Buckle up, IndyCar's silly season revolves around wily veteran Will Power. What we're hearing

Indianapolis Star

21 hours ago

With the IndyCar season just past the halfway point and the paddock converging on Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course this weekend, long famous for playing host to endless amounts of closed-door conversations about drivers' and teams' future, we've entered that special time of the summer that at times can force on-track intrigue to take a back seat.
It's officially silly season. Just how silly will this year's edition be? A couple billionaires hold those cards, as they decide the futures of a modern-day IndyCar legend, a one-time Formula 1 hopeful and an ex-F1 driver in the midst of his toughest two seasons in the series since he joined in 2019.
Ultimately, the summer of 2025 in IndyCar could ultimately be remembered as the one where so many teams, big and small, successful and less so largely stayed pat, with almost no driver changes of outsized consequence, beyond the ones that always linger into November, December, January and sometimes even February.
Because as you look around the paddock, among the teams whose lineups are not without a shadow of a doubt locked down for 2026, who — when you consider the market of drivers on the outside looking in and the funding they may offer vs. the funding needs of teams on the market — would you really argue would be in their best interest to tear up their plans and start over?
Compared to last year's sea-change — 14 of the current crop of 27 full-time drivers find themselves in different seats or situations than what they began 2024 — there's real chances the market stays abnormally unchanged headed to 2026.
Or, like we saw in 2023, when Alex Palou surprised the paddock and stayed at Chip Ganassi Racing, ultimately influencing in some way Marcus Ericsson's switch to Andretti Global to replace Romain Grosjean, Felix Rosenqvist's leap to Meyer Shank Racing, David Malukas' slide over to Arrow McLaren and Callum Ilott's exit at Juncos Hollinger Racing for Grosjean, among others, the next eight weeks could soon be turned into an expensive, unpredictable game of musical chairs.
Here's where the market stands, what decisions will ultimately set free agency into motion, what teams will, could and won't be players and what drivers will be in play.
Not since Team Penske's swap of Josef Newgarden for Juan Pablo Montoya at the end of 2016 has IndyCar's winningest team been in a position to decide upon a true driver-for-driver move among its full-season lineup. Since then, the team has scaled back to three full-time cars after 2017, with Helio Castroneves switching to Indy 500-only and a Penske sportscar ride, and it ballooned up to four to accommodate then-rookie Scott McLaughlin for the 2021 campaign before losing Simon Pagenaud at the end of that year and switching back to three full-timers.
But with the installation of IndyCar's charter system this year, three full-time cars is the limit, preventing Penske from sizing up as it finds itself with both a championship-caliber driver in Will Power — who spent the back half of last year second in points before a seatbelt failure in the finale dropped him to fourth and leads the team in points seventh, hampered by a largely rough last month almost entirely free of his own doing — out of a contract after this year, as well as Malukas that the team has aligned itself with through Penske's technical alliance with A.J. Foyt Racing.
So what is one to do?
Penske Corp. president Bud Denker told RACER last month the team expects to have its lineup for next year settled by the end of July, if not before. And that has the rest of the paddock prepared to hold serve until then.
'I think (Will's) going to be the first domino to fall, and everything else will happen after, so we'll see,' Dale Coyne Racing driver Rinus VeeKay — himself considered by many to be one of the top free agent targets — told IndyStar. 'For me, it doesn't feel like any silly season has been happening yet.
'It doesn't feel like a lot of spaces are opening up. The biggest one that might is Penske, and no one's totally sure if they have a seat (open) or not. We'll see. I'm just going to wait until I have some interest lined up and see what's best for my long-term career plans.'
'I'm very good at it': Will Power has unshaken confidence in contract year with Team Penske
Power told IndyStar he still felt a sense of urgency to win, saying he didn't feel his place in the standings above his teammates — a spot he holds, held for most of last year and finished with in 2022 as the series champ — holds enough weight to solidify a future in the No. 12 Chevy.
The argument for Penske to hold serve with Power is strong. No driver in the paddock won more races a year ago or logged more podiums than him. Only points leader Palou has logged more top-6 finishes this year, and only two other drivers (Kyle Kirkwood, second, and Pato O'Ward, third) have as many in what has proven to be a bit of a zany season. Outside the Lap 1 crash at St. Pete of his own doing, his poor Indy 500 finish can be attributed in part to the team's qualifying penalties for modified attenuators, and he's since had a tire blow from pole at WWTR that ended his race in last place and found himself on the wrong strategy at Road America and finishing 14th.
