A.J. Foyt Enterprises
For AJ Foyt Racing, it has been a difficult season so far. Santino Ferrucci continues the trend from last year, too often simply lacking outright speed, while rookie Caio Collet shows flashes of pace — particularly on ovals — but has been unable to translate that into good results due to circumstances. The best example is the previous race at Gateway, where Collet was one of the fastest drivers on the track, but had to retire due to engine issues, while running inside the top 10.The head-to-head battle between Ferrucci and Collet stands at 6-3 in both qualifying and the race. Despite regularly finishing behind his more experienced teammate, it is actually impressive that Collet is still able to beat Ferrucci on a regular basis. For the second half of the season, Collet is a name to watch on the remaining three oval races!
| Battle | Qualifying | Race |
|---|---|---|
| Caio Collet / Santino Ferrucci | 3-6 | 3-6 |
Andretti Global
At Andretti Global, it is clear that Kyle Kirkwood is the team leader, both in qualifying and in the race. In qualifying he occasionally faces competition from Marcus Ericsson or Will Power, but during the races Kirkwood is by far the most frequently the highest-finishing Andretti Global car.Marcus Ericsson is bouncing back somewhat after a dismal 2025 season. The Swede is now qualifying inside the top ten more often, and during the race at Gateway he finished on the podium for the first time in two years.
The move from Team Penske to Andretti Global has been a difficult one for Will Power so far. The Australian regularly shows his speed and leads races, but something always seems to go wrong that prevents a strong result — sometimes his own mistake, sometimes mechanical problems or a wrong strategy call. In the second half of the season, Power really needs to deliver better results, because a seventeenth place finish is simply not acceptable when your teammate (Kirkwood) is sitting second in the standings.
| Battle | Qualifying | Race |
|---|---|---|
| Kyle Kirkwood / Marcus Ericsson | 6-3 | 7-2 |
| Kyle Kirkwood / Will Power | 5-4 | 9-0 |
| Marcus Ericsson / Will Power | 7-2 | 5-4 |
Arrow McLaren
The first half of the IndyCar season has been a textbook case of "so close, yet so far" for McLaren. Christian Lundgaard did win the Sonsio Grand Prix of Indianapolis and also claimed podium finishes after the races in St. Petersburg and at Barber Motorsports Park, but the Dane is very much an all-or-nothing driver — he either performs at the top level or falls flat, particularly on the ovals. To genuinely contend for the championship, Lundgaard knows exactly where he needs to improve.O'Ward has also been a classic "so close, yet so far" case — in six of the nine races run so far he finished fourth or fifth, while Nolan Siegel continues to trail far behind his teammates and is likely in his final season with McLaren.
Looking at the head-to-head battles, O'Ward is still clearly the leader. Lundgaard can often give him a strong challenge and tends to outqualify O'Ward on permanent and street circuits, but regularly falls behind him on the ovals.
| Battle | Qualifying | Race |
|---|---|---|
| Christian Lundgaard / Nolan Siegel | 8-1 | 7-2 |
| Christian Lundgaard / Pato O'Ward | 2-7 | 4-5 |
| Nolan Siegel / Pato O'Ward | 0-9 | 1-8 |
Dale Coyne
Dale Coyne Racing turned heads in qualifying at the season opener in St. Petersburg by getting both cars into the Fast 12 — could this be the year that the Andretti Global-supported team takes a big step forward? No, as they have not come close to repeating that performance anywhere since. What is positive is that the team is much stronger on the fast ovals, after being hopelessly the slowest team last year.Romain Grosjean and Dennis Hauger have each scored two top-ten finishes, with Hauger's performances in particular deserving recognition as a rookie. Still, the team lacks the spark of last year, when Rinus VeeKay regularly put Dale Coyne Racing in the spotlight.
It is no surprise that Romain Grosjean has outqualified Hauger six times, but the fact that Hauger has actually finished ahead of Grosjean more often in the races is. Across all races so far, Hauger is the rookie who has made the biggest impression.
| Battle | Qualifying | Race |
|---|---|---|
| Dennis Hauger / Romain Grosjean | 3-6 | 5-4 |
ECR
ECR is investing heavily in improving its racing program, but so far it simply has not come together. The fact that the team finished only one car in just one of the three races held during the month of May speaks volumes about the current season.In Christian Rasmussen, the team essentially has the mirror image of countryman Christian Lundgaard — extremely fast on the ovals, but on other tracks sometimes decent in qualifying while failing to deliver in the races. A third-place finish at Gateway was therefore a welcome boost for the Dane, earning him his first top-ten result of the season.
Rossi is more consistent across the different circuit types and therefore more often finishes ahead of his teammate.
| Battle | Qualifying | Race |
|---|---|---|
| Alexander Rossi / Christian Rasmussen | 5-4 | 6-3 |
Chip Ganassi Racing
There is simply no stopping Alex Palou this season, both within the IndyCar field and within Chip Ganassi Racing. The defending champion has outqualified Scott Dixon and Kyffin Simpson every single time this season and has only been forced to let them past during a race when he encountered problems of his own.With Kyffin Simpson, the team does not have a world-class talent in one of its cars, but it does have a driver who continues to make incremental progress. It is to his credit that he has finished ahead of the experienced Scott Dixon three times, both in qualifying and in the race.
While you can never write Dixon off, it is fair to conclude that he has lost something in terms of pure pace over the past few seasons. On outright speed alone, a pole position or race win seems unlikely for now, and he too often finds himself outside the top five. That said, if a race this year comes down to racecraft or experience, Dixon could still pull off a win.
| Battle | Qualifying | Race |
|---|---|---|
| Alex Palou / Kyffin Simpson | 9-0 | 8-1 |
| Alex Palou / Scott Dixon | 9-0 | 7-2 |
| Kyffin Simpson / