IndyCar’s Boles and manufacturer principals on their new deal, and what comes next

IndyCar Series President Doug Boles, General Motors performance and motorsports VP Jim Campbell, and Honda Racing Corporation USA President David Salters fielded a range of questions regarding the contract extensions and manufacturer charters that were recently executed.

• 25-car IndyCar fields looking likely to start 2026
• How manufacturer charters will move the IndyCar needle for 2028
• IndyCar weighing options with clock ticking on PREMA

RACER has extensively covered the topic with a number of recent features, including the links above, leaving some of the finer details to explore in a Q&A format from the press conference below (questions and answers have been amended for brevity).

Q: Does staying in IndyCar mean Honda will not branch out into other forms of racing like NASCAR?

SALTERS: We evaluate all series on their merit. Joining IndyCar doesn't preclude us from other things. So we evaluate things on their merit. We're thrilled to be an IndyCar, but we evaluate all the series continuously.

Q: What do the manufacturers plan to do with their charters in 2028? (Honda provided a detailed answer that warranted a dedicated story of its own)

CAMPBELL: This is a unique opportunity for us. We typically work with teams, and so we'll have the opportunity and some flexibility to determine how we actually apply that charter in the future, but it does give us a chance to develop people, do testing in a team, where we can really focus on that if we need to. And so it's an opportunity for us that's unique. We have a little flexibility in how we'll actually apply it, but typically we'll, we'll partner with the team.

Q: Are the manufacturer charters just for Chevy and Honda, or would IndyCar consider offering them to new engine partners in the future?

Boles: Right now, that's a complicated answer. We obviously had 25 charter holders going into this, we had to work with our charter holders to get to the point where 27 was something that our paddock and we all agreed to (by adding one apiece for Chevy and Honda). So at this point in time, we have not made it a confirmation or a firm thing that we would add additional ones, and we'll just see how the conversations go. There's a lot of reasons to be involved in the IndyCar Series, even before you get to the conversation about would we add another charter.

Q: The supply extensions took longer than expected. Has that affected the timeline for the new 2028 motors being ready for testing later this year?

Boles: The main components of the rules for 2028, 2.4-liter twin-turbo V6 hybrid motor, has been decided. Really, the next step for both Chevrolet and Honda and the IndyCar Series, is to sit down together and build out the final details of that. We are on schedule at the moment to actually have a car on track to begin testing sometime this summer. And so we feel like we continue to remain on track there.

In fact, today we will begin with both Chevy and Honda to start thinking about, what's the timeline? What are the things we want to get together on and make sure that we have those rules so that later, we can get back with everybody and say, ‘This is exactly what it looks like. I feel good about moving forward.’ I think we all have ideas of where we're going to go. We've got a great communication structure between the series and both of our manufacturers. So we've got some work to do, for sure, but I feel like we're going to get to that point quicker. We need to, we all know that, and so that's going to be a priority as we come out of this announcement.