ANNOUNCEMENTS
2027 INDYCAR DRIVERS CONFIRMED
2027 INDYCAR DRIVER CANDIDATES
RACE TEAM STAFF SILLY SEASON
2026 INDYCAR SILLY SEASON
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Last Update: Oct 29, 2026
DRIVER EVALUATIONS
TEAM
CONFIRMED DRIVERS
CAR#
NOTES
2026-2027  IndyCar Silly Season
4
14
Josh Pierson (R)
Dennis Hauger
26
27
28
Will Power
Kyle Kirkwood
Marcus Ericsson
Pato O'Ward
Scott Dixon
Felix Rosenqvist
5
6
7
51
18
Alexander Rossi
Christian Rasmussen
20
21
9/25/24 - Multi-year contract
6/4/26 - Multi-year contract
10/27 multi-year contract
9/16 multi-year contract

7/6 signed for 2027
7/6 signed for 2027
8
9
10
Kyffin Simpson
Christian Lundaard
Alex Palou

9/29 - signed for 2027
60
66
Marcus Armstrong
Mick Schumacher
7/3/26 - Multi-year contract
9/4/26 - signed for 2027
2
3
12
Josef Newgarden
Scott McLaughlin
David Malukas
Graham Rahal
Louis Foster
15
45


8/6 re-signed for 2027
76
77
2026 FULLTIME INDYCAR DRIVERS
w/no contract for 2027
OTHER DRIVER NAMES THROWN ABOUT
2026 Team
McLaren
Juncos
Coyne
Foyt
Foyt
Note: The "Silly Season" is the period of time when
race car drivers join or depart race teams, mostly
between seasons.

My annual Silly Season coverage ends when the last
drivers for the new season have been selected.
Page Index
Driver
Nolan Siegel
Rinus VeeKay
Romain Grosjean
Santino Ferrucci
Caio Collet
Devlin DeFrancesco - 2025 RLL IndyCar driver
Linus Lundqvist - 2024 Ganassi IndyCar driver
OPEN RACE SEATS
Juncos (Chevy) - 2 seats
Coyne (Honda) - 2 seats
3/27 - ECR has hired Hunter McElrea as reserve driver for 2026.
After moving to the US in 2016, McElray spent five successful years
in the IndyCar ladder system.  He has been racing in the LMP2 class
in IMSA since 2024.
04/23/2026  - Mitch Davis has retired as Team Manager at Dale Coyne Racing.
6/24 - MSR announced that Felix Rosenqvist has decided to leave
the team at the end of the season. He joined MSR in 2024 and won
the Indy 500 this year.  He is currently 6th in points.
7/2 - Scott Dixon was confirmed to be leaving Chip Ganassi Racing’s
No. 9 entry at season’s end.  He has raced for the team 25 years and
earned six championships and a Indy 500 victory in 2008.  He is currently
10th in points.
7/6 - Arrow McLaren announced they have signed Scott Dixon and
Felix Rosenqvist to drive for the team in 2027.
Dixon is 45 and his best finish this season is 3rd.
Rosenqvist is 34, won the Indy 500 and finished 2nd at Long Beach
this year.
Consequently, Arrow McLaren is releasing Nolan Siegel after
this season.  Siegel is 21.  His best finishes were 10th this year.
Arrow McLaren also announced they will be running a 4th car at the
2027 Indy 500 and it will be piloted once again by 2014 Indy 500
Winner Ryan Hunter-Reay.
Christian Lundgaard has been squeezed out at Arrow McLaren too.
Lundgaard is 24, has six top 5s including two wins this year and is
currently 3rd in points. McLaren says the reason they are giving up
Lundgaard is because they think Rosenqvist and Dixon are better on
oval tracks and their priority is to win the Indy 500.
7/23 - Dreyer & Reinbold Racing has purchased one IndyCar
charter from RLL with plans to compete full-time in 2027.  
Graham Rahal says it will be a partnership.
RLL thus reduces it's team from 3 to 2 cars next season.
08/15 - Since Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing will be cutting
back to a 2-car team in 2027, a driver has to be cut.  Graham
Rahal has assured us he will be back and Louis Foster has a
contract and has been told that he'll remain.  This means Mick
Schumacher will leave the team at the end of the season.
09/04 - Meyer Shank Racing has hired the 2026 Indy 500 Rookie
of the Year, Mick Schumacher, to drive the No. 66 Honda in 2027.
His ENVE Composites sponsor moves with him.
24
Conor Daly
9/5/26 - Multi-year contract
09/05 - Dreyer & Reinbold, joining IndyCar full-time in 2027, has
hired Conor Daly to race their No. 24 Honda.  
Daly last raced IndyCar full-time in 2025 for JHR.
Nikita Johnson - 2026 Indy NXT Champion
Enzo Fittipaldi - 2nd in Indy NXT
Tymek Kucharczyk - 3rd in Indy NXT
Kakunoshin Ohta - Japanese Super Formula
Alex Dunne - 3rd in F2
09/16 - AJ Foyt Racing signed 23-y/o Dennis Hauger to a multi-year
contract to drive the No. 14, displacing Santino Ferrucci, 28. The 2025
Indy NXT champion finished 22nd in points this year driving for Dale
Coyne Racing, capturing ROY in the process.  Ferrucci finished 17th in
points and his rookie teammate, Caio Collet, finished 24th.
Oct 13 - IMS RC - A.J. Foyt Racing set up a test for Indy NXT driver Josh Pierson to try and qualify
for a license to drive IndyCar.  He passed the evaluation and can now be hired for 2027.

