With less than three months remaining until the commencement of the 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, a majority of teams and competitors have new or familiar faces or homes set in place while select seats remain within a handle of organizations.
The most recent name to be scratched off this year’s Silly Season topic is Sting Ray Robb, who will join A.J. Foyt Racing to pilot the No. 41 Dallara-Chevrolet. The news comes three months after the 26-year-old Robb from Boise, Idaho, completed his first campaign in the IndyCar circuit for Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing, where he ended up in 23rd place and accumulated 147 points.
Robb, a former champion of the Pro Mazda/Indy Pro 2000 Championship region and a runner-up finisher in the 2022 Indy Lights standings, is the only competitor currently confirmed to be competing for A.J. Foyt Racing for the upcoming season as the rest of the team’s driver lineup remains to be determined.
Another organization that is left undetermined regarding its driver lineup is Robb’s former team, Dale Coyne Racing. The team fielded two full-time entries for Robb and David Malukas, and a third entry for the Indianapolis 500 piloted by two-time Indy 500 champion Ryan Hunter-Reay. With both Robb and Malukas venturing to new teams and Hunter-Reay not having any racing plans set for the near future, the team’s search to fill its vacant seats continues approaching the 2024 season.
Despite having plans to field two cars for the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 in May 2024, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing have also yet to determine its two competitors who will be assuming the reigns of both entries. This past season, the team fielded the Nos. 23 and 24 Chevrolets for Hunter-Reay and Graham Rahal, respectively, with the latter replacing the injured Stefan Wilson. Having fielded at least one entry in the Indy 500 for 24 consecutive seasons, the team approaches the 2024 season aiming to extend the streak to 25 years with select names still on the market.
In the midst of a handful of teams who have vacant seats yet to be filled, a majority of organizations (Andretti Global, Arrow McLaren, Chip Ganassi Racing, Ed Carpenter Racing, Juncos Hollinger Racing, Meyer Shank Racing, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Team Penske) have driver lineups for the 2024 season set, with nearly all having new names joining their stable to compete alongside notable veterans, race winners and champions.
After fielding four full-time entries and a fifth for the Indianapolis 500 this past season while recording a total of two season victories, Andretti Global, which has been rebranded from Andretti Autosport, will shrink to a three-car operation for the upcoming season and for its lineup consisting of Colton Herta, Kyle Kirkwood and Marcus Ericsson. Ericsson, the 2022 Indianapolis 500 champion from Kumla, Sweden, joins Andretti following a four-year campaign at Chip Ganassi Racing, where he had also recorded four career victories, as he will be piloting the No. 28 Dallara-Honda, thus replacing Romain Grosjean, while Herta and Kirkwood, the latter who earned his first two career victories at the Streets of Long Beach and Nashville Street Circuit in 2023, retain driving responsibilities of the Nos. 26 and 27 Hondas, respectively.
The 2024 season will mark the second consecutive season where Arrow McLaren will field three full-time entries. On this occasion, a new face joins the organization. David Malukas, from Chicago, Illinois, will replace Felix Rosenqvist to pilot the No. 6 Dallara-Chevrolet, as he will compete alongside returning names Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi, both of whom endured winless seasons in 2023 and strive to return the McLaren name to Victory Lane in 2024. In addition, McLaren will field a fourth entry in conjunction with 14-time NASCAR championship-winning team Hendrick Motorsports for the upcoming 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 as the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson will attempt to qualify for the event while piloting the No. 17 Dallara-Chevrolet. For his bid, Larson, a native of Elk Grove, California, will also attempt to join the late John Andretti, Robby Gordon, Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch as competitors to perform “Double Duty” on Memorial Day weekend by competing in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day, thus comprising a total of 1,100 miles of racing.
Coming off championship No. 15 and winning half of the events in this past season’s IndyCar campaign, Chip Ganassi Racing returns with an expanded lineup that features two new names and a new promotion for one name alongside two championship-winning competitors in a bid to defend the title. Retaining their spots as full-time competitors of the Nos. 10 and 9 Hondas include the reigning two-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou and six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon, respectively, while Marcus Armstrong, the 2023 IndyCar Rookie of the Year from Christchurch, New Zealand, will campaign in his first full-time season with CGR in the No. 11 entry. New to the team are Linus Lundqvist, the 2022 Indy Lights champion from Tyresö, Sweden, who made select IndyCar starts for Meyer Shank Racing this past season and will pilot the No. 8 CGR Honda in 2024, and Kyffin Simpson, the 2023 European Le Mans Series champion in the LMP2 class division from Bridgetown, Barbados.
