Ch-ch-changes at INDYCAR
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES, which closed out its 2024 season three weeks ago, has been working on organizational changes for its team owners as it prepares for a 2025 season. Owners of ten teams competing in the series have accepted charters for 25 entries, the first charter system to be implemented in the history of organization.
Charters for these 25 entries guarantee a starting position on the grid for all races – except the most important one, the Indianapolis 500. Entries must be chartered to qualify for the Leaders Circle program, an annual awards program that compensates the top 22 finishers in the prior year’s championship. These long-term charter agreements are slated to carry through to the close of the 2031 campaign.
This charter system has been talked about and percolating for at least two seasons. Terms of the agreement between INDYCAR and its teams made implementation possible at this time, with all ten teams standing behind the sanctioning organization’s desires to finalize this structure.
“This is an important development that demonstrates an aligned and optimistic vision for the future of our sport,” noted Mark Miles, president and CEO of Penske Entertainment Corporation, which owns and operates the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “I want to extend my sincere appreciation to our team owners for their collaboration and ideation throughout this process. Ultimately,” he said, “we’re pleased to have a system in place that provides greater value for our ownership and the entries they field.”
The Leaders Circle program that rewards the top 22 cars through entrant points brought high anxiety to the series finale, held in September at Nashville Superspeedway, as the last three positions were in play until the checkered flags. The 20th position went to Meyer Shank’s No. 66 Honda/Dallara, driven the second half of this year by David Malukas, 21st belongs to Juncos Hollinger’s Chevrolet-powered No. 78, which had a series of drivers and made it into the program thanks to optimal late-season finishes by Conor Daly, while the 22nd slot goes to the No. 20 of Ed Carpenter Racing, driven this year by Christian Rasmussen, who moves to the No. 21 (already in the program) for 2025 and places 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi in the No. 20 Chevy-powered Dallara.
The allocation of charters in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES goes to the following three-car teams: Team Penske, Andretti Global, Arrow McLaren, Chip Ganassi Racing and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Teams with a brace of entries are A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Dale Coyne Racing, Ed Carpenter Racing, Juncos Hollinger Racing and Meyer Shank Racing.
Charters were extended to team owners, based on their full-time entries over the previous two seasons. A maximum of three charters are being awarded per team. There were 27 regular entries during the 2024 season; Italian team PREMA is coming to make that 29 entries. This begs the question of whether the charter system implemented here will permit added members or if charters can be sold as they are in NASCAR.
There’s more action in the board rooms of INDYCAR teams, as Michael Andretti, who sold part of Andretti Global to Dan Towriss in early 2023, has restructured the team to give Towriss control of the organization. Andretti stays on as a strategic adviser of the squad he’s solely led since 2002. Towriss, the owner of Gainbridge and its Group 1001 holding company, has been part of Andretti’s push to join the Formula One World Championship.
The renaming to Andretti Global from Andretti Autosports came as Towriss joined the group. A team statement noted Andretti’s goal “has been to transition to a more strategic role and focus less on the operational side of the race team.” Michael Andretti is still listed as CEO and chairman of Andretti Global. Michael Andretti emphasized that he continues to have partial ownership of the team bearing his name; he’s relinquishing day-to-day operation to Towriss and Rob Edwards, who has been his right hand for years.
Andretti, in a letter to fans noted that he made the decision to step back, “For myself, my family and this team. I am not going away,” he confirmed. “I will be serving as an advisor for the team and will be available to help wherever I can. While you might see me less at the racetrack, know that my passion for the sport and my support for our team, and its people will remain unwavering.” Andretti has 10-year-old twins; most likely he’d prefer to be around to watch them mature, even though they’re close to their teen years, when it’s mandatory to ignore your parents.
The INDYCAR series is returning to Texas in 2026, but not on the Texas Motor Speedway 1.5-mile oval, where some of the most exhilarating racing has been held since the days of the Indy Racing League. Rather, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is planning the Grand Prix of Arlington, on the streets of that city.
The track is intended to weave through Arlington’s core sports and entertainment district and a celebration ceremony on Tuesday, October 8 at Texas Live! unveils additional details about the proposed event, which is intended to take place in March of 2026. Planning is already underway with Bill Miller, a veteran motorsport industry executive named president of the INDYCAR Grand Prix of Arlington.
Roger Penske, Penske Corporation chairman noted his pleasure with a “truly remarkable and innovative partnership,” that he expects will become one of the series cherished venues. “We’re grateful to the Cowboys, Rangers and REV Entertainment for entering into this partnership with us and, of course, to Arlington’s leadership team for their excitement and ongoing support,” he said.
With all of the changes being wrought in Indianapolis, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES officially closed out its 2024 season with a Victory Lap Celebration at Indianapolis Motor Speedway the final evening of September, celebrating Chip Ganassi Racing’s 16th championship and their driver Alex Palou’s third title in the last four years.
Palou is the seventh driver in series history to secure three titles in four years – and the first since Ganassi’s current team advisor and former driver Dario Franchitti accomplished the feat in 2009 through 2011. Palou had to wait until the final race at Nashville to earn his third title (last year he won it at the penultimate contest in Portland, OR) with 31 points in hand over Andretti Global’s Colton Herta, the winner on Nashville’s oval.
Palou started his INDYCAR career with Dale Coyne Racing in the protracted 2020 season, and it took all of three contests for him to land on the podium at Elkhart Lake’s Road America. At the Indianapolis 500, he earned a seventh-place starting spot – in the Fast Nine shootout – despite a broken weight jacker. Most likely that’s when Ganassi and Mike Hull, the team’s long-time managing director, decided to secure his services after Felix Rosenqvist left for Arrow McLaren.
The rest, as they say, is history. That history includes four more members of the Chip Ganassi Racing team who received special honors during the celebration: Linus Lundqvist earned Rookie of the Year honors, ahead of his teammate Kyffin Simpson (by 97 points); Ganassi accepted the award as Championship Owner and Ricky Davis earned the Pennzoil Chief Mechanic Award. Although he wasn’t cited at the gathering, much credit for Palou’s title goes to his strategist, Barry Wanser, whose illness last year left him on the sidelines. His return to the team in 2024 likely accelerated their success, with two victories and 13 top-five results in 17 races.