Category: IndyCar

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports has unveiled its liveries for the team’s two Chevrolet-powered entries in this year’s Indianapolis 500 with drivers Ryan Hunter-Reay and Jack Harvey.

DRR/Cusick Motorsports will field two cars for Hunter-Reay in the bright blue No. 23 Wedbush Chevrolet (main image) and Harvey in the green and black No. 24 INVST Chevrolet (below). This year’s Indy 500 will be DRR’s 25th anniversary at the Indy 500. The racing organization led by team owner Dennis Reinbold has qualified 50 drivers in the historic 500-mile race.

The Dreyer & Reinbold Racing team brings a 100-year legacy to the Indy 500 and the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, starting with Reinbold’s grandfather, Floyd ‘Pop’ Dreyer. A former mechanic for the Duesenberg team in 1925, Dreyer was also a renowned race car builder, constructing cars for the entire 1931 Indy 500 front row. Dreyer also was a famed flat track motorcycle racer in the 1910s and 1920s.

Hunter-Reay captured the 2014 Indianapolis 500 victory and is an 18-time IndyCar race winner (16 in IndyCar and two in Champ Car). In 2012, he won the NTT IndyCar Series championship with four race victories. The 2025 race marks his 17th Indy 500 start, with six top 10 finishes, and his third with the DRR/Cusick Motorsports team.

Harvey made his NTT IndyCar Series debut at the 2017 Indy 500 with Michael Shank Racing after a successful Indy Lights career which notched six wins, and two runner-up finishes in the series points. Harvey, who also serves as a pit reporter for the FOX Network NTT IndyCar Series telecasts, has seven starts at the Indy 500 and his best NTT IndyCar Series finish was third in the 2019 Indy Grand Prix at IMS. This will be Harvey’s first Indy 500 run with the DRR/Cusick Motorsports team.

Indy 500 practice begins Tuesday, May 13, with qualifications on May 17-18. The 109th Indy 500 will take place Sunday, May 25.

Arrow McLaren has revealed its Indianapolis 500 liveries for the Nos. 5, 6, and 7 Chevrolets which follows the recent sharing of Kyle Larson’s No. 17 McLaren/Hendrick Chevy design for the event.

The Indiana-based team owned by the McLaren Racing Formula 1 team says the change in presentation across the cars driven by Pato O’Ward, Nolan Siegel, and Christian Lundgaard conforms to its ‘Never Stop Racing’ theme. All feature base of white with standardized and stylized colors familiar to the trio.

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“McLaren’s ‘Never Stop Racing’ campaign was introduced at the F1 livery launch in London earlier this year,” the team wrote. “The campaign centers around the idea that racing doesn’t only exist from green to checkered flag – it’s always on. The culture of constantly pushing, innovating and chasing high performance has and always will be central to the identity of McLaren Racing, and that attitude doesn’t stop at the track. Across sports, lifestyle and culture, we’re here to make racing exciting, accessible and engaging for everyone.”

Team principal Tony Kanaan added, “The Indianapolis 500 is the biggest stage in racing, and our liveries this year reflect that in every detail. The design is more than just a new look – it represents the precision, performance, and passion that fuel McLaren Racing. Through our Never Stop Racing campaign, these liveries capture the endless spirit of competition that drives us forward, no matter what.”

The team will be among the busiest in the region once Indy 500 activities get under way.

“Throughout the Month of May, Arrow McLaren is activating in a variety of ways to drive these themes home, including elevated on-site branding at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, utilization of McLaren Automotive sport cars, branding in downtown Indianapolis, reimagined social media assets and creative engagement with athletes, celebrities and influencers that touch all corners of racing and culture,” the team wrote.

“These activations will complement the incredible action on the track at the IMS, where Pato O’Ward, Nolan Siegel, Christian Lundgaard and Kyle Larson will fight to bring McLaren Racing its fourth all-time Indianapolis 500 victory and first since 1974.”

FOX Sports and the team behind 100 Days To Indy have set the date for the third season’s launch, which takes place on May 22, and its location, which moves from The CW to the FOX Nation streaming service for the six-part docuseries, but more content is understood to be in the works.

RACER has learned the 100 Days team is capturing additional footage and features for FOX that are slated for use in at least one, and possibly two Indianapolis 500-specific documentaries being made as a primer for FOX’s first airing of the Indy 500 to celebrate the event’s long history dating back to 1911 and showcase today’s teams and stars.

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With IndyCar’s offseason move from NBC to FOX, the series created an opportunity to serve its existing fan base while engaging a new audience where all of its races are aired on FOX’s main network channel. As demonstrated in its production efforts across the three opening IndyCar races, FOX has taken deliberate steps to educate newcomers to the IndyCar Series with short personality features and vehicle insights, and with the acquisition of the Indy 500, a similar, but larger initiative with documentary-style storytelling about the world’s largest single-day sporting event is in motion.

Reached for input, a FOX Sports representative confirmed the added filming was taking place but declined to comment on the specifics of its intended use. According to FOX Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch, FOX Nation’s has between 2-2.5 million subscribers. Previous seasons of 100 Days have been repurposed on Netflix, where it has reached a greater global audience.

