Sunday’s NTT IndyCar Series season finale at Nashville Speedway will be the site of numerous farewells within the paddock, as some significant moves will take place after the final lap of the season it completed.
The largest year-to-year change involves NBC Sports, IndyCar’s exclusive broadcaster since 2019, which is airing its last race before the series moves to FOX in 2025. There’s a hope for carryover in TV and production talent, but everything from the network and streaming options to view IndyCar racing to the people who’ve made the broadcasts possible will undergo a major revision during the offseason.
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Within the 10 full-time IndyCar teams, seven will have changes and there could be an eighth, which is remarkable.
AJ Foyt Racing will welcome David Malukas into the team, say goodbye to Sting Ray Robb, and is working on an extension with Santino Ferrucci.
Arrow McLaren has reached the end of its relationship with Alexander Rossi, whose future plans await confirmation, and adds Christian Lundgaard from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in his place.
Chip Ganassi Racing is downsizing from five cars to three, and that means 2023 IndyCar rookie of the Year Marcus Armstrong and new RoY Linus Lundqvist are exploring their options to race elsewhere in the series.
Dale Coyne Racing is facing a complete changeover. Jack Harvey is working on securing a budget, but with a bevy of better-funded drivers looking to reach IndyCar, there’s no guarantee he’ll be able to stay with the team. If his efforts to remain with DCR fall through, Harvey doesn’t want to be caught without options to continue in the sport and is looking into a commentary role with FOX. Coyne’s Katherine Legge is focusing on an Indianapolis 500 return, and possibly more if there’s space, but she’s also venturing into an offseason with no IndyCar guarantees.
Ed Carpenter Racing is leaning towards keeping Rinus VeeKay and Christian Rasmussen, and if it does, that will keep the number of teams with driver changes at seven.
Juncos Hollinger Racing has both seats to confirm, which means Romain Grosjean is about to complete the race at Nashville with no knowledge of whether he’s driving in 2025. Conor Daly, who was hired as a short-term solution, will clear out his locker on Sunday and hopes to get an invitation to reclaim that locker once the team works through its driver options.
Meyer Shank Racing hates to lose Malukas to Foyt/Team Penske, but expects to name his successor by the end of the month. MSR is also entering its final race with Andretti Technologies as its engineering service provider as Chip Ganassi Racing will step in and lead that department moving forward.
Last among the teams with roster revisions is RLL, which has Lundgaard going, no replacement announced to fill his seat, and the specter of Pietro Fittipaldi being one-and-done with the team.
That’s NBC, Robb, Malukas, Rossi, Lundgaard, Lundqvist, Armstrong, Harvey, Legge, and Daly, for sure, and question marks over Ferrucci, VeeKay, Rasmussen, Grosjean, and Fittipaldi.
And once the Nashville race is complete, the series will formally gain its 11th full-time outfit as Italy’s PREMA Racing is entering with two cars, likely for Callum Ilott and Robert Shwartzman.
Enjoy the last IndyCar race of 2024 and as we enter the offseason, prepare to be amused, entertained, or saddened by some of what’s in store for the teams and drivers who put on the show.