And though the formal arrangement hasn't been confirmed, A.J. Foyt Racing team president Larry Foyt referenced to IndyStar last month some sort of connection between Team Penske and Malukas, one that has many in the paddock certain he's been tabbed as Power's heir apparent. Such a connection would mean that unless it's a promotion to Team Penske, Malukas isn't going anywhere else for 2026; there's no reason to rush to elevate the 23-year-old who finished runner up in the Indy 500 and qualified on the front row at Detroit and led dozens of laps at WWTR, but who only has two total top 10s in 2025 — opportunities for those at Detroit and WWTR lost due to self-inflicted mistakes.
But is Penske only willing to offer a one-year deal, or perhaps a one-year deal with a team option tacked onto the end of it, having handed Power two-year deals in 2021 and 2023? And perhaps more importantly, is Penske's winningest IndyCar driver in team history and someone who at 44 years old still feels he's at the top of his game, willing to take that after the 17 years the sides have spent together?
Should Penske and Power find a solution to stay together that both are happy with, all a sudden two of the top 3 open rides in the series can be taken off the board, but if there's not common ground to be found and Power and Malukas do anything other than a seat swap — made difficult not only by Power's higher salary but the lack of funding he brings to the table after Penske has helped make ends meet in some way this year on the No. 4 Chevy of Malukas — all of a sudden the flood gates could open.
Unfortunate for him, Power lacks another option in a championship-caliber ride to use as a bargaining chip against his longtime boss. He very well could end up with a take-it-or-leave-it offer, the kind Penske is known for within the paddock, and the ball could be in Power's court on what he thinks he's worth and how he wants the final years of his IndyCar career to play out.
This is another one of those team situations that could prove incredibly simple, but the ways in which this Andretti Global lineup could look very different come 2026 can't be overlooked.
At the top, though, it needs to be said: All three of the team's drivers — Colton Herta, Kirkwood and Ericsson — are signed through at least the end of 2026. That fact is most important when it comes to looking at the future of the No. 28 of Ericsson, who finds himself in a rut unlike the 2022 Indy 500 winner has experienced in his IndyCar career. Coming to Mid-Ohio, a track where he's finished in the top 6 four of his last five starts, the veteran Swedish driver sits 21st in the championship just past the halfway point.
No longer 'street-course merchant': Kyle Kirkwood 'in the zone' and serious IndyCar contender
We won't go through a race-by-race autopsy of his second season at Andretti Global, one that followed a 15th-place points finish a year ago, but needless to say the 34-year-old has again seen more than his share of bad luck while also not matching the pace and execution of his teammates nearly often enough. Had his team not fitted Ericsson's No. 28 Honda with an illegally manufactured part that was caught in post-race technical inspection at the 500, he'd have 36 more points (presuming it wasn't something that so drastically changed his performance in a race that was run so much sitting biding one's time in a pack and avoiding trouble).
Those now missing points he lost from being dropped from second in the 500 to 31st would have Ericsson 14th in the title race presently, just 25 points behind Herta in 10th (and even a couple points closer if you revert the 500 results back to how things ended on-track pre-penalties). All a sudden, things don't look great, but they don't look nearly as dire.
Team leadership has opted to make a swap of his lead race engineer for Mid-Ohio — a move you make if you're grasping at straws searching for answers and willing to try just about anything. It's also one you make, and if things don't get notably better, you start wondering what else could be done and if this marriage is working.
Now, Ericsson might find himself making a Fast Six appearance Saturday as he did a year ago, and he might find some rhythm on the short ovals that have been his strong suit in his career, and maybe he similarly shines at Toronto in a which similar to his two teammates a year ago, and all these behind-the-scenes whispers about the potential of Andretti Global to cut ties with a driver with a year left on his contract could become a moot point in two months. And maybe, too, TWG Motorsports CEO Dan Towriss and Andretti Global president Jill Gregory ultimately decide they don't want to be seen as a program that would leave a driver hanging when the results and the point standings don't tell close to the full story.
But in racing, it's the type of move you can't rule out.
'I finished second (in the 500) and was really close to winning that race, and that's the best result (Andretti Global) has had there since 2019, so I think all May I showed my strengths there and what I bring to the table,' Ericsson told IndyStar. 'We have my contract, and I respect that, and that's all I can say about that really.
'It's frustrating, no doubt about that, but the work I'm doing constantly on the mental side helps in these situations to not lose faith in what we're doing. The No. 28 car has been fast almost every weekend this year, and we just haven't been able to get away with almost any results, which is super frustrating, but that speed is going to bring results in we continue to do this the rest of the year.'
Insider: How Andretti Global is making a midseason shop switch into IndyStar's old printing center
When it comes to Herta, it's no secret team leadership has long seen the 25-year-old as Formula 1 material, helping earn him a lengthy extension nearly three years ago through 2027 that is rumored to make him far-and-away the highest-paid driver in the IndyCar paddock. Back when Michael Andretti was on the doorstep of buying into F1 four years ago, Herta flew to Europe and laid down competitive performances on the Sauber simulator, and he had other F1 teams looking seriously at putting together an offer in 2022 after impressive testing times with McLaren before his lack of a Super License ultimately made for an impasse.