Ed Carpenter Racing will feature a new name. Christian Rasmussen will campaign on a part-time basis alongside team owner Ed Carpenter after celebrating a championship in this past season’s Indy NXT season. The 23-year-old Rasmussen from Copenhagen, Denmark, will drive ECR’s No. 20 Dallara-Chevrolet in all 11 road course and street events on the schedule, starting with the season opener at the Streets of St. Petersburg, while Carpenter, an Indianapolis veteran, will campaign in the remaining six oval events that includes the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500. Rasmussen will also attempt to compete in the Indy 500 in a third ECR entry that remains to be determined. With two competitors, the No. 20 entry will compete alongside the No. 21 entry that returns for returning full-time competitor Rinus VeeKay from Hoofddorp, Netherlands.
Coming off a strong season to date, Juncos Hollinger Racing, which has entered into a technical alliance with Arrow McLaren, will feature a new face piloting the team’s No. 77 Dallara-Chevrolet as Romain Grosjean replaces Callum Ilott in the entry while Agustin Canapino returns for a second stint with the team. Grosjean, a former Formula One competitor who competes under the French flag, transitions to JHR following a two-year campaign at Andretti Global, where he has registered six podiums and five runner-up results to date. Meanwhile, Canapino, a 33-year-old native from Arrecifes, Argentina, retains driving responsibilities of the No. 78 Chevrolet after ending up in 21st place with 180 points during last season’s championship standings.
Meyer Shank Racing will feature a new overhaul to its driver lineup for the 2024 campaign with the additions of new full-time competitors Tom Blomqvist and Felix Rosenqvist. Blomqvist, the 2022 IMSA SportsCar champion from Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, who made select starts with MSR this past season, joins the team as a first-time IndyCar competitor on a full-time basis in the No. 66 Dallara-Honda while Rosenqvist, a one-time IndyCar race winner from Värnamo, Sweden, joins MSR to drive the No. 60 Honda, replacing veteran Simon Pagenaud, following a five-year campaign competing between Chip Ganassi Racing and Arrow McLaren, where he has registered a total of six podiums to his IndyCar resume. Returning to the team for the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 is Hélio Castroneves, a four-time champion of the Indianapolis 500 who delivered the team’s first IndyCar victory during the 2021 Indy 500 and returns to compete for his record-setting fifth Indy 500 crown in the No. 06 Dallara-Honda.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, which achieved a single victory in the Streets of Toronto, Canada, this past season, welcomes Pietro Fittipaldi to its driver lineup as he will be piloting the No. 30 Dallara-Honda on a full-time basis and compete alongside returning names Graham Rahal and Christian Lundgaard, the latter who achieved his first career victory at Toronto. The 2024 season is set to mark Fittipaldi’s first full-time campaign in the IndyCar circuit after he made a combined nine starts during the 2018 and 2021 seasons. He is a former champion of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series and the World Series Formula V8 3.5 division.
Lastly, Team Penske returns as a three-car stable with the same competitors for a third consecutive season, headlined by returning champions Josef Newgarden and Will Power along with Scott McLaughlin. Newgarden, the reigning Indianapolis 500 champion and a two-time IndyCar champion from Hendersonville, Tennessee, retains driving responsibilities of the No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet, where he won four races in 2023, as he competes alongside Will Power, the 2018 Indy 500 champion and another two-time champion from Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, who returns to pilot the No. 12 Chevrolet and strives to return to Victory Lane after going winless in 2023. After recording a single victory and finishing in third place during this past season’s IndyCar campaign, McLaughlin, a three-time Supercars champion from Christchurch, New Zealand, returns to pilot Penske’s No. 3 Chevrolet for a third full-time season. With familiar names retaining their places at Team Penske, the organization strives for both an 18th IndyCar championship and a 20th Indianapolis 500 title for the 2024 season.
With nearly the entire grid of the 2024 NTT INDYCAR Series field set, the season is scheduled to commence at the Streets of St. Petersburg for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 10, 2024. The opener’s air broadcast coverage will be provided on NBC while the time start remains to be determined.