Oct 26 -  Four drivers tested at Barber Motorsports Park -
Driver                      Team        Fastest Lap
Hunter McElrea        ECR         1'7.557"        - Currently ECR Reserve Driver
Alex Dunne              DCR         1'7.674"
Conor Daly              DCR         1'7.830"        - Already Hired
Nikita Johnson         DCR         1'8.020"
- likely staying at Juncos
09/29 - Danish driver Christian Lundgaard has been hired by Chip
Ganassi Racing to fill the seat left vacant by Scott Dixon in the No. 9
PNC Bank Honda after Dixon quit and moved to Arrow McLaren, where
Lundgaard has driven the past two years.
With technical support from
Team Penske.
With technical support from
Andretti Global
With technical support from
Chip Ganassi Racing
09/30/2026 - Race engineer Ross Bunnell has left Chip Ganassi Racing.  

Back in 2023, he left Dale Coyne Racing to join CGR mid-season, where he assisted
in turning Scott Dixon's season around.  

In 2025, CGR lent him to MSR to help Felix Rosenqvist.  Bunnell won the Indy 500
with Rosenqvist this year.  Now that Rosenqvist will be driving for Arrow McLaren
in 2027, Bunnel might be planning to join him there.
09/04 - IndyCars New Licensing Rules will likely affect "pay drivers" and
the teams that rely on their money to operate. Beginning in 2027, only
the top Indy NXT drivers will be automatically eligible to be licensed to
race in IndyCar, though others may become eligible upon review by
IndyCar at their discretion.  Similarly, drivers from other series may be
automatically eligible based upon their previous performance and
experience, while others will have to pass a review from IndyCar.
10/21/2026 - Chris Simmons, performance director at Chip Ganassi Racing, is
leaving the team and joining Arrow McLaren in 2027.  

Simmons joined CGR in 2003 and served as race engineer until his promotion in
2020 to director of performance.

It was also confirmed that Ross Bunnell will be joining him at Arrow McLaren.
10/23/26 - Race engineer Julian Robertson has retired from Chip Ganassi Racing.
He joined Ganassi in 1995 and was Alex Palou's race engineer the past 5 years.
10/27 - A.J. Foyt Racing has signed 20-year-old Indy NXT driver
Josh Pierson to a multi-year contract.  He will drive the No. 4 Chevy
in the IndyCar series beginning in 2027, joining Hauger as teammate.
This completes the line-up at AJ Foyt Racing.
(R) - rookie
10/29 - After four years in IndyCar, Sting Ray Robb's contract with
Juncos Hollinger Racing was not renewed for 2027.

Robb will be racing in the Asian Le Mans Series with United Autosports
next year.
So it seems Santino Ferrucci is out at AJ Foyt Racing.
Ferrucci raced at DCR in 2019 & 2020, part-time at RLL in 2021
then joined Foyt full-time in 2023.  
Ferrucci's Indy 500 record is remarkable - all Top Tens in eight
consecutive 500s. Perhaps McLaren should have hired him for
their 4th Indy 500 entry.
This means that, like Ferrucci, rookie Caio Collet is out at AJ Foyt
Racing.  His best finish this year was 9th - in Washington D.C.