The Field Is Full: Meet The Drivers And Teams For The 2025 IndyCar Season - Page 2

Source: Penske Entertainment / other

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — The 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season is one that marks significant change both outwardly and inwardly for North American open-wheel racing.

For starters, twelve teams will be represented within the paddock this year at one point or another. Eleven of those teams will be competing full-time, with ten of them affiliated with the series’ new charter system.

The charter system marks the biggest change within the series this ‘off-season’. Teams operating within the charter system have been capped at three full-time entries, but will receive a larger piece of the pie when it comes to TV, gate, promotion, and other types of revenue the series takes in.

Piggybacking off that change is the series’ new TV deal with FOX Sports, which has committed to airing every race this season on network television. This along with the tons of free promotion the series has received from FOX over the last few months, such as the heavy presence of Super Bowl ads, has been indicative of FOX’s commitment to the series.

The series will also see a new team, and with that, some new drivers that will have a chance to leave their mark on the series.

Let’s take a look at the teams, their drivers, and storylines heading into the 2025 season.

1. Chip Ganassi Racing: Alex Palou, Scott Dixon, Kyffin Simpson

Chip Ganassi Racing is in a strong spot once again after another successful championship season with Alex Palou leading the way. 

Palou, despite still dealing with legal troubles involving McLaren Racing this off-season, has won three championships in the last four seasons and he is only going into his sixth season in IndyCar. He will look to become only the third driver ever to win three titles in a row (AJ Foyt and Sebastien Bourdais).

Alongside him will once again be the veteran Scott Dixon. He is going to be 44 later this year and looking for his seventh championship this year, which would tie him for most all-time with AJ Foyt. He’s also nine wins away from tying Foyt for most wins all-time.

Kyffin Simpson rounds out the Ganassi stable. He had a quiet rookie season as he take’s Linus Lundqvist’s spot in the 8-car. The move to put Simpson in their third seat appears to be a financial one as Lundqvist, despite claiming Rookie of the Year honors last season, now finds himself without a ride for the 2025 season.

2. Team Penske: Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin, Will Power

The phrase “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is the epitome of Team Penske heading into the 2025 season. No changes as far as the drivers are concerned, but the team is going to be welcoming back Tim Cindric as the man in charge of their IndyCar teams.

Cindric recently stepped aside as President of Team Penske where he oversaw the team’s IndyCar, NASCAR, and IMSA arms.

With Cindric stepping back to focus only on IndyCar, he will remain on the pit stand of Josef Newgarden. Newgarden, who has 31 career wins, will be looking to get off to a better start this season than last year. Despite winning at St. Pete in 2024, the win was nullified by a technical push-to-pass glitch that resulted in hefty penalties for Team Penske’s drivers. 

But, those penalties were made up for with Newgarden winning his second Indianapolis 500 in a row. You can expect Newgarden to vie for a third Indy 500 win this season, along with the series championship if all goes well.

Scott McLaughlin remains in the #3 ‘yellow submarine’ for 2025 after another solid season that saw him finish third in the points even with the St. Pete penalties. Now in his fifth IndyCar season, McLaughlin will be among the contenders for a championship.

The same goes for Will Power, who said during the off-season that he looks to remain competitive in the series for “at least another five years.” He will turn 44 by the time the series rolls off the grid at St. Pete in March.

3. Arrow McLaren: Pato O'Ward, Nolan Siegel, Christian Lundgaard

Talk about a team that has been unable to “get over the hump” as the saying goes. Arrow McLaren, since joining the series full-time in 2019, has quickly grown into a title contender. However, the problem is they have not been able to consistently outpace the Penske’s or Ganassi’s of the series.

There was no better personification of this than last May’s Indianapolis 500 when top AM driver Pato O’Ward was passed on the final lap by Josef Newgardem (Team Penske) resulting in a painful runner-up finish. 

With the result, despite it being the team’s best, of the Indy 500 still etched in his mind, 2025 will be an important year for O’Ward. He has won seven races since joining the team in 2020. If the team can find consistency, expect him to be among the top five contending for the championship. He was fifth in the standings in 2024.

Arrow McLaren will see two new drivers to partner with O’Ward in 2025 with Nolan Siegel and Christian Lundgaard. 

Siegel sprang onto the IndyCar scene in 2024 driving for Dale Coyne in the Indy 500 where he failed to qualify, but his gutsy qualifying attempt, during which he crashed, turned many heads. After a one-off with Juncos at Road America after the Indy 500, Siegel’s talent put the paddock on notice and he was thrust into Arrow McLaren’s driver carousel in the 6-car where he finished the remained of the season.

