Note: This is the first in a series of 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES team previews on INDYCAR.com. The season starts Sunday, March 1 with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (noon ET, FOX, FOX One, FOX Deportes, INDYCAR Radio Network).

Starting Lineup: Kyffin Simpson (No. 8 Sunoco Honda), Scott Dixon (No. 9 PNC Bank Honda), Alex Palou (No. 10 DHL Honda).

2025 in Review: Any season that includes an Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge victory and an NTT INDYCAR SERIES season championship is a rousing success, and Palou achieved both. His series title was his third in succession and fourth in five years, putting him in lofty company among the drivers in this sport’s history who have won at least four championships (he is one of six). Palou won eight of the 17 races in running away from the field. His advantage at year’s end was a staggering 196 points over second-place Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren, and it’s worth repeating that is the most dominating performance in the 20-plus years using this scoring system. For perspective, Dario Franchitti won his four season titles by a combined 47 points. Palou buried the competition early, winning five of the season’s first six races, including Indy, and he finished second in the other (Long Beach). He became CGR’s first Indy winner since Marcus Ericsson in 2022 and Chip Ganassi’s seventh winner overall (officially, CGR has won six since Emerson Fittipaldi’s 1989 win came as a Patrick Racing entry). CGR now has 17 season titles, matching Team Penske. The Indy win was Palou’s first on an oval, and he later added a short oval victory at Iowa. He also won at Road America and Laguna Seca, the latter part of a first, third, second and second stretch to end the season. For good measure, Palou added a career-high six poles, doubling his career total. Dixon didn’t have his best season, but he still finished third in the standings, the 16th time he has finished at least as high. Dixon won the Mid-Ohio race (overtaking Palou after the Spaniard made a rare mistake) to extend a pair of series records (23 seasons with a race win, including 21 consecutively). Dixon also scored six top-five finishes to push his career total to 148, another record. At Indy, Dixon passed Mario Andretti for career starts and ended the season with 419, including 356 consecutively (another record). Simpson had his best season as a series sophomore. He improved four positions in the standings with a 17th-place finish, with three top-five finishes, including his first career podium (third at Toronto).

New for ’26: The beauty of this program is that not much has changed. Palou’s group will again be the team to beat, and Dixon will have much the same backing him as he gets another chance to earn a record-tying seventh series championship. The most notable change is Simpson’s primary sponsor. Sunoco will be a primary backer of an INDYCAR team for the first time since 1972 when it was with Penske Racing’s Mark Donohue in an Indy-winning season. The blue-and-yellow livery on the No. 8 Honda is a true throwback to the Donohue days.

Keep an Eye on This: Many people believe Simpson, in his third season in the series, is the driver poised to make the largest standings leap from 2025, and that thinking has merit. Last year, Simpson doubled his previous high for laps led in a season, and he was significantly more competitive in his second year with CGR. Highlighted by his third-place finish in Toronto, Simpson had three top-five and six top-10 finishes.

Little-Known Fact(s): It’s remarkable how much Palou (photo, bottom) has accomplished in so little time. Remember, he didn’t join the series until 2020, and that was with Dale Coyne Racing. Since moving to CGR for 2021, he has won 19 races, an average of 3.8 per season. His next win makes him the 24th driver in INDYCAR history with 20 or more wins. If he again wins eight races, he will end the year in the top 15. As for Dixon, there aren’t many series marks he doesn’t own. One is total victories, and A.J. Foyt’s record (67) is surely safe for at least another year. Dixon has 59 career race wins, which means his next one makes him one of only two drivers with 60 or more. Dixon also can become just the second driver with 7,000 laps led if he nets another 77, which seems attainable (he led 91 laps last year). Mario Andretti has the record at 7,595. Finally, if Dixon finishes second in three more races, he will match Andretti’s record of 56.

Alex Palou