PRUETT: IndyCar silly season update - the Portland edition

It’s time for another run through the latest silly season developments as we embark on a three-week stretch that will decide the NTT IndyCar Series championship on September 26 in Long Beach.

Look for a flurry of driver confirmations – those coming and going – as we get deeper into September, which will finally bring some calm to a crazy driver market. Since we’re already up to our fourth silly season update, let’s bring all we’ve written since July forward into a compilation of what we know and all we think will happen in the coming weeks.

A.J. Foyt Racing

Not much to report here other than team president Larry Foyt continues to work on solidifying the budget for next season, and with that ongoing process, Sebastien Bourdais continues to wait and see if his name will remain on the No. 14 Chevy. Teammate Dalton Kellett is also unsigned for 2022, but says he’s interested in remaining with the team.

Questions of interest: Does Rokit, sponsor of the No. 14 entry, have plans for Tatiana Calderon to go beyond the test she did with the Foyt team a few months ago? And could Dan Ticktum, England’s one-man controversy generator, find a new American opportunity through Rokit?

Andretti Autosport

The biggest piece of the silly season puzzle finally fell into place with Andretti’s signing of Romain Grosjean to drive the No. 28 Honda for next year and beyond. Ryan Hunter-Reay, who initially hoped to stay with the team in a part-time program, will not return.

Colton Herta and Alexander Rossi are set to remain on, leaving the No. 29 currently piloted by James Hinchcliffe as the only question mark. We’ve been consistent in saying Andretti Indy Lights talent Devlin DeFrancesco is expected to be in the car next year as part of a multi-year deal.

Hinch wants to continue in IndyCar if a competitive seat can be found, but with COVID taking a toll on some sponsorship deals, he’d need to be hired to drive. Is the Mayor of Hinchtown headed for a smaller team in need of a veteran wheelman, or to the NBC Sports commentary booth?

Hinchcliffe is winding down his current stint with Andretti, but the crystal ball isn't clear about what lies next for the Canadian. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images

For those who read our story about Michael Andretti doing his best to land a Formula 1 team – with Sauber/Alfa Romeo positioned as the top target – I can say that since the piece appeared on RACER, more indicators have come in to paint a very clear portrait that he is serious about the initiative and has one or more partners who are committed to try and turn long odds into a real shot at F1 team ownership. It's by no means a done deal, and there’s more to the story, but I’ll save that for another day.

Arrow McLaren SP

Hopes were high for a third full-time car to enter the fray next season, but I’m told Arrow McLaren SP will ride with championship leader Pato O’Ward and teammate Felix Rosenqvist next year. And while full-time expansion does not appear to be on the cards, be on the lookout for that third entry to do part-time duty that goes beyond the month of May on the Indy road course and the Indy 500. Tough to say how many races it will enter, but it sounds like 2022 will be used as a warmup to ready the team for three full-season cars in 2023.

Even better: Let the speculation begin on which driver(s) will get the nod to give the third car – and team – a taste of their skills as the hunt begins for the right person to complement AMSP’s young stars.

Carlin Racing

We know team veteran Max Chilton has taken a look around the paddock to see if and what might be found with a bigger team – including Rahal Letterman Lanigan – but I’ve not heard of serious openings waiting to be filled. If Max isn’t back for a fifth season with Carlin, it’s hard to say where else he’d land. With that in mind, a Carlin return would appear to make the most sense for Chilton.

The team has been clear on its intent to become a two-car program, and is there a better fit than Conor Daly? He’s loved by the Florida-based squad, and while there’s still a possibility Daly could remain as a part-timer at Ed Carpenter Racing, I’ve heard too many names mentioned as replacements for Daly at ECR to inspire much confidence.

Chip Ganassi Racing

Scott Dixon, Alex Palou, Jimmie Johnson, and Tony Kanaan are all under contract for 2022. The only outlier is Marcus Ericsson, who holds fifth in the championship. Although some took umbrage with a previous silly season update where the Swede was described as being out of contract after 2021 – pointing to stories on other outlets that said otherwise – Ericsson is indeed unsigned for 2022 at the moment. This, however, is expected to be resolved ASAP with a new multi-year agreement.

One bit of housekeeping to clear up in the near future is how CGR would handle Johnson taking part in the Indy 500 or other ovals where Kanaan is signed to drive the No. 48 Honda. The obvious answer would be to field a fifth car for Kanaan – sponsorship permitting – using CGR’s sports car crew, but the team says it has yet to map out the contingencies for any Johnson/Kanaan oval conflicts that might arise.

