In anticipation for the start of the 2026 NTT INDYCAR season in St. Petersburg on March 1, twenty-six drivers came for video shoots, photos, and media interviews over two days in Indianapolis, IN. Dressed in their shiny new firesuits, all had an air of confidence that they could and would win races this season.
Arrow McLaren, Chip Ganassi, Ed Carpenter, and Meyer Shank Racing return with the same driver lineup. Andretti Global, Dale Coyne, AJ Foyt, Juncos Hollinger, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, and Team Penske all had driver changes.
This is part two of three IndyCar previews – check back next week for the second round of driver/team notes. To read about series news and notes, click here.
Andretti Global Chasing Ganassi
With Colton Herta (ranked seventh in 2025) transitioning to F2 in the hopes of driving for Cadillac F1 in the future, Will Power was hired as his replacement just as the 2025 season ended. Power, who ranked ninth, earned the best results at Team Penske, with one win. But when he was offered a very late one-year contract renewal, he was already well on his way to accepting the multi-year deal from Dan Towriss (CEO of TWG Motorsports, which owns Andretti Global).
Turning 45-years-old on March 1st, Power hopes to prove he is still competitive as he takes over driving the No. 26 following a contractual non-compete period that prevented him from any involvement with his new Andretti team until January 1st.
“You have to be at the top of your game every weekend,” explained Power, after his long tenure at Team Penske, which began in 2009. “That’s why I love competing in this series. I see myself having several more years at the top level. There is still plenty more for me to accomplish.
“Obviously, Herta had been in that car for a while and been around that team,” reminded Power. “The team knows where improvements need to happen. Just watching Herta’s onboards, he’s very good. I can tell he really gets the most out of the car, even when it’s not completely balanced.
“It’s just business as normal,” continued Power, who has 45 victories (fourth-most all-time), including the 2018 Indy 500, plus 71 poles and two titles (2014 and 2022). “We won’t know until we actually have our first race what we need to work on. Until you’re getting into those pressure situations where things can go wrong or in a competitive situation where you see where you really stack up, it’s really hard to tell. You just put everything in place to execute the best you can and then start working from there.
“Actually, the car was really balanced,” admitted Power, after his first test with Andretti at the one-mile Phoenix oval. “The Honda power felt really good. We’ll understand where our strengths are once I get to run around other cars. It is an Indy car, so you can’t make a car feel incredibly different. There’s always room for improvement. I felt the Penske car was the best on short ovals, so I know what that feeling is, and gave some good feedback on where we could go.”
Kyle Kirkwood, returning for his third season at Andretti after finishing fourth overall in 2025, was the only driver to really challenge Alex Palou for the title, with three wins – two on street courses and one on a short oval.
“We’re excited to be together,” revealed Kirkwood, about Power joining the team. “It should be really good. Power has got a lot of information, a lot of knowledge of what things need to be. What needs to be right at some of the races that we were maybe not so good.”
Marcus Ericsson, the 2022 Indy 500 winner, who would’ve been runner-up in 2025 if not for a post-race disqualification, continues at Andretti to contest his sixth INDYCAR season.
“It’s a bounce-back year for me,” said Ericsson, who earned only two top-10 finishes last season. “I’ve really been working hard in the off-season to come back strong this year and show what I can do for myself and for everyone. I can’t wait. I’m excited to work with Will and Ron (Ruzewski – prior Team Penske IndyCar Managing Director) who has been here a month now. They have already contributed a lot to this team.
“Will is a legend of the sport, so to be able to work close with him is going to be a lot of fun,” revealed Ericsson. “He is a lot more technical than I expected. That’s why Will has been doing it for so long and is still so good at it. It comes down to preparation before race weekends, how we analyze after race weekends, how we work as a team. The cool thing about Will is he comes in with so much experience. He’s been doing this for 20-plus years, but he still feels as hungry as ever. Our lineup with me, Kyle, and Will feels super strong.”
Sitting On the Hot Seat
Nolan Siegel, driving his second full season for Arrow McLaren, is on notice that he needs to greatly improve or he won’t have a ride in 2027. The now 21-year-old earned the 2023 INDY NXT Series Rookie of the Year award, switched from the NXT series mid-season to contest 12 INDYCAR races for three different teams in 2024 (with a best finish of seventh at World Wide Technology Raceway), and finished 22nd for Arrow McLaren in the 2025 INDYCAR standings (highest finish was eighth-place at Road America).
Tony Kanaan, team principal at Arrow McLaren, recently told Motorsport.com that “he needs to finish in the top-10 in the championship. If not, I don’t think I can keep him.”
Asked about Kanaan’s statement, Siegel replied that “we have some clear goals for 2026, things to improve on. We’ve made good steps towards that in the off-season. We know what we need to do. It’s about executing that now in 2026. It doesn’t really change anything. The goal for me is always to finish as far up the grid as I possibly can and perform at my best all the time. Whatever the expectation is, I’m still going to be doing the same thing.”
McLaren teammates Pato O’Ward and Christian Lundgaard finished second and fifth, respectively, in the 2025 title fight.
“INDYCAR is extremely difficult and super competitive,” explained Siegel. “It really is the best drivers and teams in the world. It’s an honour to get to compete here and get to compete against them. But it’s certainly not easy. You have to be almost perfect every weekend. Being new, especially with such a long off-season, so little testing and time in the car, it takes time to learn. There’s no real way to accelerate that process.