Lundgaard comes to AM’s stable after spending four seasons at Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing. The Danish driver won one race at Toronto in 2023 during that period. 

4. Andretti Global: Colton Herta, Marcus Ericsson, Kyle Kirkwood

It’s still called “Andretti Global”, but the team is basically anything but after the front office moves that have taken place this off-season. Michael Andretti, the patriarch of the team since 2003, has stepped aside from his leadership role with the team. He remains a special advisor, though.

But, the decisions going forward will be made by Drew Towriss, who is the CEO of the parent company that owns Gainbridge, which is the team’s top sponsor. 

Driving for the team as the lead car will once again be Colton Herta. Though Herta is with IndyCar this season, it’s widely speculated that he may be the leading candidate for a seat in Formula One with the new Cadillac F1 team, which is what is left over from Andretti Global’s bid to join the series.

Herta was the series runner-up and says: “I’m not happy — it really sucks to finish second. As nice as it is for that being my highest place, yeah, it really sucks to be that close and not do it.”

Joining him again this season will be Kyle Kirkwood, who won two races last year for Andretti and has seen nothing but improvment season-over-season with the team. He was seventh in the championship in 2024.

Rounding out the Andretti stable is Marcus Ericsson, who had a tough introduction to Andretti Global last season. The 2022 Indy 500 champion did not win a race at all in 2024, and he crashed out early in the ‘500’. He will certainly look to get better footing in 2025.

5. Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing: Graham Rahal, Devlin DeFrancesco, Louis Foster

RLL Racing has been at the bottom of the ‘big teams’ for the last four years. Whether it be engineering issues, unhappy drivers, or anything in between, it seems Rahal has not been able to consistently work out whatever has been plaguing the organization.

The departure of Hy-Vee as a primary sponsor of the team has certainly not helped things this off-season. Neither has a federal investigation involving a Rahal team engineer possibly stealing intellectual property from Andretti Global upon their move to the team.

RLL will look to minimize distractions as they head into 2025 of unknowns.

Their steady namesake, Graham Rahal, is back in the saddle after re-upping his deal with the team. He was 18th in the points last season, just one spot ahead of his no ex-teammate Pietro Fittipaldi. Rahal since winning back-to-back races in Detroit in 2017.

New to the team this year is Devlin DeFrancesco, who after taking a year off from the series as he was unable to secure a 2024 ride, he comes from Andretti Global where he was near the bottom of the pack. But, he did show moxy in his final race of the 2023 season.

Finally, Louis Foster is making the jump from Indy NXT to IndyCar with RLL. He dominated the Indy NXT Series in 2024 winning eight of the 14 races and the series championship. He will drive the 45-car left behind by Christian Lundgaard.

6. AJ Foyt Racing: Santino Ferrucci, David Malukas

Talk about a team that took a giant leap forward in 2024. Bolstered by a technical partnership with Team Penske and the aggressive driving style of Santino Ferrucci, AJ Foyt Racing had both cars finish in the Leader’s Circle allowing them to reap the financial rewards of the season.

Ferrucci, who was ninth in the points in 2024, returns to the AJ Foyt stable for another season. He had his best season in recent memory last year having finished in the top ten in 10 of the 17 races.

Foyt has also taken advantage of some impeccable timing. With David Malukas released by Arrow McLaren early last year because of his broken wrist, Foyt snatched him up and signed him to a multi-year deal.

Fans got a glimpse of his potential in 2024 as he finished the season with Meyer Shank Racing. 

As a team that has not won a race in the NTT IndyCar Series since 2013, Foyt is going to be a team that could make serious waves in 2025.

Ferrucci and Malukas will certainly be a dynamic duo for the whole paddock to keep an eye on, especially with better equipment and knowledge supplied by Team Penske.

7. Meyer Shank Racing: Marcus Armstrong, Felix Rosenqvist, Helio Castroneves

Meyer Shank Racing finds itself in some uncharted waters heading into its sixth full-time season racing in the NTT IndyCar Series. They return with an entirely new cast of drivers and a brand new technical partner. 

Having been affiliated with Andretti Global for many years, the team announced this off-season that it was ending its partnership with Andretti and would be joining forces with Chip Ganassi Racing.

The new partnership found a place for Marcus Armstrong on the starting grid this season. Due to the new IndyCar charter system four car teams were forced to downsize to three full-time entries and with Ganassi going with Palou, Dixon, and Simpson, this left Armstrong left hanging out to dry. 

