by William Soquet / LASTCAR.info Staff Writer

The 2023-2024 IndyCar offseason was one of the most active in recent memory, with rumors kicking up in full force right around the Indianapolis 500 in late May. At one point, over half of the grid’s 27 full-time seats looked to be in play. While the ultimate number of changes fell just short of that, there are still plenty of moves to dissect.

NEW TEAM: #4-Chip Ganassi Racing

You’d be forgiven if you didn’t know who Kyffin Simpson is. The 19-year-old Barbados native, who races under the Cayman Islands flag, was fairly pedestrian in the American open-wheel ladder system formerly known as the Road to Indy. In fact, his two most public moments in Indy NXT were a disqualification from a race at Barber Motorsports Park and a pole at Road America that ended in an eighth-place finish. However, money gets you a lot of places in motorsports, and Simpson’s father David is a well-connected Caribbean businessman. Simpson had a ‘development deal’ with Ganassi in 2023, but most expected him to wait another year in Indy NXT before moving up to the IndyCar series. Clearly, that did not happen. With the funding in hand, Ganassi rolled out a fifth entry for 2024. To his credit, Simpson was a solid 14th at St. Petersburg before running towards the back of the pack at Thermal.

DRIVER CHANGE: #6-Arrow McLaren

For whatever reason, the pairing of Felix Rosenqvist and Arrow McLaren just never worked out as intended. The Swedish driver came to McLaren as a race winner at Chip Ganassi Racing alongside multiple other podium appearances. Despite three podium appearances across three seasons, the consistent performances simply weren’t there. Rosenqvist was the lowest-finishing Arrow McLaren car each season with the team. In search of more finishes farther up the grid, the team let the driver walk. Callum Ilott was the name most closely associated with the seat, but in the late summer, he appeared headed towards another season behind the wheel of a Juncos Hollinger car. With no other standout candidates, the team settled on David Malukas, who spent two years at Dale Coyne Racing to kick off his IndyCar career. The pairing was announced just before the 2023 season finale.

However, the story doesn’t stop there. Malukas was involved in a mountain bike accident over the offseason and injured his wrist. Ilott had, by that point, separated from Juncos and picked up a drive in the World Endurance Championship. He was available for the first two events on the IndyCar calendar, so McLaren picked him up in what can be described as a full-circle moment. Ilott was 12th at St. Petersburg and missed the cut for the main event at Thermal. Malukas is not expected to race at Long Beach and Ilott is busy, so former Formula 2 champion Theo Pourchaire is expected to get the call from McLaren to drive the #6 car there.

DRIVER CHANGE: #8-Chip Ganassi Racing

Marcus Ericsson was an Indy 500-winning driver for Chip Ganassi Racing, but it became clear in the middle of the 2023 season that he would have to look elsewhere for a drive in 2024 between a lack of budget and the desire for a salary that the team was unwilling to foot. The logical option was for Ganassi to pick the cream of the free agent crop to take his seat for 2024. They did that, just in an unconventional way. Linus Lundqvist was the 2022 Indy Lights champion but did not have any rides lined up at the beginning of 2023. He was tapped as a late-season sub for Meyer Shank Racing in its #60 car, showing plenty of speed before a crash at Nashville and putting in solid efforts at the Indy road course and Gateway as well. Lundqvist was signed by Ganassi on August 31, less than a month after his IndyCar debut. He was punted by Romain Grosjean in his opening race with Ganassi at St. Petersburg, resulting in a 23rd-place finish.

DRIVER CHANGE: #11-Chip Ganassi Racing

Taking the renumbered entry that used to belong to Jimmie Johnson, Marcus Armstrong acquitted himself well in 2023. The New Zealander ran only the road and street courses, but nabbed five top-ten finishes and secured Rookie of the Year despite missing five races. He elevated to a full-time program with Ganassi in 2024, bumping Takuma Sato from his oval program with the team that resulted in two top-ten finishes, three finishes of 20th or worse, and nothing in between.

NEW TEAM: #17-Arrow McLaren with Hendrick

Kyle Larson is such a generational talent that the ‘what if’ questions began bouncing around fairly early with him. His background in dirt racing and aptitude for almost everything he drove begged questions of how he would handle The Double – racing the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same day. On January 12, 2023, McLaren and Hendrick Motorsports announced an effort for the 2024 Indianapolis 500. Since then, Larson has completed a number of tests, including the Open Test at Indianapolis this past week. If he completes The Double, he will be the first driver to do so since Kurt Busch in 2014.

