With his upcoming expansion to field eight Indy Lights cars under the HMD Motorsports banner and a brand-new Indiana-based shop in the works, Henry Malukas says a move into the NTT IndyCar Series is the next step for the organization.

Entered into a two-year co-entrant arrangement with Dale Coyne Racing that runs through 2023 to field his son David in the No. 18 Honda, Malukas hasn’t set a specific date for taking his team to IndyCar, but he and HMD Motorsports general manager Mike Maurini are progressively building towards a future in the top series.

“It is the goal, and I just want it to be a natural move,” Malukas told RACER.

An expansion into IndyCar would not, as Maurini confirmed, come at the expense of HMD’s Indy Lights team; creating an IndyCar team would involve forming a separate program with dedicated crew.

Malukas likes the idea of having his son drive for him in IndyCar, but also acknowledges that when David’s contract with DCR is complete, there might be competition to secure his services.

“Our chief financial officer goes, ‘So do you think you would go direct racing against David?’” he continued. “And I said, ‘It’s very possible and I’m probably rooting for whatever team he’s on!’ I know that this is kind of crazy, but I like crazy. I don’t want to block anything for David. It’s just not something we have to be too stressful about.”

Malukas reinforced the notion that a move to IndyCar is not contingent upon his son serving as one of his drivers.

“I would like to have David, but I don’t want people to think I’ll make the team for him,” he said. “I’m open to him doing whatever he wants to do as a driver and we will naturally develop things. I watched my first IndyCar race in Michigan in 1990 and this dream will come true for me now.”