Meet the 10 INDYCAR Teams Competing for the 2026 Championship

Of the 10 full-time organizations in the INDYCAR Series, six have a different driver lineup for 2026. As the new meets the old, here’s a look at each organization’s 2026 lineup and outlook as an exciting new season embarks Sunday at St. Petersburg (Noon ET on FOX). Chip Ganassi Racing Returning drivers (2025 finish): No. 10 Alex Palou (first), No. 9 Scott Dixon (third), No. 8 Kyffin Simpson (17th) 2025 wins: Palou 8 (St. Petersburg, Thermal, Barber, Indianapolis road course, Indianapolis, Road America, Iowa-2, Laguna Seca); Dixon 1 (Mid-Ohio) Keys To Success: For Palou and his team, it’s trying to find improvements without impacting its dominance — knowing that other teams are working to improve as well. One of those is Dixon, who views his third-place finish in the standings in the scope of Palou’s domination, making it a not so great year for him. Simpson showed significant progress last year and must continue to build. Biggest Hurdle: Not allowing the competition to catch up to Palou. And continuing to use the Meyer Shank alliance to its benefit. Fast Fact: Alex Palou led 778 laps last year, nearly twice as many as the next driver on the laps led list (Josef Newgarden, 393). Arrow McLaren Returning drivers (2025 finish): No. 5 Pato O’Ward (second), No. 7 Christian Lundgaard (fifth), No. 6 Nolan Siegel (22nd) 2025 wins: O’Ward 2 (Iowa-1, Toronto) Keys To Success: Continuing the steady improvement from last year won’t be easy because the gains likely will be more subtle and not as big. For Lundgaard, improvement on the ovals is key, and Ryan Hunter-Reay, who will drive for the team at the Indianapolis 500 could play a pivotal role. Siegel needs to show the improvement as Tony Kanaan has put him on the hot seat. Some new hires in the last year behind the scenes, including Lundgaard’s pairing with strategist Kyle Moyer (formerly of Penske) need to prove to be good moves. Biggest Hurdle: The team has a new shop and consistency in its lineup. Those should translate into more success. If it doesn’t, any quick changes need to be the right ones and not just change for change sake if things aren’t working out. Fast Fact: Last year was the first season where McLaren had two drivers finish in the top-five in the standings since it got back into INDYCAR racing in 2020. Andretti Global Returning drivers (2025 finish): No. 27 Kyle Kirkwood (fourth), No. 28 Marcus Ericsson (20th)New driver: No. 26 Will Power (ninth at Ganassi) 2025 wins: Kirkwood 3 (Long Beach, Detroit, Gateway) Keys To Success: Being more consistent is going to be key for this group. Integrating Power into the program and using what he can bring and putting it into action could determine where they improve. New team principal Ron Ruzewski will need to create an atmosphere where the transition will be smooth. Ericsson, in a contract year, needs to get off to a strong start if he doesn’t want his future questioned. Biggest Hurdle: There are enough new faces that immediate success and major growth might not come as quickly as they hope, and that can frustrate many who are used to winning. Fast Fact: Andretti had three wins in 2025. It seeks its first season with more than three wins since 2018. Meyer Shank Racing Returning drivers (2025 finish): No. 60 Felix Rosenqvist (sixth), No. 66 Marcus Armstrong (eighth) Keys To Success: Building on the first year of the Chip Ganassi Racing relationship, these drivers are among those looking from the jump of being in the top-10 consistently to more top-5 (they had just six top-fives among them last year) and threatening to win. That should come with experience. Biggest Hurdle: Both Rosenqvist and Armstrong have set the bar high and staying there can be tough. They need to have fewer bad days. Rosenqvist ended 2025 with three finishes of 19th or worse among the last five starts. Fast Fact: One of the reasons for their strong 2025 season? Rosenqvist ranked fourth in laps completed last year; Armstrong was sixth. Team Penske Returning drivers (2025 finish): No. 2 Josef Newgarden (12th), No. 3 Scott McLaughlin (10th)New driver: No. 12 David Malukas (11th with AJ Foyt Racing) 2025 wins: Power 1 (Portland); Newgarden 1 (Nashville) Keys To Success: Finding the Penske mojo back. That might seem weird