The new season of 100 Days To Indy debuts three days prior to the May 25 Indy 500, which is a change from the previous seasons which went live in April and presented most of the episodes prior to the Indy 500. In another new twist, the TV series – despite utilizing the same name – will continue filming after Indy to showcase the fight for the 2025 championship through the remainder of the season, which ends on August 31 at Nashville Speedway.

Kyffin Simpson set the fastest race lap last weekend at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, just as he did in his very first IndyCar Series race last year at St. Petersburg. The demonstration of speed from the Chip Ganassi Racing sophomore shouldn’t come as a complete surprise; the kid from the Cayman Islands has shown flashes of quickness since making his IndyCar debut.

He’s also demonstrated a knack for executing passes, which hasn’t necessarily stood out from the midfield during the educational phase of his early IndyCar career, but like his fastest lap on Sunday, it’s also hard to ignore how Simpson led all drivers at Long Beach with 62 total passes and 50 for position as he started 17th and finished 10th.

The youngest driver in IndyCar — he turned 20 in October and also carries the least amount of open-wheel experience — is making significant progress just outside of the spotlight where his veteran teammates Scott Dixon and Alex Palou live, and at his current rate of progress, improving upon his career-best of 10th seems possible.

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“Through last year, we felt pretty solid through all the races,” Simpson told RACER. “We made a lot of moves, especially at the beginning of last year, and at one point, were leading in most positions gained on the season. I think the racecraft has been there the whole time, we just need to start qualifying a bit higher up. But I feel like pace is becoming much more solid, and I’m really happy about it.”

Simpson has a new race engineer in Luke Goldenstein to look after the No. 8 Honda, and on the timing stand, CGR team manager Taylor Kiel is calling race strategy. There’s plenty of changes for Simpson to process, but the sophomore says the pit crew led by Jason Beck and everyone on his timing stand have formed a strong unit in a short period of time. With their support, Simpson is taking meaningful strides.

“The whole team just works really well together, between me, Scott and Alex, but also me and all the other people on my car,” he said. “Everyone’s able to work really well together this year, and I’ve been really noticing the jelling happening a lot in my second year.”

Late in the opening race of the IndyCar season at St. Petersburg, Sting Ray Robb was featured on the FOX broadcast for all of the wrong reasons. Barked at for getting in the way of the leaders who were trying to put the Idahoan a lap down and settle the contest without interference, Robb eventually moved aside and ambled home to an unremarkable 21st-place finish.

Two races later and it was Robb, turning lap times that were in line with the best drivers in the field, running in the top 10, and with the FOX cameras trained on his car while leading for 12 laps. Using the same alternate tire strategy that vaulted Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard nine positions forward from 12th to third, Robb improved by 10, motoring from 19th at the start of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach to ninth at the checkered flag.

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From an in-the-way backmarker on March 2 to a legitimate leader and contender on April 13, the Juncos Holling Racing driver answered his critics in the best way. Robb is by no means a finished product in his third IndyCar season, and he’s keenly aware of how much progress needs to be made in order to race among the best in the series. It’s the recognition of this fact, and the healthy level of humility that Robb draws from in his quest to improve, that’s propelled his progress.

Seeking help through renowned driver coach Rob Wilson has been the most beneficial move for Robb. Between visiting England to receive lessons directly from the former professional racer and the assignment of ex-Andretti IndyCar driver Adam Carroll to his timing stand as a coach on race weekends, the 23-year-old is starting to reap the benefits of their education plan.

“Last week (before Long Beach) I was over in England,” Robb told RACER after climbing from his car on Sunday. “People thought I was on vacation, but I wasn’t. I was working. I was working with my driver coach Rob Wilson. Amazing guy. I’ve got a good group around me, so I’m thankful. No doubt this is for a reason, and hopefully I can do the best I can to steward it.”

Wilson’s students have included everyone from a young Juan Pablo Montoya to Marco Andretti, whose offseason coaching and training with Wilson led to the best IndyCar season of his career with a run to fifth place in 2013. Seeking help at the top level of any sport can come with derision, but Robb isn’t concerned about any criticism that comes his way.

If anything, the willingness to employ Robb and Carroll might recalibrate the perception some hold for Robb. Having changed to his third IndyCar team in three years, the kind of consistency a new driver needs to build a proper foundation has been missing. A return to Juncos Hollinger, where he won the 2020 USF Pro 2000 championship, has been the first step towards creating a stable base to learn and grow at the IndyCar level.

“I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to bring coaches in, as iron sharpens iron,” he said. “That’s why I try and surround myself with the right people. And I just got lucky enough to have these guys with me today. I’ve had a great group at different points in my career, and winning a championship with these guys, I know what I was coming back to.

“I know that the level of commitment, the level of passion that they have, is super high and I think that we’re gonna keep going. I don’t see a limit for us yet. I don’t think that we’ve hit our potential. I think that there’s still more to come, and that makes me excited.”