Note: This series gathers the Inside Line panel to discuss the major storyline surrounding each NTT INDYCAR SERIES team entering the 2026 season. An installment on each team will appear at INDYCAR.com on Fridays.

Curt Cavin: Intrigue always surrounds the transition of the INDY NXT by Firestone champion to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, and it’s no different this year with Dennis Hauger, who won last year’s title with Andretti Global. Hauger (photo, top) will spend this year with Dale Coyne Racing, and he will get considerable help from the Andretti Global team fielding Will Power, Kyle Kirkwood and Marcus Ericsson. Like INDY NXT champions before him, Hauger should show flashes on the road courses and likely the street circuits, but how he fares on the ovals will be of great interest. Recent INDY NXT champions Christian Rasmussen (2023) and Louis Foster (2024) won all of the oval races in their title seasons; Hauger finished fifth, second, second and third in his. Hauger won INDY NXT races last year at six venues on this year’s INDYCAR SERIES schedule, which will benefit him in pursuit of the Rookie of the Year Award.

Michael Cannon

Eric Smith: How much can Michael Cannon elevate Dale Coyne Racing’s Indy program? Cannon (photo, above) is an Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval specialist, and his cars are routinely in the hunt for poles and wins. Most recently, in his first year with A.J. Foyt Racing in 2023, he helped guide both cars to top-12 qualifying efforts. That partnership also coincided with an alliance with Team Penske, which swept the front row in the first year of the relationship and won both Indianapolis 500s during that span. Cannon departed for PREMA Racing, and while he wasn’t with the team last May, his fingerprints were still on the car that won the pole. He joined DCR in June, meaning the team didn’t have his expertise last May. If they had, it’s hard to imagine Jacob Abel needing a last-second attempt to try and unsuccessfully bump teammate Rinus VeeKay from the Indy 500 field as the gun sounded. Now, with two new drivers -- including rookie Dennis Hauger, who had no oval experience before his 2025 INDY NXT championship run -- the question becomes: just how much stronger will DCR be at Indy with Cannon guiding the program?

Paul Kelly: Call me a master of the obvious, but the identity of the team’s second driver is a big question for this season, right? I find it hard to believe that driver will be someone without NTT INDYCAR SERIES experience, as it’s completely unrealistic to expect Dennis Hauger to lead the team as a rookie, regardless of how impressive his INDY NXT by Firestone championship season was in 2025. Rinus VeeKay elevated Coyne last year from its messy 2024 season, when nine drivers made at least one start in DCR cars in a game of “chase the check.” The Dutchman ran all 17 races for DCR and finished 14th in the standings, the best result for the team since Santino Ferrucci placed 13th in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. VeeKay also almost pulled off Coyne’s first win Sebastien Bourdais in 2018 at St. Petersburg when he chased Pato O’Ward to the checkered flag at Toronto. But VeeKay is gone to Juncos Hollinger Racing, so it figures Coyne will need to hire a veteran hand to continue that momentum. Romain Grosjean has expressed an interest to return to the series, and he spent a happy rookie season with DCR in 2021, including three podium finishes. Just sayin’ …