DRIVER CHANGE: #18-Dale Coyne Racing

It was almost a vintage Dale Coyne offseason for longtime IndyCar fans. A promising young driver that Dale helps bring into the series gets signed by a bigger team, leading the team owner to go on a months-long hunt for drivers that concludes with practically no time to spare before the season starts. While it wasn’t to the level of announcing the driver after first practice at the season opener, Coyne was by far the last team owner to lock down drivers for full-season cars. Several early candidates went in and out the revolving door for a ride that needed significant budget. Devlin DeFrancesco never got a deal done. Danial Frost elected to enter the Singaporean military for his mandatory service. Towards the end of the offseason, Jack Harvey and Nolan Siegel emerged as the hot names, and during the week before St. Petersburg, that’s who was announced to drive the car. Siegel signed on for four races, maintaining his rookie status for 2025 while running full-time in Indy NXT this year. Harvey will complete the schedule, looking for a career reboot after a lackluster tenure at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

DRIVER CHANGE: #20-Ed Carpenter Racing

Conor Daly was relieved of his duties as the driver of the #20 car after Detroit in 2023. ECR brought in veteran Ryan Hunter-Reay to fill out the season, though his results were hardly better than Daly’s. The 2024 season brings a revisited approach to the team: owner Ed Carpenter runs the ovals, and a young gun takes the road and street courses. That young gun this year is Christian Rasmussen, the 2023 Indy NXT champion. He will also run a third ECR car at the Indianapolis 500. The Danish driver was 21st at St. Petersburg in his IndyCar debut and did not advance to the main event at Thermal.

DRIVER CHANGE: #24-Dreyer & Reinbold Racing

Following his exit from Ed Carpenter Racing and subsequent subbing for teams across the IndyCar paddock in 2023, Conor Daly set his sights on becoming a full-time NASCAR Truck Series driver. While that didn’t happen, Indiana’s native son still secured a ride for the Indianapolis 500. Daly will take over the car driven by Graham Rahal last year at the 500 following Stefan Wilson’s practice crash. The combo of Daly and Hunter-Reay now gives DRR two bona fide shots at winning the Indianapolis 500. Sponsorship for the car will be supplied by Polkadot, a blockchain company.

DRIVER CHANGE: #28-Andretti Global

Romain Grosjean seemed to be just a hair away from becoming IndyCar’s Next Big Thing in the early part of the 2023 season. Late-race crashes took him out of podium finish positions in the first two races of the year, which was followed by consecutive second-place finishes before the calendar hit May. In fact, reports went so far as to say that Andretti offered Grosjean an extension and that he signed it around the 500, only for the team never to sign it back. The 500 kicked off a dismal rest of the season which saw Grosjean finish worse than 20th five times and become visibly angry with his team. On the flip side, Marcus Ericsson emerged as a driver who wanted a big payday. Andretti Global announced his signing on August 23, booting Grosjean. Grosjean then said he filed suit against the team, which has not had many updates and may still be pending. The pairing of Andretti and Ericsson faced a mechanical issue in its first race together at St. Petersburg, leaving Ericsson 25th in the point standings.

MISSING: #29-Andretti Global

Devlin DeFrancesco’s two-year contract expired at the end of 2023. The team chose not to renew him, which does not come as a surprise considering it solicited the services of other drivers to potentially fill the seat in 2023 before sticking with DeFrancesco for the back season of his contract. While a cadre of names were associated with potentially filling the fourth Andretti seat, the team made it public in mid-November that it would contract to three entries in pursuit of greater competitiveness: the previously-signed Colton Herta and Kyle Kirkwood alongside the new addition of Marcus Ericsson.

DRIVER CHANGE: #30-Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

For whatever reason, the pairing of Jack Harvey and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing just didn’t work out. The most memorable moment of the pairing’s one-and-a-half seasons was Harvey bumping teammate Graham Rahal out of the Indianapolis 500. It was an exciting moment, but one that happened at the very back of the pack. After RLL shuffled through several drivers following its midseason release abounded, the entry figured to be one that would factor prominently into the domino train of last offseason. However, several dominos fell, the season ended, and the seat was still empty. In came Pietro Fittipaldi, who ran part-time with Dale Coyne in 2018, splitting the season with Zachary Claman de Melo, and in 2021, splitting the season with Romain Grosjean. Since then, Fittipaldi has mainly been known as a Formula 1 reserve driver with variable seat time across series. He will keep the reserve driver role but will get a crack at his first full IndyCar season this year.

MISSING: #33-Ed Carpenter Racing

ECR broke out a third entry for team owner Ed Carpenter when it had two full-time entries with full-time drivers. However, that car consistently struggled for performance. Combined with pace issues the team was facing and a fluid driver situation, this third entry will not return for 2024 with Carpenter. He will run the ovals in the team’s flagship entry, the #20 car. Christian Rasmussen will run the #33 for the Indianapolis 500 only, as Carpenter is in the #20.

NUMBER CHANGE: #55-A.J. Foyt Racing

DRIVER CHANGE: #41-A.J. Foyt Racing

Sting Ray did not have the best of rookie seasons with Dale Coyne Racing. The Idahoan struggled to find consistency, racking up a pair of last-place finishes before the Indianapolis 500 and having pace issues throughout the year. Things came to a head at Iowa, where Robb had a wheel failure and was disqualified from the race. At the same time, Benjamin Pedersen was taking his lumps as the driver of Foyt’s #55 car. He was also disqualified from the Iowa race (for a lack of speed), and was by far the lowest-finishing full-time driver in 2023. Rumors began to circulate in the postseason that Pedersen’s seat, while technically secured by a multi-year contract, may be available. Robb was announced as a Foyt driver on December 15, and Pedersen welcomed him as a teammate. However, on January 9, Foyt announced that its contract with Pedersen had 'lapsed’, and that the team would only run two cars full-time in the 2024 season. The season has been tough sledding so far, with Sting Ray falling out early at St. Petersburg and never being a serious threat at Thermal.

DRIVER CHANGE: #51-Dale Coyne Racing

With Sting Ray Robb departing from DCR at season’s end, it left Coyne with two open seats. The car’s co-entrant, Rick Ware, has not said anything to suggest that some drivers affiliated with him (NASCAR or otherwise) will run in the seat later this season. With that being said, it’s been tough sledding for Coyne to find drivers that hit the sweet spot of funded and qualified. Katherine Legge will race the Indianapolis 500 (and potentially more ovals) with backing from E.L.F. Beauty, but that is the only concrete plan for the car in 2024. Former NASCAR and current IMSA driver Colin Braun has the seat on a race-by-race basis right now. He had his first IndyCar test with Coyne in the offseason and performed well, but the Texan has no budget. Braun was 22nd at St. Petersburg to start the season and will likely be in the car for any rounds that do not conflict with his IMSA schedule and that Coyne does not have a funded driver for.

DRIVER CHANGE: #60-Meyer Shank Racing

Simon Pagenaud suffered a terrible tumble in a practice crash at Mid-Ohio, which resulted in a concussion. That injury kept him out of the seat for the remainder of the season, leading MSR to put several substitute drivers in the car for the remainder of the season. Between the injury and an expiring contract, the team pursued different options for its entry in 2024, looking to turn the page on a 2023 that did not go the way the team wanted. At the same time, Felix Rosenqvist was also looking to turn the page. It was a natural pairing for team and driver, and the start of the story has been great. Plenty of speed was found at both St. Petersburg and Thermal, resulting in finishes of seventh and third.

NUMBER CHANGE: #06-Meyer Shank Racing

DRIVER CHANGE: #66-Meyer Shank Racing

Paired with the struggles that the #60 car had, the #06 was not having the best of seasons either. In mid-August, the team announced a drastic lineup shift. MSR sports car racing ace Tom Blomqvist would come over to take over Helio Castroneves’ car, and Helio would transition to a minority team ownership role. Due to Pagenaud’s injury, Blomqvist got a head start driving IndyCars, taking three races in the back half of the season. Unfortunately, he finished 24th, 25th and 26th in those three races. The 2024 season has already started off better, with the now-renumbered #66 car finishing 17th in the season opener. Castroneves will attempt the Indianapolis 500 in the #06 as he tries to become the first five-time winner of the event.

NUMBER CHANGE: #44-Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

DRIVER CHANGE: #75-Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Rahal’s fourth Indianapolis 500 entry, numbered 44 last year with Katherine Legge at the wheel, returns this year with a new look. Takuma Sato, fresh off an oval-only program with Chip Ganassi Racing last year, will reunite with the team with which he won the 2020 Indianapolis 500. Amada America, a sheet metal company that sponsored RLL driver Jack Harvey at Barber Motorsports Park last year, will be the sponsor. Should Sato make the race, it would be his 15th consecutive Indianapolis 500.

DRIVER CHANGE: #77-Juncos Hollinger Racing

Callum Ilott ended the season with what looked to be an outstanding finish – fifth place. The result, however, came with some contact with teammate Agustin Canapino. Regardless of who was at fault or whether the incident was a racing result, Canapino’s fans lashed out at Ilott on social media. It took JHR a long time to put out anything in support of their driver, and even at that point, it was an incredibly weak statement. A month after that, Ilott and JHR came to the conclusion that it would be best for both parties to split. Less than a week later, on November 2, the team signed Romain Grosjean, who no longer had a seat at Andretti. A mechanical failure but the pairing in 24th at St. Petersburg to kick off the season.

There are even more storylines on the horizon as Prema, an Italian team in the Formula 1 ladder series, has announced a two-car IndyCar effort for 2025. Will they have spots on the grid next year as a charter system looms? Perhaps, but for right now, there are still plenty of immediate changes on the grid to digest.