Dale Coyne Racing

Dale Coyne and his co-entrant partners can’t be enthused about a third consecutive season on the horizon where they’ll have 100-percent driver turnover. Grosjean is off to Andretti which leaves a vacancy in the No. 51 DCR with Rick Ware Racing Honda, Ed Jones isn’t expected to return to the No. 18 DCR with Vasser Sullivan Honda, and so for now, TBD is where we’re at with both entries for 2022.

It seemed like Alex Albon was going to be the easy replacement for Romain Grosjean in the No. 51 DCR with Rick Ware Racing Honda, but he’s been locked in at the Williams F1 team. So with the No. 51 car, it’s anybody’s call on who Coyne and Ware could place in the machine, but the pool of options might not be too hard to assemble.

Are you a quick European driver looking for a chance of scenery? This could be you! Phillip Abbott/Motorsport Images

Take Coyne’s history of being enamored with European drivers, apply his genuine passion for trying to find the next big thing, and then start combing through the last few years of Formula 1 to find those who are headed to or already on the sidelines. Once that list is assembled, move to F2 to look at those who finished outside the top two or three in recent years to add more to the list. And finally, don’t forget an outlier series like the Japanese Super Formula, where Palou was found. While there’s no guarantee the next DCRwRWR driver will come from that Euro-centric group, the odds are certainly favorable.

Among the current IndyCar drivers searching for work, Hinch has been mentioned as a worthy consideration for the No. 51, and could a return by Conor Daly be the right play by DCR? Indy Lights championship leader David Malukas – from the team’s home state of Illinois – is also part of the rumored assembly of domestic solutions. Wherever Malukas winds up, I’d expect it to be as a co-entry with his father’s HMD Motorsports team.

The absurdist within me loves the idea of a double co-entry, giving us Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing with HMD Motorsports, or DCRwRWRwHMDM.

On the DCRwVS side, Vasser and Sullivan just might have a magical solution for the No. 18 Honda with Kyle Kirkwood. We know the Indy Lights driver is highly coveted by his team owner Michael Andretti, but it’s hard to see where Kirkwood would fit into the team’s IndyCar operation next year. If there’s nothing at Andretti’s big team for the American who has six wins and holds second in the Lights standings, you can expect DCRwVS to take a hard look at how they might secure his services.

Vasser and Sullivan are more than familiar with Kirkwood’s talents after adding him to their Lexus RC F GT3 IMSA program last season, and he’s been a rocket in the V8-powered GT cars since his arrival in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series.

A perfect scenario would have Kirkwood representing Vasser and Sullivan in IndyCar and IMSA, and with the co-entrants having declared their intent to step away from Coyne and form their own IndyCar program in the near future, getting a head start with a next-generation talent like Kirkwood sounds like a smart plan if it can be arranged.

As a slight aside, bear in mind that Andretti is involved in many series, and if it isn’t IndyCar, could IMSA, Formula E, or other Andretti-related opportunities keep Kirkwood from being snapped up by a DCRwVS?

Ed Carpenter Racing

Team owner Ed Carpenter and Rinus VeeKay will continue in their respective roles, leaving the organization to figure out whether it has the budget to add a second full-time car, or if Carpenter’s ride share in the No. 20 Chevy will continue with a Daly or similar for the road and street courses.

Plenty of drivers appear to be on ECR’s radar, and as we’ve written a few times, everything hinges on whether the Air Force sponsorship returns. If so, we know there’s a need for an American driver to represent the military branch; Daly’s been the key to the partnership for many years across multiple teams. Hunter-Reay, Kirkwood, and Malukas have all been spoken of as prime fits for ECR, and of the three, Malukas is the only one with a budget to add on top of whatever an Air Force or other sponsor would contribute.

Would an ECRwHMDM link-up be something to consider with Carpenter in the No. 20, or in a full-time car for the Indy Lights frontrunner? It wouldn’t be the first time, following the recent ECR with Scuderia Corsa alliance than ran through 2019.

Juncos Hollinger Racing

It’s too early to add much here, but Ricardo Juncos and Brad Hollinger are serious about getting ready for a single-car, full-time campaign next season with the No. 77 Chevy, and they’ve been clear with every driver on their radar about those intentions.

