Harper will run Daytona only. 

Christopher Mies and Frédéric Vervisch remain together in the #65 Ford Mustang. 

GTD

Winward Racing is keeping the band together. Russell Ward and Philip Ellis attempt to win a third consecutive GTD championship in the #57 Mercedes-AMG.

Turner Motorsport keeps Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher together in the #96 BMW.

Wayne Taylor Racing will continue to run the #45 Lamborghini for Danny Formal and Trent Hindman.

What is fun about Daytona?

Every year the first round of the IMSA season brings out top drivers from around the world of motorsports to compete in the first major endurance race of the season. 

Álex Palou and Scott Dixon are back with Meyer Shank Racing with Palou in the #93 Acura and Dixon in the #60. Palou has Kakunoshin Ohta also joining the #93 Acura for Daytona while A.J. Allmendinger is back in the 24 Hours of Daytona for the first time since 2021 as the fourth driver in the #60 entry.

Colton Herta will still run the endurance races in the #40 Cadillac despite his new Formula Two endeavor. 

BMW has Robin Frijns and René Rast rounding out the #24 BMW's lineup while Kevin Magnussen and Raffaele Marciello will be in the #25 BMW.

Connor Zilisch joins the #31 Whelen Racing Cadillac team alongside Aitken, Bamber and endurance driver Frederik Vesti.

In LMP2, Inter Europol Competition has entered a one-off for Nick Cassidy, Nolan Siegel, Jakub Śiechowski and Georgios Kolovos. AF Corse is back with François Perrodo, Matthieu Vaxivière, Nicklas Nielsen and Dylan Murry. Enzo Fittipaldi will join his brother Pietro in the Pratt Miller entry. Christian Rasmussen and Jonny Edgar round out the AO Racing #99 Oreca lineup.

Triarsi Competizione will have the #033 Ferrari entered in GTD Pro for James Calado, Miguel Molina, Riccardo Agostini and Alessio Rovera. Winward Racing will give GTD Pro a crack with the #48 Mercedes-AMG for Maxime Martin, Jason Hart, Luca Stolz and Scott Noble. Risi Competizione is back after a year away from Daytona. Alessandro Pier Guidi, Davide Rigon and Daniel Serra will drive the #62 Ferrari. 

Kenny Habul's 75 Express Mercedes-AMG has brought together Will Power for his Daytona debut along with Chaz Mostert. Maro Engel is the lone non-Australian in the #75 Mercedes-AMG lineup. Bartone Bros with GetSpeed is running the #69 Mercedes-AMG for Maximilian Götz, Jules Gounon, Fabian Schiller and Anthony Bartone. 

James Hinchcliffe and Mirko Bortolotti will round up the #9 Pfaff Lamborghini entry. Kyle Kirkwood is back as the #14 Lexus' third driver.

GTD will see Romain Grosjean (#16 Myers Riley Ford), Scott McLaughlin (#36 DXDT Racing Corvette) and Marcus Ericsson (#45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini) all compete in the class as additional drivers. 

AF Corse has Antonio Fuoco heading up the #21 Ferrari along with Lilou Wadoux, Simon Mann and Tommaso Mosca. Triarsi Competizione will run the #023 Ferrari for Kenton Koch, Robert Megennis, Onofrio Triarsi and Yifei Ye.

Manthey Racing will bring out the #912 Porsche for Richard Lietz, Riccardo Pera, Ryan Hardwick and Morris Schuring. 

What is at stake at Daytona?

Porsche has won the last two years with the #7 entry and six different drivers. The only consistent participant has been Felipe Nasr. The Brazilian will attempt to become the third driver with with three consecutive Daytona victories joining Peter Gregg and Hélio Castroneves. Porsche has not won at Daytona in three consecutive years since an 11-year run from 1977 though 1987. 

Prior to this two-year run for Porsche Penske Motorsport, Wayne Taylor Racing won three consecutive years from 2019 to 2021 and Meyer Shank Racing won consecutive years in 2022 and 2023.

Whelen Racing ended the 2025 season with a pair of victories at Indianapolis and Road Atlanta. However, Whelen Racing has never won the 24 Hours of Daytona. Action Express Racing, which operates the program, won the race three times, most recently in 2018 with the Mustang Sampling Racing program. 

BMW's only win as a constructor was in 1976 when Peter Gregg, Brian Redman and John Fitzpatrick won in a Brumos Racing BMW 3.0 CSL. BMW won twice more as an engine manufacturer during the Daytona Prototype era. Both those victories came powering Riley chassis for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2011 and 2013.

There has not been an all-European driver lineup to win at Daytona since 2002 when Doran Lista Racing won with Belgian Didier Theys, Swiss Fredy Lienhard, and Italians Max Papis and Mauro Baldi. That does not bode well for the #25 BMW group, which hosts four Europeans.

Wayne Taylor Racing is one victory away from tying Brumos Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing for most 24 Hours of Daytona victories at six. 

Scott Dixon could become the seventh driver to win the 24 Hours of Daytona on four occasions. Dixon won in 2006, 2015 and 2020. This will be Dixon's 23rd consecutive 24 Hours of Daytona start, tying with him Hurley Haywood and Andy Lally for second all-time. Boris Said holds the record with 25.

Twenty-three of the 226 drivers will be making their IMSA debut.