Inside Line: Most Significant Offseason Development?

Today’s question: What is the most significant development of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES offseason so far?

Curt Cavin: I’m looking squarely at the supporting cast of Alex Palou’s No. 10 car. So much has changed recently within Chip Ganassi Racing, including the retirement of Julian Robertson (photo, above), who engineered all five of Palou’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES championships (and an integral part of the organization since 1993). Palou also won’t have the expertise of several other key personnel when the green flag drops in St. Petersburg, and it’s not inconsequential that he will be sharing information with Christian Lundgaard instead of Scott Dixon. (Palou still will have strategist Barry Wanser, which is a big plus.) But how all of this change comes together for Palou will be fascinating to watch, and if he wins another title next year it will be further proof that he’s the best driver of his generation.

Eric Smith: As I typically have done, I went outside the box here. Sometimes it’s not necessarily the move, but the moves not made that catch my eye. Chip Ganassi Racing and Arrow McLaren are amid a reshuffle of drivers and engineering lineups. Their biggest two threats for wins and championships are Team Penske (photo, above: from left: drivers David Malukas, Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden) and Andretti Global. Both are running it back in 2027. In professional sports, teams talk about continuity and the advantages it poses. With two major organizations bringing back each of their driver trios and by all accounts keeping their pit stands status quo, I look for each to make another leap forward in 2027. Silence now could create noise later.

Arni Sribhen: For me, it’s the full-time return of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. With the advent of INDYCAR’s charter system, many thought the NTT INDYCAR SERIES was a closed club with no way for any potential team to join the series. But the Indianapolis 500 stalwarts have done just that, even if it means starting from scratch. After purchasing its charter from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Dreyer & Reinbold is back full time for 2027 with Conor Daly (photo, above) as its driver and a relationship with RLL as a Honda team. It will be interesting to see how the team builds in its return as a full-time team as it tries to finish the job started by the team’s late owner, Dennis Reinbold. The Reinbold family, especially Dennis and now his son Derek, has been loyal to the DRR crew since the team became an Indy 500-only team more than a decade ago. Many of the team’s core players, including team principal Chase Selman, have remained with the organization throughout. It would be a great tribute to see the team succeed.

Paul Kelly: This was a tough call for me between the return of INDYCAR SERIES racing to Europe with the Barcelona race in July 2027 or the continued testing of the IR-28 (photo, top) chassis. I’m choosing the new car. Alex Palou and Alexander Rossi have put the IR-28 through its paces on the smooth-as-glass Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval and the teeth-rattling bumps of the Sebring International Raceway short road course, about the two most diabolically opposite circuits one can image, since the season ended. And both tests went remarkably well, with both drivers able to turn ample laps with few to no problems. Sometimes I think we need to be reminded this is a brand-new car. It’s almost unheard of for a brand-new piece of technology to work this well out of the box. Development will continue in 2027, with all teams and drivers eventually taking the IR-28 for a spin, but the initial success bodes really well for a car that will look and race great starting in 2028.