Armstrong, now under the Meyer Shank umbrella, was solid for Ganassi in his first full-time season finishing 14th in the points, including one podium at Detroit.

He will be joined by the veteran Felix Rosenqvist, who is back for another season with MSR. Rosenqvist was 12th in the points in 2024.

Finally, minority team owner Helio Castroneves will pilot a one-off ride again in the Indianapolis 500. He will be looking for an unprecedented fifth win in the ‘Greatest Spectacle In Racing’.

8. Ed Carpenter Racing: Alexander Rossi, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter

ECR has struggled to garner any meaningful results over the last few years. They have not won a race since Rinus Veekay won on the Indianapolis road course in May of 2021. 

With Veekay and ECR parting ways this off-season, team owner Ed Carpenter is hoping to revitalize the team by also helping to revitalize a struggling driver.

Alexander Rossi burst onto the IndyCar scene in 2016 winning the Indianapolis 500 as a rookie. He won six subsequent races with Andretti Autosport but has not tasted victory since 2022. 

He joins the ECR camp after two lackluster seasons with Arrow McLaren. 

Back again is the young and energetic Danish driver Christian Rasmussen. However, he likely secured his ride this year by the skin of his teeth. He was in the 22nd and last spot for the Leader’s Circle points in 2024, which secured critical funds for ECR.

Ed Carpenter will again try to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 in a third entry for the Month of May for his namesake team.

9. Juncos Hollinger Racing: Conor Daly, Sting Ray Robb

Juncos Hollinger Racing has the persona of a monster just waiting to be woken up. But, after a year filled with off-the-track drama, team owners Riccardo Juncos and Brad Hollinger are just looking to keep their heads down and move forward this season.

They are turning to IndyCar’s journeyman driver, Conor Daly, to lead them in that direction. Daly finished the 2024 season in the #78-car after Agustin Canapino’s unceremonious departure due to continual social media scandals.

That change was a fruitful one as Daly gave the team their only podium of the season at Milwaukee. 

Romain Grosjean is also out and Sting Ray Robb is in at Juncos. Robb is still looking for a breakout year since coming into the series in 2023, racing for his third team in as many years. 

The team also announced a “pause” on their Indy NXT team for the 2025 season.

10. Dale Coyne Racing: Rinus Veekay, Jacob Abel

It was a never-ending carousel of drivers and problems for Dale Coyne and his team last season. Every weekend it seemed as if there was a new driver in one of his two cars.

Hoping to find some consistency in 2025, Coyne has brought in Rinus Veekay. He spent his first five seasons with ECR, but the two mutually parted ways at the end of 2024.

Veekay brings a strong pedigree in both road course and oval racing. He won the Sonsio Grand Prix on the IMS road course in 2021.

Coyne is one again forced to go young in his other car as he has signed 2024 Indy NXT runner-up Jacob Abel. He is the son of Bill Abel, who owns Abel Motorsports for whom he raced in Indy NXT. Abel won three Indy NXT races in 2024.

The question now for Dale Coyne, as they are aided by the new IndyCar charter system, is can they break out of this slump of mediocrity they’ve been in the last few years?

11. PREMA Racing: Robert Shwartzman, Callum Ilott

Meet PREMA Racing, the newest team to the IndyCar paddock.

PREMA is a long-time European-based racing team in the likes of Formula 2 and Formula 3, as well as the World Endurance Championship in sportscars.

Now, they are expanding their racing portfolio to North America with IndyCar.

They bring with them Robert Shwartzman, an Israeli driver who has served as the Ferrari Formula 1 reserve driver for the last three seasons.

With still no seats available in F1, Rhwartzman has shed the reserve driver role and is now a primary driver in IndyCar. He was the championship runner-up in F2 in 2021.

Joining him will be Callum Ilott, an F3 PREMA alum who brings some much needed IndyCar experience to the upstart team.

After running two full-time seasons with Juncon Hollinger, he was caught up in the Arrow McLaren carousel of drivers following David Malukas’ release and made two starts in 2024, including an 11th-place finish in the Indianapolis 500.

Ilott has regained a full-time ride in the series with PREMA.

The team will be operating at a handicap this season, so to speak. With the implementation of IndyCar’s charter system, they do not hold any of the 25 available charters. This means they are neither guaranteed starting spots in any of the races this season, nor are they entitled to any financial benefits from the series that are shared with chartered teams. 

Nevertheless, they can break out of that handicap with goo results in their inaugural season.