to say, but Penske needs to find its swagger. That comes with fast race cars. But it also comes with cohesiveness and a direction, something it didn’t have amid the administrative upheaval last year. Biggest Hurdle: Not letting any early setbacks send them into a spiral. Frustration could easily set in with this group. If Malukas doesn’t perform well right away, the noise will grow that Penske made a mistake replacing Power. Fast Fact: The last time Team Penske didn’t win more than two races in a season was in 2015. ECR Returning drivers (2025 finish): No. 21 Christian Rasmussen (13th), No. 20 Alexander Rossi (15th) 2025 wins: Rasmussen 1 (Milwaukee) Keys To Success: Continuing progress can be difficult, but this team has shown speed in early testing. The investment from new team co-owner Ted Gelov has shown that money does buy speed. But it also increases expectations. Managing both is critical. Capitalizing on the veteran (Rossi) and up-and-comer (Rasmussen) dynamic is key for team chemistry. Biggest Hurdle: Not letting the good days divert their focus. And not letting the bad days divert their focus. Fast Fact: Rasmussen’s victory at Milwaukee was the first for the organization since Rinus VeeKay won in 2021 on the Indianapolis road course. A.J. Foyt Racing Returning driver (2025 finish): No. 14 Santino Ferrucci (16th)New driver: No. 4 Caio Collet (Indy NXT, second) Keys To Success: Losing Malukas and adding Collet is a big difference when it comes to personality and experience. More consistency is needed, and that could be hard to come by with a rookie, albeit a talented one, in Collet. Biggest Hurdle: Doing the most without the depth of the other organizations and making sure the Penske alliance provides some benefits now that Malukas has moved to Penske. Fast Fact: Ferrucci’s four top-five finishes in 2025 was the most for the team since Eliseo Salazar had four in 2001. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Returning driver (2025 finish): No. 15 Graham Rahal (19th), No. 45 Louis Foster (22nd)New driver: No. 47 Mick Schumacher (Alpine WEC Hypercar) Keys To Success: There were some bright spots in 2025 but not enough of them. Adding Mick Schumacher (replacing Devlin DeFrancesco) brings more excitement … and exposure. The team brought in several new faces behind the scenes and their new processes or approaches will need to work. The good thing is this group of drivers likely has open minds when it comes to new paths. Biggest Hurdle: There are going to continue to be speed bumps for this organization. Keeping everything on the road is critical. Fast Fact: Graham Rahal was one of two drivers to be running at the finish in every race last season. Scott Dixon was the other. Juncos Hollinger Racing Returning driver (2025 finish): No. 77 Sting Ray Robb (25th)New Driver: No. 76 Rinus VeeKay (14th with Dale Coyne Racing) Keys To Success: VeeKay had a strong season last year and is looking to build as the replacement of Conor Daly. If he doesn’t have as strong a start, everyone will wonder if this change was the right one. Biggest Hurdle: This is still a team that is growing and in a bit of transition. That typically means all the days won’t be good. Fast Fact: JHR drivers led laps in four races last year. Dale Coyne Racing Returning drivers (2025 finish): NoneNew drivers: No. 18 Romain Grosjean (Prema reserve); No. 19 Dennis Hauger (Indy NXT champion) Keys To Success: Defining success for this organization would be finishing in the top half of the field more consistently. They have two quite hungry drivers with Grosjean not having a full-time ride last year and Hauger, an Andretti driver, looking to make noise as a rookie (and potentially make an argument he should be in an Andretti car next year). The new drivers replace VeeKay and Jacob Abel. Biggest Hurdle: The team didn’t sign Grosjean until a few weeks ago, a sign that they were still trying to determine the best driver-sponsorship-funding combination. Some patience will be required within the organization and neither of these drivers probably want to be all that patient. Fast Fact: VeeKay’s seven top-10s were the most for a Dale Coyne driver since Sebastien Bourdais in 2019. [WATCH: INDYCAR Drivers Star in Ads Ahead of 2026 Season] Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.