Last year's IndyCar title runner-up told reporters early this year that any offer to jump into one of the two expansion F1 seats at Cadillac — a team TWG Motorsports, the parent company of Andretti Global, co-owns and runs with General Motors — for 2026 would be a decision he wouldn't take lightly and not an automatic slam dunk. It's also not guaranteed he'd even qualify, sitting 10th in the championship and needing to make up a 47-point gap to fourth place before the season's end to land a license, something that unless he rattles off several wins here soon is unlikely to be decided until the season finale Aug. 31.
Towriss and Gregory, among others in the TWG Motorsports camp, will be at Silverstone this weekend for the British Grand Prix to engage in substantive talks with drivers up for Cadillac F1's seats for next year, with reports in the paddock stating the team wishes to shore up one seat in the coming weeks with the other potentially taking until September to iron out — a timeline that could allow for Herta to remain in the mix.
Under consideration for any potential changes to Andretti Global's 2026 IndyCar lineup are a front-running tandem of Indy NXT drivers in the team's stable — rookies Dennis Hauger and Lochie Hughes — who've combined to win six of the seven races this year and all seven poles. The former, in particular, with his four wins in five starts to kick off the year, has wowed the paddock and without a doubt looks ready to make waves in IndyCar after three seasons in F2.
Four years ago, Michael Andretti lacked a ride for Kirkwood to slot into after his 2021 Indy Lights championship but signed the young American driver to a deal for the following year and made sure not to lose the homegrown talent. On the warmup broadcast at Road America, Towriss insinuated that such an arrangement could be in the cards for Hauger and Hughes, if not a full-blown Andretti IndyCar seat.
'(Road America polesitter) Louis Foster is a product of our system, and it makes me look at Dennis a different way. We're celebrating his success, but I don't want to create a monster that we have to compete with next year, so we've got to find a way to keep these guys in our system,' Towriss said.
Dan Towriss: F1 talks 'got very political', in part leading to Michael Andretti stepping down
In particular, it would seem to make Ericsson's seat all the hotter, knowing the team has a driver it feels it can't afford to lose but no seat for him at the moment, but it could also make for a rather turn-key option to replace Herta if he were to go off to F1. Andretti, too, could make for a left-field option for Power, though such a move, knowing it's one solely for the short term when there appear to be viable long-term options on the market, that would be a bit surprising.
'I think we're very blessed with the driver lineup we have right now in IndyCar,' Gregory told IndyStar, noting that the team 'doesn't have to worry about silly season,' despite the obvious potential storylines at play. '(Andretti Global COO) Rob (Edwards), myself, Dan, we want to keep our three guys we have focused on keeping the momentum we have going into the rest of 2025 and not worrying about anything else, as we look at this great crop of young talent and think on 'How do we cultivate that and find ways to make sure they get opportunities they need?'
'I feel like we're in a pretty good position.'
Together, that all seems to offer up at least reasonable chances for some real paddock-altering driver moves in the coming weeks – and yet, the situations outside Team Penske and Andretti Global offer a contrasting picture.
Here's where they stand:
Chip Ganassi Racing: I've been told definitively there's no reason to expect any changes to a lineup of Kyffin Simpson and his two teammates that by the end of the year may hold 10 titles between themselves: Scott Dixon and Palou.
Arrow McLaren: Though first-time full-season driver Nolan Siegel sits 20th in points with just three top 10s to show for his 21 IndyCar starts, team principal Tony Kanaan is adamant the 20-year-old deserves more time to try and find his footing. 'I actually said when we signed him that no matter what, we needed to develop him. 'This kid can have two horrible years.' We're not changing anything. We're here to help,' Kanaan told IndyStar of his support and belief in Siegel, alongside his two teammates who're both under contract beyond this year. Though some had pegged it for a possible Power destination, Kanaan has said definitively there's a 0% chance Arrow McLaren is in the market to sign the two-time champ.
How Nolan Siegel became rising star: He broke both wrists, then 'kicked everyone's a--'
Meyer Shank Racing: Outside the open seat at Penske and potentially open one at Foyt, MSR offers one of the three most-coveted rides in the sport. As things stand, Marcus Armstrong, the third-year driver in his second full-time season in the sport and his first with MSR, sits 11th points in the midst of three consecutive top 10s and four in his last five starts. The 24-year-old, who's contracted to Chip Ganassi Racing and presently on loan to MSR, ranks eighth in the paddock in average qualifying performance. 'We're in the process of working on that,' Shank told IndyStar when asked about the team's progress in securing Armstrong beyond this year. 'It's one of those things where it's not up to me, is it?' Armstrong said of his future: 'It's my job to drive the car fast, and at the end of the day, if they like me, they'll keep me, and if they don't they won't.'
