Romain Grosjean returned to full-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES competition at the start of the 2026 season after being absent from the grid throughout the past season. This upcoming Sunday, May 24, he will make his fourth career start in the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The 40-year-old French-Swiss competitor was picked up by Dale Coyne Racing to pilot the No. 18 Dallara-Honda entry, one of the last open entries that was not yet vacated days before the 2026 IndyCar season commenced. As a result, Grosjean reunited with Dale Coyne Racing, the team with which he competed in his maiden IndyCar campaign on a part-time basis in 2021 following an 11-year career racing in Formula 1 between Lotus and Haas.
During his rookie IndyCar season (2021), Grosjean notched his first career pole in the Sonsio Grand Prix, three podiums (two runner-up results at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course and a third-place result at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca), and a 15th-place result in the final standings. Since then, he spent the following two seasons (2022-23) competing with Andretti Global before his previous full-time IndyCar campaign was in 2024 with Juncos Hollinger Racing. Grosjean then spent the 2025 season as a reserve competitor for Prema Racing when he was replaced at Juncos by Sting Ray Robb before his return to full-time INDYCAR with Dale Coyne struck before the start of the 2026 season.
Currently, Grosjean is ranked in 23rd place in the standings with an average finishing result of 17.6 and his highest-finishing result is eighth, which occurred at the Streets of St. Petersburg in early March. His on-track average-qualifying result stands at 12.2 as he made two Firestone Fast Six appearances and qualified sixth at both St. Petersburg and Barber Motorsports Park. Grosjean also has had a roller coaster history in three prior Indianapolis 500 starts, with respective finishes of 31st, 30th and 19th to his racing resume.
Despite the difficult start, Grosjean is content with the atmospheric environment in competing with Dale Coyne Racing and notes the team’s progress towards being competitive on the track. He now strives to implement the progress with on-track results for the remainder of the 2026 season, starting with this Sunday’s 110th running of the Indianapolis 500, as he also strives to become the first-time winner of the event since Alexander Rossi made the latest achievement in 2016.
“I think we had a good team,” Grosjean said in the DEX Imaging Media Center. “We haven’t had fast cars in qualifying, but we felt pretty good in traffic last week. I think we have a lot of experience in the timing stance and in the garage now. This is a great atmospheric team. I think we’ve made a lot of progress since race number one this year. It hasn’t been really showing on the track for various reasons, but I feel happy. I feel good. I’m glad to be in the team. I think it is a great atmosphere. Over the long months is important.”
Romain Grosjean’s 2026 Indianapolis 500 campaign is scheduled to occur this Sunday, May 24. The event’s pre-race coverage is slated to air at 10 a.m. ET before the drop of the green flag is scheduled to follow suit at 12:45 p.m. ET, both airing on FOX.