They’ve nixed one or more driver options to close the 2021 championship because those pilots had 2022 seats secured elsewhere in the racing world, so while F2 runner up and F1 test driver Callum Ilott isn’t a sure thing to return next year, JHR would not have signed him for the last three races if there wasn’t a chance of keeping him if all goes well.

Meyer Shank Racing

Although I’m not ready to formally state that Simon Pagenaud will be driving for Meyer Shank Racing next year, I can say about a dozen solid people have told me it will happen. Assuming Pagenaud is confirmed, and at this point, I have no reason to believe he won’t be named for the No. 60 Honda, that would be one heck of a year-to-year makeover for MSR.

The outgoing Jack Harvey can win races for RLL; that’s not a question, and who knows, he and MSR could take one of the three left to run this year. But having a new two-car lineup with Pagenaud and Helio Castroneves, who have five years of chemistry developed at Team Penske, and five combined Indy 500 wins, and 40 combined CART/IndyCar victories, is an altogether different animal.

Will Ilott's name remain affixed to the side of Juncos Hollinger's No.77 through 2022? James Black/IndyCar

Rahal Letterman Lanigan

There’s an interesting debate that’s said to be taking place inside Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing regarding its third car. Co-owner Mike Lanigan is reportedly keen on having Santino Ferrucci as the No. 45 Honda’s full-time driver next year; co-owner Bobby Rahal is supposedly curious to see if Oliver Askew could be the right solution, and RLL president Piers Phillips is said to covet his Danish find, Christian Lundgaard.

Lundgaard was thought to be under serious consideration for the second Williams F1 seat, but with that door closed, the fourth-place qualifier at the recent Indy road course round appears to be facing an overabundance of availability. Another interesting name I’ve heard for the third RLL car is Hunter-Reay.

Quality opportunities appear to be diminishing for RHR, and with Graham Rahal and Jack Harvey set to steer the team forward in 2022, maybe the presence of a series champion and Indy 500 in the program would bring a stronger foundation – and a higher profile for sponsors – if the other drivers from the No. 45 evaluation group aren’t converted to full-time members of the RLL family?

As has been the case since we first reported Harvey will take over from two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato in the No. 30 Honda, I don’t know what the Japanese star has planned for the future. Whatever it is, I hope he stays in the series and continues to chase his third Indy 500 win with RLL or another strong team.

Team Penske

Josef Newgarden, Will Power, and Scott McLaughlin are all under contract for 2022. Unfortunately, I’ve heard nothing to suggest a new contract has been offered to Simon Pagenaud. But I have heard on numerous occasions that Team Penske will be trimming its full-time roster to three entries. Provided that’s true, Penske would be the only team I’m aware of that will downsize for next season.

Top Gun Racing

I recently spoke with TGR’s Bill Throckmorton (who owns and runs the team with his wife Stephanie), and after a stellar debut with RC Enerson on the Indy road course, he says the new fan favorites are looking to do a slightly larger program next year with more runs at Indy with the 500 and the road courses, and hopefully a few more events within a reasonable driving distance from their Indianapolis base.

Miscellaneous

* A number of team owners found themselves with mixed emotions after the return to Iowa Speedway was recently announced. Everyone’s happy to be going back. But after pleading for IndyCar to take oval doubleheaders off the schedule for 2022 and beyond, and having been assured that request would be heeded, many have said the confirmation of Iowa as a doubleheader, in the second half of the season, where a bad wreck in Race 1 could have bigger championship ramifications in Race 2, was not met with universal cheer.

* A return to Homestead-Miami Speedway was being explored – to the point where the series was looking to hold Spring Training on the combo oval and road course – but track owner ISC is said to have shot it down.

* Although everything looks like it’s a go to run the last three races without interruption, I’ve heard IndyCar is ready to use the IMS road course as a fallback option if COVID or Lord knows what else gets in the way of Laguna Seca or Long Beach from being held.

* A 9/11 tribute will be held Saturday morning at 7:28 a.m. on pit lane in Portland.

* We focus on driver movement and team growth or contraction with each silly season edition, but changes among race engineers—coming or going—can be just as impactful. There are a few that are already in motion, which will make for some interesting reporting in the weeks ahead.

* Some of Robin Miller’s friends plan on donning sweatpants and retro racing t-shirts in his honor this weekend. It’s easy to hear Miller, in his patented sing-song Uncle Bobby voice, saying, ‘Son, they all look like meeee!'