“I’m here to challenge myself to compete at the highest level,” continued Siegel. “Ultimately, if I do perform, there will be a future. If I don’t, there won’t. That’s how it is for everyone in motorsport. If you perform, you have a job. If you don’t, you don’t.”
Arrow McLaren Expands into New Shop
McLaren will have some new surroundings entering 2026, as the team moved to Andretti Global’s previous race shop and significantly expanded their work space.
“It feels like we’re going from a studio apartment to the penthouse, considering where we were,” described Pato O’Ward. “Obviously, in terms of atmosphere and motivation, we’re surrounded by just a HQ that’s a lot cooler. It excites you to go to work every day. You see the pictures (on the walls) and you see what we’ve been able to accomplish so far. There is so much more that we want to accomplish.
“All of that means something,” continued O’Ward. “It’s in your subconscious every day that you walk through there. It really is a cool part, not just for me being able to see the journey of what the team was six years ago – this is my seventh season – I’ve been a part of that and they’ve been a part of my growth as well.”
Teammate Christian Lundgaard, who returns for his second season at Arrow McLaren (following his first two seasons at Rahal Letterman Lanigan, where he earned his first victory at Toronto in 2023), commented about the move.
“This is now my second time going through this situation (first HQ move was with Rahal),” he said. “Ultimately, it can cause a lot of problems by shifting attention. It’s just so difficult to time (the move) and do it the right way. When I showed up at Arrow McLaren, I already knew this was in the works. There are other teams doing it. Carpenter is building a new shop. The sport and the series are evolving. In the next couple of years, we’re going to see many more teams do it. But as an organization, with Arrow McLaren, we absolutely needed it in terms of space.
“I’ve been at the shop the last couple of days,” continued Lundgaard. “Seeing everybody’s smiles on their faces makes it worth it. For them to now show up at a place where they’re excited to come to work makes a massive difference. Logistically, it’s going to be a lot easier for us throughout the season.”
Who Can Challenge Ganassi?
Alex Palou has won four titles in five seasons with Chip Ganassi Racing. He dominated the 2025 season, with eight victories, and is the driver everyone else wants to beat. Now that the breach of contract lawsuit (for remaining at Ganassi in 2024) awarded US $12M to McLaren, Palou can focus entirely on driving.
“I’m very excited to start the season, to see what we have in Sebring and Phoenix (two open tests), and then St. Pete (season opener),” stated Palou. “It just feels like we have a very long off-season and then suddenly, once we start, we never stop. (Last year) was so strange, so good, so magical for the 10 car that everybody understands that it’s very hard to get there. That doesn’t mean that nobody can or that I cannot do it again, but you need so many things to go right to get eight wins, to win the 500, to win the championship.
“If we win six now (in 2026) is it going to feel like a failure?” asked Palou. “While I would love to have another season like 2025, I am pretty certain that it’s probably not going to happen again for me. But I’ll try. I’ve had the same core group of people since day one. We have all the tools we need. We need to keep on evolving and keep on trying to improve.”
Scott Dixon finished third in the 2025 title fight and has 59 wins (placing him second on the all-time win list behind AJ Foyt, with 67), six titles and the 2008 Indy 500 victory.
“Last year was just a bit of a downer year for us,” explained Dixon. “Lots of little mistakes here and there and a lot of things out of our control. We had a big deep dive in the off-season. There are lots of positives, things we already knew, and then definitely some bits I could have executed a little bit better. With Alex’s stellar season and his first oval race (win) being the biggest race in the world was pretty sweet. He has always been an extremely well-rounded driver. He works tremendously hard. We’ve got to keep the momentum going, and hopefully we can do a little bit better on our side.
“Alex’s definitely the standard right now and who everybody is chasing,” admitted Dixon. “It’s nice to see how it’s done properly last year. It’s a new year now. Everybody can turn a page. Kyffin (Simpson) had a big year start to finish, which was huge for him. This year should be big for all three of us.”
Coyne Still Has 2nd Seat Open
Dale Coyne, who usually waits to announce his drivers until the season starts, often has a few deals in the works only to discover that the driver he may choose has already found another seat in a different series (rather than take the chance of not having any ride at all). Rumours persist that Romain Grosjean could return to Coyne, having competed in INDYCAR for four seasons and served as PREMA’s reserve driver last year.
This past September, Coyne announced the signing of Dennis Hauger, the 2025 INDY NXT Champion, who won six races and captured seven poles (while driving for Andretti). A huge bonus for the Coyne team (and Hauger) is a technical relationship with Andretti. But who the Norwegian’s teammate will be has yet to be announced.
“From what we showed in testing, we know we have speed,” indicated Hauger, one of three 2026 Rookie of the Year contenders (competing against Mick Schumacher, driving for Rahal, and Caio Collet at Foyt). ”Some tracks are going to be better than others. The work we’ve done with Dale Coyne Racing, with the partnership with Andretti, we should be good. It’s not a full partnership in terms of setup and dampers. It’s just about doing the prep work and staying on top of things.
“The team is like a family; Dale has got tons of experience,” reminded Hauger. “He puts his belief in those young drivers coming from INDY NXT and that gives them opportunity.
“For me, the main thing is the ovals, just trying to get as much experience as possible on them and learn as much as possible from the team,” continued Hauger. “We’re in a good window for some tracks and some tracks we might have to work a bit more as a team to get further up. It’s looking at videos and data, trying to teach myself a bit in terms of what I need to do.
“For me (not knowing who my teammate will be) doesn’t matter too much,” divulged Hauger. “I’ve been working with myself, what I need to do, and not focusing too much on the stuff I can’t control.”