The 2026 IndyCar Season - A Debrief

It's been a long season since we started out in St. Pete. The end result was expected, but the road to get there wasn't. Let's look back and recap the 2026 IndyCar season.

Sting Ray Robb

$15 million dollars to spend, and you still can't find a landing spot for 2027. The series has realized you're more trouble than you're worth. Even when you weren't wrecking other people's cars, you found yourself in the spotlight for getting in everyone's way. I fear for the safety of the GTP drivers that will come to put you a lap down in IMSA. If we're lucky, maybe no one will want you there either.

Caio Collet

There was a point where I thought Collet was the most impressive of the rookie class. He still might be, but the consistency just isn't there. Some of his DNFs weren't his fault, but a lot of them were, and AJ Foyt is already tight on funds. There's speed there. The question is if anyone is willing to take a chance on him for next season.

Mick Schumacher

People are excited for Mick's move to MSR. I'm not so sure. His only achievement is a single top-10. The rest of the season was decidedly mediocre. Yes, he was driving injured. So was half the field. Yes, he was still learning the car and the tracks. That doesn't excuse the racecraft. Several times he put himself into bad situations, spinning himself or the people around him. Racecraft is universal, and I didn't see the level of IQ I'd expect from a veteran of F1 and WEC.

The only legitimate qualifier is that he was in RLL equipment, and that team has been on a downward spiral for several years. Maybe MSR will let us gauge his true potential. I'll believe it when I see it.

Dennis Hauger

Hauger definitely deserved Rookie of the Year this season. It wasn't the flashiest, but it was just consistent enough to bring the title home, and the potential for greatness is clearly there. It's a shame he lost his Andretti support, but at least he can still find a future in the series with... AJ Foyt? Replacing Santino Ferrucci? Definitely didn't see that one coming.

Not sure exactly what Foyt's thinking here. Hauger has talent, but Ferrucci brings a checkbook and a good showing at the biggest race of the season. Maybe they're confident that they can get Josh Pierson approved; his win at Laguna Seca certainly helps his case. Maybe Collet's sponsorships are enough to cover the cost. Maybe Hauger brings more sponsorship than I expected. We'll see what Foyt is planning, especially with the extra costs of switching to the IR28 fast approaching.

Christian Rasmussen

I don't know what ECR is thinking. Rasmussen's only skill is on ovals, and even then, he was in legitimate contention for a win once, and that one ended with him 14th. 3 top-10s is great, sure, but none of those were race-winning performances; even at Gateway, where he finished 3rd, he wasn't really in play for a win. Outside of that, 1 top-10 on the road courses. That in itself is a miracle for that team. 7 DNFs on the season. What's the long-term play here? Because I don't see any improvement season over season.

Nolan Siegel

What a frustrating driver. Two and a half years of wasted potential followed by finally showing what you were capable of before dropping back to the status quo for the last three races. You had potential. You could have been so much better than this. Instead, you were just a complete waste of resources and money. Get out of the series.

Romain Grosjean

I don't know what I was expecting from Grosjean's return to Coyne. They haven't really been a competitive team in years, but Grosjean had a few good shots at winning during his first stint there. He had one good race this year and otherwise was entirely mediocre. At this point, I think Grosjean's best years are behind him, but with Hauger out, maybe there's still room for him at the inn.

Louis Foster

What am I supposed to make of this kid? Three top-10s is technically an improvement. He was in contention for a win at Markham. He also ended up in the wall there. It's only his second year. Maybe there's room for improvement. I'm just not sure we're going to see much more improvement from him.

Santino Ferrucci

Despite what Reddit would have you believe, Santino Ferrucci is not a bad race car driver. Foyt equipment is only going to take you so far, and he's dragged pretty much everyone you can out of it. That said, after a top-10 championship finish in 2024 and two podiums in 2025, 4 top-10s feels a bit lackluster. Apparently Foyt feels the same way, because they're cutting him loose. Maybe he can find a one-off 500 entry in his future.

Graham Rahal

I really thought this was going to be Rahal's year. Three podiums in the first half of the season? That team should have been celebrating like they'd just won the Astor Cup. Unfortunately, the bottom dropped out of it in the second half, and we got the RLL disaster we all know and love. You can tell he's an Ohio native; he brings the Factory of Sadness energy with him. Wild because he's not even from the Cleveland area. Maybe his dad rubbed off on him.

Alexander Rossi

I cannot wait for Rossi to retire. Every time I start to tick back to neutral on him, he does something to remind me why I dislike him. To make it worse, he never takes responsibility for any of it, always finding something or someone else to blame. Unfortunately, we still probably have close to a decade before retirement talk can actually begin. At least we don't have to worry about him being a championship contender ever again. Any hope of that died in 2019.

Marcus Armstrong

I was impressed with Armstrong when he was with CGR, and he's still been impressive in the move to Meyer Shank. Road America would have been a statement win for him if not for the engine failure. The problem is consistency. I get that MSR isn't top-tier equipment, but I'd like to see a bit less fluctuation between the good and bad days. He's about to become the big dog at MSR, so this is his chance to pull in a few more top-10s. And maybe Honda can stop giving him hand grenades in 2027.

