Finish line in sight for IndyCar silly season

IndyCar’s silly season for drivers is in its final throes as the four remaining seats across three teams are close to being filled.

AJ Foyt Racing’s No. 4 Chevy, which was piloted last season by Brazilian rookie Caio Collet, is expected to have the newly licensed Josh Pierson step into the car on a multi-year deal. Team president Larry Foyt told me earlier this week that he has a few more things to button up with partners, but once that business is done, its all-new line-up will be announced, with November as the most likely timeline for the confirmation.

Dale Coyne Racing is the only team left with multiple seats to fill across its Nos. 18 and 19 Hondas. New Indy NXT champion Nikita Johnson is tipped to take the second car which has traditionally been the slot for rookies, but I don’t have a feel for who will take the lead car. I thought Callum Ilott would be a great fit – especially with the partial budget he’s raised – but I haven’t heard anything to suggest he’s actually headed to Coyne.

As much as I’d love to tell you that Driver X is the one to look for in the No. 18 car, I don’t have a feel for who will get the nod after Dennis Hauger surprised Coyne by leaving for Foyt’s lead No. 14 Chevy.

That leaves Juncos Hollinger Racing’s second seat next to Rinus VeeKay as the last entry in need of a driver. Ilott, Nolan Siegel and others have been mentioned as possibilities, and I continue to hear Siegel mentioned more than any other as the strongest candidate to succeed Sting Ray Robb in the No. 77 as a complement to VeeKay.

Pierson to Foyt, Johnson to Coyne, and Siegel to Juncos Hollinger are currently unconfirmed, but I won't be surprised if all three land with those teams. Coyne’s No. 18 Honda is the big question mark.

The rest to offer in this update aren’t silly season items, but it’s worth sharing a couple of items that are silly-adjacent.

Meyer Shank Racing was planning to run Formula 1 veteran Yuki Tsunoda next Monday at Barber Motorsports Park where multiple teams will be conducting evaluation tests, but that plan has been scrapped as Tsunoda has elected to remain focused on F1 opportunities. Count the Japanese driver among the throngs of folks who hope to get the nod from Cadillac in 2027.

I’m told Tsunoda could take part in a test with MSR later in the year, while Honda’s Kakunoshin Ohta is also in the frame to get a test run in one of the team’s cars.

Arrow McLaren also earmarked the Barber evaluation day to sample 2025 Formula 2 champion Leonardo Fornaroli, but with his new appointment to McLaren’s FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar effort, the Barber timeline no longer works for the Italian. I’ve heard the evaluation outing with Fornaroli is likely to happen early in 2027, but nothing is confirmed.

Will there be October surprises for the 2027 IndyCar calendar? Michael Levitt/Lumen via Getty Images

I’ve had two team owners tell me they’ve heard IndyCar could release the rest of the 2027 schedule by the end of the week, which would be a welcome development. Teams are growing impatient as they’re unable to finalize their budgets while mysteries abound on where they’ll spend the second half of the calendar.

We published an interview a few months ago with Penske leader Bud Denker who told us, with no ambiguity, that the next calendar will be 17 races, period. I’ve been told this week that 17 is no longer a concrete number and it could reach 18, but could also shrink to 16…or simply hold at Denker’s 17.

Spain and a proposed date of July 17-18 continues to be spoken of as a sure thing, and if it comes to pass, a rumored sum between $150,000 to $200,000 is said to be the payout range per entry.

I’ve heard Nashville Superspeedway, after being in for a return, could be out, and I’ve also heard a Saturday night race on May 1 at Texas Motor Speedway as part of the NASCAR weekend is a possibility.

There’s more personnel changes in motion across a few teams that are developing, but I’ll save those for upcoming stories of their own.