The last item of immediate interest is the rumored split meant to happen between Andretti Technologies and Meyer Shank Racing after the season concludes. Beyond giving its info to make fast MSR cars, Andretti also supplies MSR with personnel who form the engineering groups for its Nos. 60 and 66 cars.
“The relationship with Meyer Shank has been a good relationship,” Edwards said. “We enjoy working with Mike and Jim, and we’ll have to see what happens with that relationship and anything else in due course.”
ARROW McLAREN
Arrow McLaren is set with its three drivers. Pato O’Ward, the incoming Christian Lundgaard and Nolan Siegel are signed through 2025, at a minimum.
The only business to be resolved is with the outgoing Alexander Rossi and where he will drive in his 10th IndyCar season. I’m told he hasn’t, despite frequent rumors or assertions to the contrary, signed elsewhere.
CHIP GANASSI RACING
If you’re a fan of Chip Ganassi Racing, be prepared for a smaller team to return next year, one that looks a lot like it did in 2020, which was the last time it ran three cars. IndyCar’s upcoming charter system will have a negative significant impact on the defending champions due to the charter, and the charter alone.
At five full-time entries today, the charter’s structure — where a maximum of three cars per team will be issued charters to protect those three entries and guarantee their places on the starting grid at every race, except for the Indianapolis 500 — makes it unfavorable to field more than the three guarantees. And that means changes are on the way for the series’ largest team.
Penske Entertainment is expected to offer 25 total charters, and the charter structure also has a cap of 27 cars per race, outside of the 500. That means bumping from St. Petersburg through Nashville would become a new reality if 28 or more cars appear and any race outside of Indianapolis.
Those 25 charter cars will be locked into take part in each race, minus Indy, and with that 27-car grid cap, two of Ganassi’s current five would be exposed and left to try and qualify for the two open spots for non-charter entries.
Factor in the new PREMA Racing team and its two non-charter cars, and if Ganassi stayed at five, that would mean four drivers would be routinely fighting to take the two available grid spots, and two would be sent home.
Although Ganassi would likely win most of those qualifying battles at Barber and Mid-Ohio and Iowa and wherever else, seeing a DNQ listed next to one or two Ganassi drivers on occasion because of the charter situation is not welcome.
Of its five entries, Scott Dixon in the No. 9 Honda and Alex Palou in the No. 10 Honda are the obvious recipients of Ganassi’s first two charters. So where would the third be applied? The No. 8 Honda, currently driven by Linus Lundqvist, since the charter invitation list is based on the 2023 entrants’ championship standings, and the No. 8 was Ganassi’s third-best performer with Ericsson.
It means the Nos. 8, 9 and 10 are in, and using that top-3-from-2023-entrants-points criteria, the new No. 4 driven by Kyffin Simpson and the newish No. 11 driven by Marcus Armstrong are unprotected.
So does that mean Lundqvist will be driving the protected No. 8 next year? It does not.
Nothing has been confirmed by the team, but Simpson, whose family provides critical financial support to the program, is expected to drive the third charter entry. Whether that entry keeps the same No. 8 or changes to the No. 4 is unknown, but as we wrote on the topic months ago, there’s no way a driver as important as Simpson will be kept in an unprotected, non-charter entry.
Would that make Lundqvist one-and-done at Ganassi? And what about Armstrong?
The odds are not looking good for the 2022 Indy NXT champion from Sweden or the Formula 2 standout from New Zealand to continue with the team, all due to the charter. It’s possible the team could hold onto a fourth, unprotected entry, but I’ve yet to hear from any of today’s drivers who welcome the prospect of having to bump their way into every race. Armstrong is said to bring about half of a season-long budget, which would be of interest to a few teams. Lundqvist does not have funding to offer.
Armstrong, who holds 14th in the drivers’ championship, has done well for the team with three top 5s. Lundqvist’s rookie season has been decent most of the time, and exceptional in short bursts, but the increasing flashes of brilliance Ganassi saw last year when he was at Meyer Shank Racing have been sporadic. Ganassi’s expectations for hired drivers — even rookies — are always high.
Even without the charter system causing a shakeup, I’ve been concerned for Lundqvist’s place within the team, so I won’t be alarmed if he’s cast among the free agents once the downsizing begins. The last five races will be critical for Lundqvist to re-energize his name and stock value in the paddock. Armstrong, I suspect, would have an easier time continuing in the series, and I hope both drivers are here next year.
Just as Ganassi is looking for new opportunities in IMSA to keep its ace sports car team together in 2025 and beyond after its Cadillac GTP program moves to WTRAndretti, we should apply the same talent-preservation mindset to its culling of IndyCar entries.
Separate from rumors of Ganassi looking at a return to Indy NXT to place some of its IndyCar personnel, the rumored technical alliance with Meyer Shank Racing fits nicely with the impending need to repurpose some of its staff. We’ll delve into the MSR side below, but this is definitely another case of “don’t be surprised” if an alliance is confirmed.
DALE COYNE RACING
Dale Coyne Racing does not have drivers signed for its Nos. 18 and 51 Hondas and is expected to be an active player in the silly season as the best-known team with two wide-open seats available for hire.
ED CARPENTER RACING
Let’s continue the rumor game with the one involving Ed Carpenter Racing. Is the team for sale?
“No, we are not,” said ECR team president Tim Broyles.
The team has two seats to sort out with free agent Rinus VeeKay and impressive rookie Christian Rasmussen. As always, it’s a case of funding, and the team is rarely the first to announce its lineup, so unlike some of its rivals, I don’t foresee ECR rushing into the process because it’s not their style.
Could VeeKay be on the short list at Meyer Shank? That would make sense; MSR was highly interested in him at this time last year. I’d also look to PREMA and Rahal Letterman Lanigan as suitors for the speedy Dutchman. The same market doesn’t exist as of now for Rasmussen, but if the team loses VeeKay, it has a strong replacement with the Dane and others who would want to get into one of their cars.
An outlier to consider with ECR is its signing of Indy NXT driver Josh Pierson to a development contract a few years ago. There was no specific timeline stated for when Pierson, who brings a budget, would move to IndyCar with ECR, and as he currently holds 12th in the NXT standings and seeks his first top-5 finish, another season of NXT education for the 18-year-old would appear to be the wisest decision to make.