Note: This continues 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, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).

Starting Lineup: Will Power (No. 26 TWG Honda), Kyle Kirkwood (No. 27 Honda), Marcus Ericsson (No. 28 Delaware Life Honda).

2025 in Review: The 17-race season was a mixed bag for the team, and Kirkwood’s year was a perfect example. He started strong, winning three of the first eight races (Long Beach from the pole, Detroit and World Wide Technology Raceway), but the second half of the season saw one disappointing result after another (his average finish in the final nine races was 12.9). Still, Kirkwood finished a career-best fourth in the standings, and he could have finished third. Colton Herta’s final full-time INDYCAR SERIES season before transitioning to Europe saw a pair of third-place finishes (Detroit, Laguna Seca) and two poles (Detroit, Toronto). He opened the season with four consecutive top-four starting positions, but his average finish in those races was just 8.5. Herta led only a single lap in the first six races. The rest of the season was unspectacular by his standards, and he finished seventh in points (he lost a tiebreaker to Felix Rosenqvist for sixth place) a year after ending up second in the standings. Ericsson’s season was challenging on all fronts. He scored only two top-10 finishes (fifth in Toronto, sixth in St. Petersburg), and he not only saw Alex Palou overtake him for the lead late in the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, he was stripped of the second-place finishing position for an equipment violation. Kirkwood’s car was similarly penalized, resulting in official finishes of 31st and 32nd, respectively. Adding insult to injury, Herta finished 14th in the race, and Marco Andretti crashed out of his 20th and final try at winning the race his grandfather won in 1969. Power ended his 17-run with Team Penske by winning at Portland for his 45th career race win. He won his record-extending 71st career pole at Road America and finished ninth in the standings, highest among the team’s three drivers.

New for ’26: Power moving over from Team Penske is the most obvious new addition, but don’t sleep on the hiring of Ron Ruzewski as team principal. For years, Ruzewski was one of the elite members of Team Penske’s management team, and he will make the day-to-day decisions of this Indianapolis-based organization as Rob Edwards has transitioned to the role of chief performance officer of Andretti Global’s parent company, TWG Motorsports. At Indy, Marco Andretti will not be one of the team’s drivers for the first time since 2006, leaving the “500” void of an Andretti for the first time since 1964. The team has not named its fourth Indy driver, but Herta is considered a strong possibility.

Keep an Eye on This: Kirkwood (photo, bottom) was closer to contending for last year’s series championship than his fourth-place standing might suggest. After crossing Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s finish line in sixth place, his car was found to be out of the regulations. Effectively, that was a 24-point penalty. At season’s end, those points would have pushed him ahead of third-place Scott Dixon. Kirkwood was second to Palou in race wins (with three) and if he had earned even marginally better results from the “500” on he might have challenged Pato O’Ward for runner-up in the standings. Kirkwood’s five career wins have come on street circuits (four wins) and an oval (one), so he has shown he can win a different types of circuits. His multiyear contract extension with Andretti Global was announced in November.

Little-Known Fact: We know Power is a funny guy; after all, his brother is a comedian back in Australia. But Ericsson said he was enlightened to another part of his new teammate’s game. “He’s a lot more technical than I expected,” the former Formula One driver said. “I guess that’s why he’s been (competing) so long and is still so good at it.” Ericsson said Power is also chattier than expected, and he referenced the “hours” they’ve spent talking on the phone since Power officially was allowed to join the team Jan. 1. “He calls me up randomly and just starts talking,” Ericsson said. “I’ll be like, ‘Hey, I’m out for dinner,’ and he just keeps talking. He’s a funny guy. I’ve learned a lot from him.”

Kyle Kirkwood