This, too, would seem to represent fallback options for either Power or Ericsson, but doing so at the expense of losing one of the sport's young, fast, up-and-coming talents would seem a risky roll-of-the-dice. Andretti placing Hauger there for a year, only to snag him right back would seem like something CGR might not be too fond of as MSR's technical partner, given the likely displeasure with knowing a driver's about to run to perhaps your fiercest competitor with some level of knowledge of how you operate. And as promising as VeeKay looks, is he unquestionably better than what you have in Armstrong? I'd argue not.
Ed Carpenter Racing: Both veteran Alexander Rossi and first-year full-time driver Christian Rasmussen are signed to multi-year deals, team co-owner Ed Carpenter told IndyStar last month, adding that, 'We haven't had discussions on anything different' regarding next year's lineup. With both drivers inside the top 15 in points and ironically sandwiching ex-ECR driver VeeKay in points, Carpenter says he sees a raised floor in the team and a lengthy runway for improvement in various projects the team has on the docket for the short and medium term.
Notably, Rasmussen secured ECR's first podium in three years last month at WWTR.
A.J. Foyt Racing: Outside the team's situation with Malukas, it's also on a multi-year deal with Santino Ferrucci, who after a slow start to the year with a new engineer, has rattled off four consecutive top 5s, including the second and third podiums of his career. He sits ninth in points, the spot he finished a year ago in a career year.
Of note, his No. 14 car has for several years featured primary sponsorship from Sexton Properties stemming from the strong personal relationship that Marlyne Sexton has long had with AJ and the team. Her death last month leaves some understandable question marks as to the future of that backing.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing: Though the team finds its two youngest drivers mired down in 23rd and 25th in points at the season's halfway point, new team president Jay Frye told IndyStar he believes the team is 'solid' with its present lineup and wants to cultivate some consistency into 2026 after hiring Foster and Devlin DeFrancesco, who at 25 has less than three seasons under his belt and was out of the series in 2024, last offseason. Both have shown signs of pace and promise both in races and qualifying. DeFrancesco, too, comes with a notable amount of funding that's rare in the sport at the moment and something pivotal to a team like RLL who's done a lot of hiring and needs to pursue various offseason projects in search of more consistency.
Prema Racing: Ilott told IndyStar that he's signed to IndyCar's newest team well beyond the end of this year and said he's confident in the recent direction of the team's pace and overall progress. Series rookie and Indy 500 polesitter Robert Shwartzman, on the other hand, said 'nothing is for sure' regarding his future, though he expressed his desire to remain. 'We're working together trying to do our best to develop the team and the car, what's going to be next, we don't know,' he told IndyStar. 'I came here to IndyCar to do my best and show myself and show strong performances and show everybody that I'm a fighter. I came here to win and not just run around. That's my mentality, so whether that's going to be with Prema next year, which would be good, or somebody else, I don't know.'
Team CEO Piers Phillips was rather coy to IndyStar when asked about Ilott's certainty and Shwartzman's lack of it but noted that 'it's all about continuity' and that the team 'is very happy with both of them and the job they're doing at the moment.'
'Just a passenger hitting the wall': Robert Shwartzman's Indy 500 fairly tale ends
Juncos Hollinger Racing: With Sting Ray Robb signed to a multi-year deal as the highest-funded driver in the paddock, the team's focus this time of year shifts to Conor Daly, who's managed to deliver some funding for 2025 but still leaves some holes for the team, meaning team co-owner Brad Hollinger, to backfill. JHR is in a better place financially than previous years, but Hollinger continues to search for team partners.
In 14 starts with JHR dating back to last year, Daly has logged four top 10s and twice this year has appeared to be the car to beat on ovals. He would seem to represent a more than worthy rehire for 2026, but until the team's funding holes are remedied, there's reason why Daly has said publicly he often feels he's racing one weekend at a time.
Dale Coyne Racing: This is a tough team to get a grasp on for next year, between its funded driver that only once that has finished inside the top 20 this year and its veteran driver with five top 10s and two mechanical failure DNFs that should've led to two more. Though VeeKay would seem deserving of a jump to a higher caliber team for next year, such a destination doesn't appear to be clear cut. Staying with DCR is something he's considering, he told IndyStar noting that he's 'having a lot of fun' and said he hasn't enjoyed racing on a short oval as much as he did at WWTR in three years with legendary engineer Michael Cannon on his stand.