Kyffin Simpson

I've been on the Kyffin Simpson hype train for a while. Last season, he started getting some good results in qualifying, This year, some decent results followed. With that said, 2027 is a season of reckoning. Chip Ganassi likes winners, and he provides the equipment to perform. Kyffin needs to win next year. Top-10s and top-5s are great, but CGR cars need to end up in victory lane.

Scott Dixon

Scott Dixon needs to retire. I'm serious. He's been on a downhill trajectory for the past several seasons, but at least he was able to salvage a decent championship position in the final standings. This season he wasn't so lucky. 12th in the standings? That's his worst finish since 2005. McLaren's not going to change anything, and there's only so much knowledge they're going to get out of him. He's said that he doesn't vibe with the hybrid, and we're getting a brand new car in 2028 anyway. At this point we're just prolonging the inevitable: the era of Scott Dixon has ended.

Will Power

What a weird season for Power. Five podiums doesn't tell the whole story. He saw the dysfunction of Andretti firsthand. It did seem to clean up a bit as the season went on, but it's still his worst championship result since 2009. When he was running part-time. If ever there was an indictment of Andretti's championship potential, I think this season for Power is it.

Rinus VeeKay

How has VeeKay never had a shot at a top-level team? We've known he's good, but this kind of finish is insane. He beat Scott Dixon and Will Power in the final standings. This is JHR's best championship finish ever. And he signed a multi-year deal to stay with them instead of moving to bigger and better things? This kid is way too loyal and it's to his detriment. You'd think he would have learned when ECR unceremoniously cut him loose.

Felix Rosenqvist

An Indy 500 win is a hell of a drug. It's brought him to a second stint at McLaren. I'm not too sure about this one. People are calling him a 500 ace, but he has three top-10s there out of 8 attempts. Not the best odds. He'll get you top-10s in the championship, but I don't think he's ever going to be a title contender. And even if your goal is to build an Indy 500 super team, I'm still not sure he's the guy I'd pick.

Josef Newgarden

This has to have been one of the most disappointing multi-win seasons I've ever seen. Sure, Josef was injured for part of it, but even that injury was a result of the rookiest of rookie mistakes. Seriously, how do you crash on your own on a restart at the Indy 500? He's lucky to have even cracked the top 10 in the championship with the way his season went.

Marcus Ericsson

Ericsson reminds me a lot of Rosenqvist: he'll get you top-10s but probably isn't ever going to make a run for a championship. 2026 was good enough for Andretti to give him an extension, and fair enough. He earned it. Still, I have to wonder if it was maybe worth taking a risk on Hauger. The floor with Ericsson is almost certainly higher, but I think the ceiling is lower. We'll see if he can keep racking up top 10s in 2027.

Scott McLaughlin

The first half of the season wasn't kind to Scott McLaughlin, and he doesn't have anyone to blame but himself. He's always been mistake-prone, but this was a whole new level. He did figure it out in the second half, and the win at Laguna Seca is great to take into the offseason. He needs to keep up that pace in 2027. He may be a Supercars legend, but as is, I'm not sure he's really Penske caliber in the IndyCar series.

David Malukas

I was not expecting David Malukas to be the no. 1 driver at Penske this year. Penske's had their troubles over the past two years, sure, but I was expecting a lot more from Newgarden and McLaughlin. Maybe Malukas really is that much better than both of them. Who knows?

The elephant in the room is that elusive first win. Not all of the ones that got away were his fault, but the point still stands: Penske equipment can win, and Malukas needs to. Like I said, Penske's had some troubles as of late, so I'll cut him some slack, but 2nd place isn't going to do it if he wants to stay at the top.

Pato O'Ward

An entire team built around you, and you couldn't even beat your younger and less experienced teammate. Pato was the no. 2 driver at McLaren this year, and it's likely that he couldn't take that. That's why Christian Lundgaard is being forced out. Sure, Pato had more wins, but consistency wins championships, and Lundgaard looked better on the bad days. 2027 had better be a championship-caliber season. Otherwise you're just going to make McLaren look even more foolish than they already do.

Christian Lundgaard

This kid's going to be good at Ganassi. Winning in RLL equipment should have been the first sign. Last season wasn't super impressive, but 2026 was a breakout year. Two wins, plus what should have been a third, all with a pit crew doing their best to choke it away at every possible opportunity. Zak Brown and Tony Kanan made a big mistake letting this kid walk. Hope he whoops McLaren's ass next year.

Kyle Kirkwood

I'll be honest: based on the past half-decade of Andretti failure, I wasn't expecting them to make it this far. We've known Kirkwood is good, but he definitely proved that he should be treated as a genuine title contender. He has two experienced teammates alongside him, and neither of them seems likely to be stealing his thunder. If anyone has a shot at dethroning Palou in the foreseeable future, it's Kyle Kirkwood. Just pray that Andretti doesn't revert fully to their lolcow ways in 2027.

Alex Palou

There's no doubt it was a dominant season from Alex Palou, but it was still technically a regression compared to 2025. Is that a sign that the man is human after all? Is the rest of the field slowly catching up? Who knows? What we do know is that there's one more season with the IR18 before the grand reset. Unfortunately, Palou has already said he vibes with the IR28 as well. That's not a good sign for the rest of the field. We'll see just how much the gap closes once everyone is reset to the same development level.