IndyCar: Dale Coyne Racing moving forward amid unexpected offseason

In an offseason that featured a surprise driver release, Dale Coyne Racing are moving full steam ahead with their driver lineup for the 2020 IndyCar season.

One month ago, things appeared to be settled for Dale Coyne Racing heading into the 2020 IndyCar season.

Sebastien Bourdais was in line for a fourth straight season with the team, a third through a partnership with Vasser-Sullivan, while Santino Ferrucci remained heavily rumored to return to the #19 Honda following an impressive rookie year.

Then, the most shocking move of the offseason happened.

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Team owner Dale Coyne confirmed that Bourdais would not be back behind the wheel of the #18 Honda next year.

Meanwhile, Ferrucci had still not been confirmed, so now the two-car Honda team had zero confirmed drivers for next year, already two months into the offseason.

But Dale Coyne Racing are moving full steam ahead with their driver lineup for 2020, and it has resulted in the team nearly getting everything set within only one month of the unexpected release of Bourdais.

Shortly after confirming that the four-time Champ Car champion would not be back with the team for another year despite previous “confirmation” otherwise, Coyne released a shortlist of drivers to replace him. He named three drivers and stated that there was a fourth, who he would not name.

These three drivers were James Hinchcliffe, who also lost his ride with Arrow McLaren SP, albeit in quite a different fashion, along with Sergio Sette Camara and Alex Palou. Just over two weeks later, the team confirmed Palou in a new partnership involving Team Goh.

Meanwhile, Ferrucci’s return is looking more likely than ever, although it really was never in doubt. A few weeks ago, Coyne himself issued a timetable on this deal being done, and now an additional detail about the situation has been revealed.

With Bourdais out of a ride, that left Vasser-Sullivan with no confirmed involvement in IndyCar next year. Now, however, with Team Goh helping to field Palou’s entry, Vasser-Sullivan, the team co-owned by Jimmy Vasser and James “Sulli” Sullivan, are expected to move to the #19 Honda of Ferrucci.

Here is what Sullivan had to say, according to RACER.

"“We’ll be back, 100 percent, and an announcement is forthcoming.”"

Ferrucci’s return was only really ever questioned because of what he said back in August. He stated that he had a deal in place to return to the team next year but was going to keep all of his options open. At this point, there are really no better options available, unless an additional car is unexpectedly added at another one of the top-tier teams.

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There is certainly no rush with the 2020 IndyCar season not scheduled to get underway for nearly three months, but the fact that Dale Coyne Racing have all but solidified their driver lineup for next year roughly halfway through the offseason and not even one month after their lone confirmed driver was released speaks volumes about the quality of this organization.