After an offseason of more than six months, the NTT IndyCar Series is set to return to action this weekend on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Is the big question really who can stop Alex Palou, or is it who will finish second, something four different drivers have done during Palou's four championship-winning seasons over the past five years?
Here's a look at our preseason power rankings leading into what is expected to be IndyCar's first 18-race season since 2014.
NOTE: Only full-time drivers are included, meaning the Prema Racing duo of Robert Shwartzman and Callum Ilott have been omitted.
25. Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren
With Devlin DeFrancecso and Jacob Abel no longer in the series and therefore no longer being the low-hanging fruit to slot in at the bottom, I have to go with Nolan Siegel. Siegel knows his seat is at risk if he doesn't improve, and he needs to improve substantially after recording just three top 10 finishes in his first 26 starts with what has become a top-tier Arrow McLaren team.
24. Sting Ray Robb, Juncos Hollinger Racing
It's no secret that Sting Ray Robb is back at Juncos Hollinger Racing primarily because of his budget, but I've kept him out of last place here since 2026 is set to mark his first season not switching teams. That continuity could be key after he tied his career-high race finish with a ninth place effort on the streets of Long Beach in 2025.
23. Mick Schumacher, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
This ranking will either look foolishly low or completely vindicate my unwillingness to buy into the hype just because of the last name. Give Mick Schumacher credit for making the move to IndyCar and trying his hand at ovals, something most Formula 1 drivers are admittedly too scared to even think about. But results-wise, I have to see it to believe it after an underwhelming two-year F1 stint.
22. Caio Collet, A.J. Foyt Enterprises
Caio Collet's solid two-year run in Indy NXT, which featured four victories and championship finishes of third and second place, paid off with a move to IndyCar as David Malukas' replacement at A.J. Foyt Enterprises. Although he hasn't generated a ton of hype, he could easily turn out to be the series' biggest surprise among the drivers in the 20s on this list.
21. Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
For Graham Rahal, the simple reality of it is that he's fast in a few races per year, and he's a mid-pack driver at best in the rest of them. His veteran presence and abundance of experience on an otherwise young team are his greatest assets as he prepares to enter his 20th season. And who knows? Maybe he'll find a way to end his nine-year win drought. He's come close quite a few times before.
20. Dennis Hauger, Dale Coyne Racing
Dennis Hauger didn't run away with the Indy NXT championship like it initially appeared he might, but he was still the class of the field, and he is more than ready for the jump to IndyCar. Let's also not forget the fact that in every season that Dale Coyne Racing have fielded at least one full-time driver since 2012, they've scored at least one podium finish. The new Andretti Global technical alliance shouldn't hurt, either.
19. Louis Foster, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Louis Foster showed flashes of potential throughout his rookie season, highlighted by a pole at Road America, and he's poised to improve further in 2026. But Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing have simply not been on the level of so many other teams on the grid when it comes to producing consistently fast race cars, and that has unfortunately been the case for several years now.
18. Romain Grosjean, Dale Coyne Racing
Ironically, Romain Grosjean's best IndyCar season might have been his part-time rookie season with Dale Coyne Racing, which saw him secure a career-high three podium finishes and nearly win Rookie of the Year honors despite running four fewer races than Scott McLaughlin. After sitting out the 2025 season, he'll be looking to return to that form.
17. Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global
Marcus Ericsson needs a bounce-back season after a rough two-year stint to open up his Andretti Global tenure, and while I do think he'll improve from 2026, I think the series is too deep to see him return to the form that netted him three straight sixth place points finishes with Chip Ganassi Racing. His biggest asset is the fact that he's always a contender in the Indy 500.
16. Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing
Although Kyffin Simpson may not have fully shed the "pay driver" label yet, several solid runs, including a podium finish in Toronto and a fourth place finish in the season finale at Nashville, certainly quieted some of the doubters. He might have even challenged for a top 10 finish in the standings, if not for a mechanical failure at the Indy road course and a botched pit stop at Mid-Ohio.
15. Alexander Rossi, Ed Carpenter Racing
I believe Ed Carpenter Racing's late-season momentum from the 2025 season could be a sign of things to come, but I also think Alexander Rossi's peak is behind him. He has one win since 2019 and just two podium finishes since earning that lone win in 2022. It's hard to imagine that his primary focus is now on anything other than winning another Indy 500, where he has always been a contender.
14. Rinus VeeKay, Juncos Hollinger Racing
What Rinus VeeKay did to turn around Dale Coyne Racing, following a year in which they didn't finish a single race inside the top 12, was incredible, highlighted by his runner-up finish on the streets of Toronto. Expect a similarly solid season with Juncos Hollinger Racing, another team clearly on an upward trajectory. In six IndyCar seasons, VeeKay has always finished between 12th and 14th in points.
13. Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Enterprises
Santino Ferrucci had a rough second half of the 2025 season after racking up four consecutive top five finishes at one point early on. But A.J. Foyt Enterprises' technical alliance with Team Penske is clearly working, given their strong results in 2024 and 2025 compared to Ferrucci's lone top 10 finish in 2023, and there's no reason to expect that to tail off in 2026.
12. Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing
Ed Carpenter Racing's first oval win since 2016 came courtesy of Christian Rasmussen in a thrilling duel with Alex Palou at the Milwaukee Mile. Rasmussen, whose 2025 season was his first as a full-time driver, is an extremely high-upside driver, even if he does ruffle some feathers from time to time. Does his race team have what it takes to give him a car consistently capable of challenging at the front?
11. Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing
Felix Rosenqvist quietly finished sixth in the 2025 standings, his best since his rookie season in 2019, but I'm starting to get the feeling that he's reached his ceiling. He hasn't won a race in six years, and he's scored more than one podium finish in a season just once since 2019. You know you can count on him to achieve solid results, but can he really return to victory lane?
10. Marcus Armstrong, Meyer Shank Racing
Marcus Armstrong should arguably be higher after a breakout 2025 season saw him finish eighth in the standings with a podium finish, another top five result, and nine other top 10 efforts, but I simply couldn't find a place to put him. It feels like if he can notch his first win, he's the type of driver who could be tough to stop, because he's already seemingly mastered the art of consistency.
9. Will Power, Andretti Global
Will Power still has what it takes to win races, as he demonstrated by being Team Penske's final championship contender in 2024, as well as their first winner and top points finisher in 2025. He's also still the most recent champion not named Alex Palou (2022) and the most recent points leader not named Alex Palou (June 2024).
8. Josef Newgarden, Team Penske
We get it; Indy 500 wins are a big deal. But if you take away Josef Newgarden's two Indy 500 wins, he has had an extremely disappointing run over the past three seasons, not just his abysmal 2025 campaign. Consistency has eluded him, and it's now been not only seven years since he won his second championship, but five since he was even Team Penske's top points finisher.
7. Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske
Even aside from being wrecked by Devlin DeFrancesco multiple times on the opening laps of races, Scott McLaughlin made a number of uncharacteristic mistakes in 2025 that doomed his chances of ever being a real contender. Will 2026 be more of the same, or will he return to the form that netted him three straight top four championship finishes from 2022 to 2024?
6. Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global
The good news for Kyle Kirkwood is the fact that he's had two multi-win seasons since joining Andretti Global in 2023, including 2025 when he was second on the series wins list with three. The bad news is the fact that he has just one career podium finish aside from his victories. He needs to up the consistency in 2026, especially as he's now the team's longest tenured driver.
5. Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing
Scott Dixon deserves a spot in the top five just by being Scott Dixon, and he's the only driver for whom I can get away with saying that. It felt like he was never a real contender in 2025, yet he somehow still ended up third in the championship standings, even with his only win coming simply because of a fluky Alex Palou mistake late in the race at Mid-Ohio. He's now on a 21-year win streak, which is by far an IndyCar record.
4. Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren
Is this finally the year Danica Patrick's 2008 Japan win becomes no longer the most recent IndyCar victory for a driver in a No. 7 car? It better be, otherwise Arrow McLaren should consider moving Christian Lundgaard to the No. 6 Chevrolet based on superstition alone. He showed in his first year with the team that he can win races, and now is the time for him to actually do it.
3. David Malukas, Team Penske
Josef Newgarden won the championship in his first year with Team Penske, and Alex Palou won it in his first year with Chip Ganassi Racing, despite having never before won a race. Snubbed (actually, fired) by Arrow McLaren after signing there initially for 2024 and never getting to run a race, David Malukas has all the tools he needs to be an A-level driver and make them pay with a rival top-tier team.
2. Pato O'Ward, Arrow McLaren
As talented as he is, Pato O'Ward is still trying to take that next step. With nine IndyCar victories, he's the winningest active full-time driver without an IndyCar championship or an Indy 500 to his name. He was far more consistent in 2025 than he has ever been, and that played a key role in a career-high second place finish in points. But his points gap to Palou was still four full race wins, and both tracks where he won are no longer on the schedule. Can he narrow or even eliminate that deficit in 2026?
1. Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing
There's nobody else it could have possibly been at No. 1. Alex Palou hasn't not been champion since 2022, when his whole career was nearly turned upside down due to contract-related lawsuit drama, and you have to go back to June 2024 to find when somebody else most recently led the point standings. The 2025 season was the first in 45 years to see a driver lead the standings wire-to-wire in an Indy 500-winning year, and now the lawsuit distraction is officially behind him.
Fox is set to provide live coverage of the full 18-race 2026 IndyCar schedule, starting with this Sunday's Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg at 12:00 p.m. ET and extending through the season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Sunday, September 6. Start a free trial of FuboTV and catch all of the action from the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida this weekend!