As the IndyCar season reaches its end, the same can be said for silly season

The finish line is almost here for the 2026 season, and the same can be said for one of IndyCar’s most intensive silly seasons.

Following our last update, most of the new items mentioned remain unchanged like the expectations for AJ Foyt Racing to confirm Indy NXT veteran Josh Pierson, and for Juncos Hollinger Racing to become Hollinger Racing and confirm an extension for Rinus VeeKay.

Even so, a busy weekend of conversations at the Milwaukee Mile have added or clarified a few of the other items, so let’s dive into those with the farewell to an 18-race championship just days away at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

A reunion between Andretti and Chevrolet, with whom it won the 2012 championship, has hit the rocks. Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

Andretti Global

The plan to consolidate most of TWG Motorsports’ racing endeavors under the General Motors banner by switching the IndyCar team from Honda to Chevy is not moving forward.

With TWG’s Formula 1 and IMSA GTP programs aligned with Cadillac and its NASCAR program aligned Chevy, the return to Chevy in IndyCar where it won the 2012 championship was a long-rumored development that was said to be in the works for a possible Washington D.C. announcement until it was scratched.

I was told in Milwaukee the recent headlines with TWG owner Mark Walter and the federal investigation into his finances are behind the alleged decision by GM to step away from conducting new business with the team, and regardless of the reason, the return to Chevy isn’t happening.

Separately, I confirmed with Honda on Sunday that its engine supply relationship with Andretti will continue, which puts an end to this silly season item.

Grosjean and Hauger's futures are currently undecided. Chris Jones/IndyCar

Dale Coyne Racing

As is often the case with DCR, it would be senseless at this early stage to make declarative statements on who will be driving for the team next year, but Coyne did tell me between Race 2 and Race 1 that he wants to have a young driver paired with a veteran next season instead of going with two next-generation solutions.

It’s hard to answer whether that means the current lineup of Dennis Hauger and Romain Grosjean will continue, or if change with one or both is in the works, but it does suggest IndyCar — and Indy NXT, to a greater degree — could be in a worrisome place when it comes to graduation numbers for IndyCar’s official development series.

NXT leader Nikita Johnson (505 points), Enzo Fittipaldi (502), and Tymek Kucharczyk (476) stand the best chance of being crowned this weekend, and when it looked like Coyne was open to two young drivers, all three and a few others were viable possibilities for 2027. But, at least during this early window of where Coyne is headed, that’s changed.

Could 12th-place Josh Pierson be the only NXT driver to make it into IndyCar in 2027? I had multiple team owners raise that question and concern at Milwaukee as most have come to realize that unless Coyne decides to abandon Hauger in favor of one of the three NXT drivers with a realistic shot at winning the title, there’s a very real possibility the new NXT champ will not have a regular seat in IndyCar.

That happened twice in recent years when Linus Lundqvist won the title in 2022 and wasn’t on the grid until the end of 2023 as a three-race replacement for Tom Blomqvist at Meyer Shank Racing, and again with 2023 champ Christian Rasmussen who was hired by ECR in 2024 for road and street courses, plus the Indy 500, but did most of the season after team owner Ed Carpenter opted out of racing in the last three ovals.

Based on all the scenarios I laid out in the last update where Caio Collet is expected to land with Juncos Hollinger Racing and what we’ve been waiting on forever with Christian Lundgaard at Chip Ganassi Racing and so on, there are no other teams with seats to offer that would be available for front-running NXT drivers like Johnson, Fittipaldi, and Kucharczyk, which is a shame.

Barring a truly unexpected development, a promising talent is going to be celebrated as the new NXT champion and have no pathway to participate in IndyCar on a full-time basis next year.

It might be time for Penske Entertainment to start looking at creative solutions for the Indy NXT series it owns and its relationship with the IndyCar Series it owns. Having the new 2022 champ go rideless in 2023 until an underperforming driver got parked was an outlier. But then the 2023 champ also found himself without a full-time ride, and if it happens to the 2026 champ as well, that’s no longer an aberration; it’s a trend. Let’s hope something happens to resolve the issue in a normal manner, but if it doesn’t, Penske Entertainment might need to get creative.

Mick Schumacher's deal with MSR is expected to be signed any day now. Joe Skibinski/IndyCar

Meyer Shank Racing

We opened the door to a union between MSR and Mick Schumacher in July, and nothing has changed here on September 1 to suggest it won’t happen.

After checking in with a few people in Milwaukee, I was told it isn’t signed, but that is likely to change before the end of the week. Could an announcement come before we leave Laguna Seca? It’s on my radar as a distinct possibility.

Pairing Schumacher with Marcus Armstrong would make me look to 2028 as the next opportunity for the team to take another crack at signing a proven title contender to lead the organization. The hope is for Armstrong to develop into that person, but it’s hard to argue the current Rosenqvist-Armstrong lineup will be improved from a season-long performance standpoint by Armstrong and Schumacher.

Assuming the deal is concluded, it would shift any conversations regarding Yuki Tsunoda and other Honda-favored drivers to 2028 as well.

Tsunoda’s name was mentioned more than once in Milwaukee as part of a possible testing plan with Honda and MSR once the new 2028 Dallara Indy car arrives in 2027; it would be a surprise if all three of Honda’s preferred drivers — Tsunoda, Kakunoshin Ohta, and Linus Lundqvist — weren’t involved in testing the factory Dallara IR28 once manufacturer running commences in the first half of 2027.

All three drivers are said to be candidates to take the MSR-run Honda Racing Corporation U.S. factory seat in 2028 which will be fielded alongside MSR’s two existing cars, so while it appears Tsunoda, Ohta, and Lundqvist won’t be racing for the brand in IndyCar next season, they could be in competition for a bigger prize the year after.

Miscellaneous

IndyCar president Doug Boles said to expect the Dallara IR28 to conduct its first test on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval this month, and while the target is always subject to change, it could happen as soon as next week. Other testing venues like Nashville Speedway and Sebring are understood to be on deck as well, but like the IMS oval test, no fixed dates have been confirmed. According to those I’ve spoken to in the paddock, IR28 testing dates and locations have been added and deleted more than once, which is common at such an early stage of new-car development. Stay tuned for updates.