It's already been more than two months since the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season ended, but silly season has continued well into the offseason, as the season ended with seven of the 25 full-time entries still without confirmed drivers for next year.
But next year's lineup has continued to come together over the course of those two months, most recently with Dale Coyne Racing's first announcement about their 2027 driver lineup.
After winning the Indy NXT championship as a rookie with two wins and seven other podium finishes, Nikita Johnson is set to move up to IndyCar next year and drive the No. 19 Honda that was driven by Dennis Hauger this past season.
Hauger had already announced his move to A.J. Foyt Enterprises as the replacement for Santino Ferrucci behind the wheel of the No. 14 Chevrolet. That move was the first confirmed move of the offseason.
The next was the long-awaited announcement that former Arrow McLaren driver Christian Lundgaard is set to replace the Arrow McLaren-bound Scott Dixon at Chip Ganassi Racing, and the final one before the Johnson announcement was the confirmation that Josh Pierson is set to join Hauger at A.J. Foyt Enterprises as Caio Collet's replacement.
IndyCar set for another Rookie of the Year battle in 2027
As a result, Johnson's confirmation means that the series is set to see at least two drivers competing for Rookie of the Year honors, and depending on how the rest of the offseason goes, it might not stop there.
There are still three seats open for next year, although two of them are effectively filled; we are really just waiting on formal announcements that Rinus VeeKay is set to be back for a second season with Juncos Hollinger Racing behind the wheel of the No. 76 Chevrolet and that ex-Arrow McLaren driver Nolan Siegel is set to join him as Sting Ray Robb's replacement in the No. 77 Chevrolet.
That would leave one open seat, and that seat belongs to Dale Coyne Racing. It's also a seat that has historically gone deep into the offseason without a driver.
Romain Grosjean piloted the No. 18 Honda full-time in 2026, marking his first ride in the series since 2024 and his first with Dale Coyne Racing since he ran a partial schedule with the team as a rookie in 2021, but his future has always been viewed as a bit murky.
According to RACER.com, which had long pegged Johnson as Coyne's go-to target for 2027, Formula 2 race winner Alex Dunne has emerged as a frontrunner to replace Grosjean, which would give the series another three-way battle for the Rookie of the Year Award.
Dale Coyne's decision is also particularly consequential because of one of IndyCar's longest yet most underappreciated streaks. Dating back to 2012, Coyne's team has secured at least one podium finish in every single season they've run at least one full-time driver. In the two years they fielded entries only for part-time drivers (2015 and 2024), they did not secure a podium finish. So that streak is effectively now sitting at 13 years in a row.
The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is scheduled to get the 2027 NTT IndyCar Series season underway on Sunday, March 7, with live coverage from the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida set to be provided by Fox.
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