IndyCar weighing options with clock ticking on PREMA

IndyCar Series president Doug Boles is rooting for PREMA Racing to make its return for a second season of action.

With a paddock-wide test in place for Monday and Tuesday at Sebring’s short course, an official test on the Phoenix oval the following week, and opening practice for the first race of the season just three weeks away at St. Petersburg, the clock is ticking for PREMA to fill the 26th and 27th grid positions for the year.

RELATED: PREMA misses IndyCar Content Days in Indianapolis

With the introduction of its charter system in 2025, Penske Entertainment capped its fields – outside of the Indianapolis 500 – at 27 cars, and while PREMA was not issued charters for its pair of entries, the series did accommodate its Nos. 83 and 90 Chevys as the only two approved non-charter cars to run throughout the season.

If PREMA is unable to take those spots at St. Petersburg or any of the other non-Indy races on the calendar, IndyCar would have two grid spaces available for other teams to fill without the threat of being bumped from each event. It’s here where Boles provided some thoughts on whether the series would welcome its 10 charter teams to file extra entries – or any other teams with the ability and interest – and try to take advantage of PREMA’s short- or long-term absence from the series.

“It's a great question, and one that we've talked about internally,” Boles told RACER. “There's the 25 charter cars, and then PREMA last year made up the field of 27. Our intent was to be 27 cars this year, and that would have included PREMA. We haven't really talked to anybody about additional cars during the season.

“Our preference would be that if we were going to have more than 25, we had somebody that was competing the full season, just because it's easier than cherry picking left and right on which races to do. Because then, if you had three teams that wanted to add a car to X races, who gets to do that? My guess where we'll land is if it's 25, it's probably 25 for the full season, but we haven't fully decided that.”

PREMA IndyCar CEO Piers Phillips came out of the 2025 season with a strong motivation to find new backers for the Indianapolis-based team and purchase it outright from PREMA. Those efforts continue today, but with the onset of a new season drawing closer, the timing for a sale and relaunch – if Phillips is successful – would likely push the team’s arrival past the first race on the calendar.

Patience, as IndyCar and key suppliers like Chevrolet and Firestone have practiced while Phillips attempts to bring PREMA back as a different entrant, has been extended in the hope of a positive outcome. Pivoting from Boles’ note regarding a strong preference for full-time participation with any teams that are interested in the two open grid positions, he says there’s no rush to close the door on PREMA if it isn’t ready to race at St. Petersburg.

“We've obviously stayed in touch with Piers and the team as they've been working through what PREMA could look like in 2026,” he added. “I think, honestly, it just depends on what PREMA looks like; we would definitely give them consideration, depending on their commitment to continue to run the rest of the season, depending on what point they're on the grid. There's value you give them for the investment that they made last year.”