Foyt working to carry momentum into 2026

It wasn’t so long ago that AJ Foyt Racing was fighting to get up and off from IndyCar’s floor. A few too many years of rough financial realities meant the proud team founded by the all-time great and four-time Indianapolis 500 winner was starving.

Locked in survival mode, and forced to rely on paying drivers whose funding allowed Foyt’s team to survive, the program paid a steep price with its competitiveness. That’s where a conversation between team principal Larry Foyt and former Team Penske president Tim Cindric set a plan in motion to benefit both teams for years to come.

Foyt would share knowledge and information it used to excel at the Indy 500, where Penske’s cars had lost their edge. In turn, Penske would help Foyt everywhere else by supplying chassis setup data to help the beleaguered team strike a more competitive chord. It began in the summer of 2023 as Penske-built dampers and chassis setup data flowed into the Chevy-powered Foyt cars, and by 2024, a promising young Penske race engineer by the name of James Schnabel was assigned to the No. 14 car driven by Santino Ferrucci.

The pairing was an immediate hit, as Ferrucci and Schnabel took the No. 14 entry from the 19th-place it earned in the 2023 championship to 10th in a single season. In approximately two years – from the summer of 2023 to today – the Foyt team has leapt forward in the rankings, and Penske went on to have its most dominant month of Mays in ages in 2024 with Josef Newgarden, who won his second consecutive Indy 500.

And with Penske’s signing and placement of David Malukas in the No. 4 Foyt car for 2025 and the shifting of Schnabel to serve as his race engineer, the second Foyt entry has undergone the same kind of competitive transformation, trading its run to 20th in 2024 to its current place of 10th in the Drivers’ standings.

In a season where one team in Chip Ganassi Racing and a single driver in Alex Palou have dominated the conversation, Foyt’s collective march forward with both cars has been one of the great subplots throughout the year.

“Certainly working with Penske has been great, no doubt, and we've just been able to attract some really good people on our side to complement everything that Penske brings to the equation,” Foyt told RACER. “Our group and their group works well together, and everybody's pulling the same direction, and then when you’ve got two competitive drivers as well like Santino and David, there can't be enough said about that.

“I think it's just been a good year all around for the team. We've gotten some consistency, some good people that are now in places that are doing a great job. We just want to keep it going.”

Malukas (left) has settled in fast at Foyt, but the team's chances of retaining him depend on whether Power (right) stays at Penske. Travis Hinkle/IMS

The combined quality of the technical alliance is on full display as within the three Team Penske cars and the two from Foyt, Penske’s Will Power is tops among the quintet in sixth place among drivers, and second in the overarching Penske-Foyt group is Malukas in 10th. Penske’s Scott McLaughlin ranks third in 11th, Ferrucci is fourth in 14th, and Newgarden is fifth in 18th.

To contribute to the relationship by blending into Penske’s championship presence with the second- and fourth-best cars in the stable is a testament to AJ Foyt Racing’s elevation with Penske’s influence.

It’s in looking ahead where some uncertainty comes into the frame.

Malukas, with his Penske ties, is widely expected to get the nod to replace Will Power in the No. 12 Chevy, and Schnabel is tipped to go with him and complete the driver-engineer move from the No. 4. That would leave Foyt with an empty seat, an unbudgeted car, and a potential disruption to the team’s momentum entering the offseason.

Waiting to get confirmation from Penske on its plans for Malukas, and whether the driver and funding for the No. 4 will carry over for another season, is where Larry Foyt finds himself as the season speeds towards its end on August 31 in Nashville.

“David's been great to have, no doubt, got a lot of talent, and really quick,” Foyt said. “Definitely a funny, interesting guy. He cracks me up. And then he’s done a great job. Would love to keep them around for another year; not sure about what's going to happen there, but we'll just see and keep working on things. And if that's not the way it's going to be, that'll be okay, and we'll keep going.”

On a positive front, Ferrucci is signed to a multi-year contract and the team has made significant progress in securing new sponsorship to support the No. 14. With the recent passing of Marlyne Sexton, whose Sexton Properties business has sponsored the No. 14 since a former sponsor defaulted on its payments, Foyt has sought a new income stream that would not rely on the benevolence of the Sexton family. Although there’s no immediate announcement in place, steady progress is being made that would welcome more companies to the legendary No. 14 entry.

“You know, losing Marlyne, she was more than just a sponsor, you know,” Foyt said. “She was really a rock and an inspiration and a cheerleader and a supporter, and her daughters have been great as well. They're helping us, but also, I know long-term, I don't want to be leaning on them all the time. So we are talking to a lot of our current sponsors, working on new ones, and we’re very encouraged by the reception we’re having. Definitely busy right now working on the funding side, for sure.”