Stop me if you've heard this one several times before: midway into January, there is one team that has yet to fill their driver lineup for the upcoming IndyCar season, and that team is Dale Coyne Racing.
27 cars, 11 teams. 26 of those cars have confirmed full-time drivers, and they've had those confirmed full-time drivers for months now. But once again, one of those 11 teams has only filled one of their two seats.
Dale Coyne Racing initially wanted Rinus VeeKay back in their No. 18 Honda for a second season in 2026, and for good reason. Looking back to 2012, Dale Coyne's team have had at least one full-time driver in 12 of those 14 years, and in every single one of those years, they've scored at least one podium finish.
It's probably one of the most underappreciated streaks in the series, considering the fact that Dale Coyne Racing have always been one of the smaller and lesser funded teams in the sport. The fact that it encompasses the entire DW12 era makes it that much more impressive.
After an abysmal season in 2024 during which none of the team's part-time drivers managed to place inside the top 12, VeeKay managed to keep that podium streak alive with a runner-up finish on the streets of Toronto. Even aside from his first podium finish since 2022, he ran well throughout the rest of the season, racking up six other top 10 results.
Alas, retaining VeeKay was not an option. He left to replace Conor Daly at Juncos Hollinger Racing, joining fellow ex-Coyne driver Sting Ray Robb in the process. But Coyne still got a nice consolation prize by signing reigning Indy NXT champion Dennis Hauger, and with that, a technical alliance with Andretti Global. Hauger has long been linked to an Andretti seat, possibly as early as 2027.
Even after all of that silly season chaos, Dale Coyne Racing's goal was to have their lineup solidified by Halloween. Everybody who has followed IndyCar for any length of time immediately laughed when they heard that, and that reaction was justified.
Halloween. Thanksgiving. Christmas. New Year's. You name it. The holiday season has come and gone, while Dale Coyne Racing's second seat remains vacant.
Dale Coyne Racing still searching for a new IndyCar driver
It's become almost an IndyCar offseason tradition. No, the holiday season isn't quite over yet, because we haven't reached Dale Coyne Driver Announcement Day, the annual day that generally happens a week or so before the IndyCar season starts, on which the series' lineup is actually solidified for the coming year.
We do have to give credit to Coyne for not rushing a decision. That podium streak just goes to show that this is a team capable of contending when they have the right drivers in their cars, and if anybody has an eye for talent, it's Coyne.
The most recent major example of that would probably be 2020, when a little-known Japanese Super Formula driver by the name of Alex Palou was brought in to replace Sebastien Bourdais, finished on the podium in his second career road course start, and went on to win four out of the next five championships with Chip Ganassi Racing.
Coyne's shortlist was said to be down to Daly, who spent a full season with the team in 2016, Romain Grosjean, who spent most of the 2021 season with the team, and Linus Lundqvist, who was left without a ride for 2025 after winning 2024 Rookie of the Year honors, simply because Chip Ganassi Racing downsized from five cars to three due to the new charter system.
Daly has all but ruled out that ride, which would imply that the decision is down to Grosjean and Lundqvist. But you've got to think that if that were the full story, things would be moving a bit quicker.
Is Jacob Abel a dark horse candidate to return, given the funding he brings? Is fellow pay driver Devlin DeFrancesco an option after being booted early from his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing seat to make way for Mick Schumacher?
Is some random name from overseas in contention to be signed by Coyne for a year, make the step up to a bigger team in 2027, and start an unexpected new dynasty?
Stranger things have happened. But there's nothing strange about this particular team having yet to confirm their lineup by the middle of January (and perhaps, once again, beyond).
The 2026 IndyCar season is scheduled to get underway on Sunday, March 1 with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Fox is set to provide live coverage from the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET.