IndyCar: 2020 driver lineup steadily coming together

Following Dale Coyne Racing’s confirmation of Alex Palou for the 2020 IndyCar season, only a few open seats remain in the driver lineup.

Slightly under one month after the unexpected release of four-time Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais, Dale Coyne Racing confirmed one of their two drivers for the 2020 IndyCar season.

Alex Palou is slated to replace Bourdais in an entry fielded by Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh, although it hasn’t yet been confirmed whether or not the 22-year-old Spaniard will drive the #18 Honda which Bourdais drove from 2017 to 2019.

That leaves only a few confirmed full-time seats that are still open for next season, and it starts with Dale Coyne Racing themselves.

Santino Ferrucci, who drove the #19 Honda this past year in what was an exceptional rookie season, has not yet been confirmed by the team for 2020.

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With that being said, there don’t appear to be any options open that he would take over the #19 Honda. He stated in August that he had a deal in place to return to Dale Coyne’s team but was not committing as he explored his other options.

The 21-year-old Woodbury, Connecticut native will more than likely be back behind the wheel of the #19 Honda next year, and Coyne himself has already issued a timetable on getting that deal done. Additionally, Vasser-Sullivan, which partnered with Dale Coyne Racing to field Bourdais’s entry in both 2018 and 2019, have been rumored to move to Ferrucci’s car.

As for the rest of the grid, only A.J. Foyt Enterprises and Carlin remain with zero confirmations as far as the 2020 season is concerned.

That should change for the former shortly, as it has been heavily rumored that Charlie Kimball will end up as their lone full-time driver while their other car will likely still be fielded full-time, but split among drivers.

Tony Kanaan has stated that he is close to putting a deal together to be back with the team after spending the 2018 and 2019 seasons there, but this deal may not be to keep him in a full-time role. Dalton Kellett is believed to have part-time funding, which could very well result in him driving for A.J. Foyt’s team in a part-time role as well.

As for Carlin, there have been several names discussed as possibilities for next season, one year removed from a season that featured six drivers getting time behind the wheel at some point. After missing out on the Coyne ride that Palou got, Sergio Sette Camara is in the mix, as is Kellett if he doesn’t end up at A.J. Foyt Enterprises.

Then there’s the most talked about driver of this year’s Silly Season, and that is James Hinchcliffe. Will he end up back in IndyCar in 2020 after being cut from Arrow McLaren SP’s driver lineup?

With Dale Coyne Racing seemingly off the table even after Coyne confirmed him as one of the drivers on his shortlist to replace Bourdais, Hinchcliffe’s best option is likely a third car at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. But will the team expand to field three cars for the first time since 2006? Funding is still needed to make that a possibility.

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The 2020 IndyCar driver lineup is steadily coming together, but there are still a few more confirmations that have not yet been made, although several of the seats that are still open have already been linked to particular drivers. With the offseason between the 2019 and 2020 seasons more than halfway over, when will that lineup be set in stone?