Jacen's IndyCar 2025 Silly Season Analysis

The IndyCar 2025 season has come to a close, leaving us with over 3 months to speculate and analyze the various driver and team changes that will take place for the 2026 season. As someone completely unqualified to do so, I'd like to provide my own analysis on the changes that have already happened and the changes that might be to come.

Will Power Leaving Penske

Everyone knew this was a contract year for Will Power, and the question of whether or not he and Roger Penske would come to an agreement lingered throughout the year. The longer things went on, the less likely I was that Power would end up being given a contract, and that was probably not helped by the firing of Tim Cindric in the fallout of the Indy 500 scandal. It's now finally official: Will Power will not be returning to Team Penske in 2026. Roger has shown that he doesn't have much loyalty, particularly in IndyCar and WEC over the years, so it's likely that he didn't want to commit to a multi-year contract and Power wouldn't accept anything less.

Power will still be in the series, moving over to Andretti to take over the #26 car. This is something of a sidegrade, with Andretti being one of the top 4 teams in the series. However, they have a legacy of sabotaging themselves, especially on the #26, so we'll have to see how Power adapts to the new team.

David Malukas' Promotion

With the Penske #12 open, speculation was that David Malukas was likely to move from AJ Foyt to Team Penske, with some people saying the deal was already inked mid-season.

With the technical alliance between Foyt and Penske, it was always assumed that Malukas' signing at Foyt was to keep him in the Penske stable until a ride opened up. While nothing is official at the time of writing, moving Malukas to the #12 seems like a pretty logical progression.

As far as skill is concerned, Malukas has shown flashes of brilliance while driving for Foyt, Meyer Shank Racing, and DCR, especially on the ovals. However, those results are not super consistent, and he's still making some rookie mistakes as he finishes his fourth season. Whether that's due to the car or the driver, we can only guess until we actually see him behind the wheel of the #12, if and when that happens.

Colton Herta to Europe

Colton Herta has been in the middle of F1 speculation for a couple of years, and he's been a shining example of how much of a farce the FIA Super License system really is. However, now that Andretti's F1 team is finally coming to fruition (albeit without any Andrettis being involved), things are heating up again with the potential of putting Herta behind the wheel of one of those cars in the future.

The problem is that he still needs that Super License. Rumors were that Herta would be moving to F2 to fulfill that requirement. Now, Herta has been confirmed to be vacating the #26 to become a test driver for the brand-new Cadillac F1 in 2026, with additional plans to run in F2 next season.

One of the names connected to the F2 rumor has been Prema Racing. Interestingly, a lot of the fan reaction I saw to the F2 rumor was less concern about Herta's talent and more concern with Prema being in declining form as of late. If Herta does finalize an F2 seat, how he will perform in that environment remains to be seen. It's certainly a gutsy move to give up a guaranteed IndyCar seat for an F1 seat that may take years to develop, if it ever develops.

Rinus VeeKay Leaving DCR

After a roller coaster season, ranging from almost missing the Indy 500 to a podium finish at Toronto, Rinus Veekay has decided not to return to Dale Coyne Racing for 2026. With the rumors surrounding Power, Malukas, and Herta, this was a change that came almost out of nowhere for me.

The rumors are that VeeKay might land in Malukas' seat at Foyt, with Will Buxton suggesting that Josef Newgarden's #2 seat at Penske might be available at the end of the 2026 season, putting VeeKay in line to take over. Personally, I'd be a bit surprised to see Newgarden give up a ride at one of the top 4 teams in the series, but with how chaotic IndyCar silly season tends to be, anything is possible.

Dennis Hauger's Debut

Andretti Global owner Dan Towriss has stated that he wants Dennis Hauger, the 2025 Indy NXT champion, in IndyCar next season. The question is, where exactly does he land?

Andretti did have a car available with Herta leaving for F1, but that's been snapped up by Power. Foyt has an opening, but that's probably going to end up with VeeKay. On top of that, I doubt Andretti would want to loan Hauger to a Chevy team anyway.

Veekay's recently vacated DCR seat is the most legitimate option, being the only currently available Honda seat.

Moving Toronto to Markham

This isn't really silly season news, but it is still very relevant to the 2026 season. While the full schedule isn't officially released yet, it has been announced that the Toronto GP is becoming the Ontario GP and moving to Markham to fix a conflict with the World Cup. I like Toronto, but it has been responsible for a lot of low-IQ racing the past two years, so maybe a change of scenery will help fix that. Or, given IndyCar's history of going to new tracks, maybe it'll make the problem worse. There's only one way to find out.

With how terrible of a track the new Detroit circuit is, I have a hard time trusting IndyCar when they announce a new track layout. However, the Markham layout seems to be pretty decent on paper, with a combination of high- and low-speed corners, and notably missing the 90-degree slop that plagues Detroit. How exactly it will race in practice remains to be seen. The one thing I cannot stand is the double-sided pit lane that IndyCar insists on shoehorning into every new track they make. It's the dumbest thing IndyCar has ever invented, and I hope we give up on trying to make it a thing one day.

Speaking of the 2026 schedule, Arlington is also confirmed for 2026, which seems to also be a pretty good track on paper and based on simulations. We can assume a lot of common staple races will also return for next year. One big question mark is Mexico City, which seems to be a surprising challenge for IndyCar to lock in. I'm not holding my breath to see it in 2026, but time will tell.

Conclusion

IndyCar has a lot of on-track chaos, and, for the third year in a row, that chaos has bled to the off-track action as well. With the Newgarden rumor setting us up for 2026 as well, depending on who has a contract expiring next year, it'll be interesting to see exactly where the chips fall as IndyCar continues moving forward.