Grosjean eager to leave a Phoenix weekend to forget in the rearview mirror

It was a weekend of problems for Romain Grosjean and the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda at Phoenix Raceway, which he hopes to correct on Sunday in Arlington. The Swiss-born Frenchman’s stated goal is to finish inside the top 10 at every race this season, and after starting sixth and finishing eighth to open his 2026 account at St. Petersburg, the plan was working as intended. But Phoenix Raceway had different ideas for the 39-year-old.

Gearing issues in practice were followed by a hybrid failure and a run to 20th in qualifying. Resolving the issue for Saturday’s race introduced another issue as Grosjean was halted by a clutch line failure while trying to pull away from the grid. The misfortune left the returning veteran sitting on the sidelines and last in the race, which dropped Grosjean to 17th in the standings.

His rookie teammate Dennis Hauger was more fortunate after being tipped into a spin coming off Turn 2 early in the 250-lap race. After rolling backwards without making contact, Hauger continued on to take 15th in his first IndyCar oval race.

Combined with his run to 10th at St. Petersburg, Hauger heads to this weekend’s race on the streets around the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers stadiums holding 11th in the standings, and as a whole, the Coyne team has been the biggest surprise in the opening stage of the season.

“We had an amazing time in St. Pete, and we need to confirm we can do that again in Arlington, but I don't see why not,” Grosjean told RACER. “I think it's all due to the work that was put in and the experience that was brought in, engineers and drivers and the crew. And I do think there was more on the table in St. Pete, so I'm hoping we can do better in Arlington. We just need to get a clean weekend. I think that's what we did really well in St. Pete that we didn't do in Phoenix. But it's a great start of the season. Dennis is very good. And, you know, Dale Coyne is Dale Coyne. It somehow always works, which is great.”

Grosjean’s all-top-10s focus hasn’t changed, but he also wants to avoid putting too much pressure on the team.

“I don't want to set up too-high expectations,” he said. “We were little bit late getting everything together with the team, but I think we just keep it simple. I like to keep it simple as well. You know, we're not saving the world. We're going round and round as fast as we can and having fun. And if we do so, it works out pretty well.”

IndyCar’s leading teams and drivers tend to get the first invites to spend time on big driver-in-the-loop simulators to prepare for the races, and with Arlington serving as a brand-new event for everyone, Grosjean says he’s been doing his best to learn the sprawling 14-turn street circuit through available means.

“I watch a couple of videos on YouTube from people playing video games,” he continued. “I don't have access to the simulator. I don't think I will all year long; Dennis has some days through the partnership with (Andretti Global), but I don't think I've got any days on the sim, so I'll go and walk the track on Thursday. It looks fun. I'm excited about it. It's a very long street course, which should work in favor of making good racing.”