IndyCar rookies bring strong resumes, loads of promise

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Devlin DeFrancesco, Andretti Autosport, IndyCar – Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports /

The 2022 NTT IndyCar Series lineup will feature six rookie drivers running full or nearly full schedules for the first time since 2018.

The field for the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season is nearly set at 26 drivers, with the season scheduled to go green on Sunday, February 27 at the 14-turn, 1.8-mile (2.897-kilometer) temporary street circuit on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.

Christian Lundgaard, Callum Ilott, David Malukas, Devlin DeFrancesco, and Kyle Kirkwood are set to run every race on the 17-race schedule in their rookie seasons, and Tatiana Calderon is set to race in the 12 street and road course races.

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Her seat in the #11 Chevrolet for the five oval races remains to be filled and could very well bring the rookie total to seven by time the series hits its first left-turn-only stop on Sunday, March 20: the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Texas Motor Speedway oval in Fort Worth, Texas.

Many of this season’s rookies have been involved in a mind-bending array of driver moves. Kirkwood and Calderon will team with Dalton Kellett at A.J. Foyt Enterprises; Kirkwood takes over for Sebastien Bourdais in the #14 Chevrolet. Bourdais is racing for Chip Ganassi in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship this year.

Ed Jones, who was displaced from his #18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda by Malukas, joins Bourdais, his former Dale Coyne Racing teammate, on the sports car circuit this year. Malukas is paired with Takuma Sato, who was bumped from his #30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda by Lundgaard.

DeFrancesco takes over the #29 Andretti Autosport Honda, formerly occupied by James Hinchcliffe, who may be permanently trading his helmet for a microphone.

And Ilott qualifies as a rookie in the #77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, even though he ran the last three races of last season in that spot.

The six youngsters – Calderon at 28 is the only one older than 23 – bring a wide range of sports car and open-wheel experience, and almost all of them come to teams with strong cars, solid leadership, and a veteran driver teammate or two to lean on.

Let’s meet the six 2022 IndyCar rookies.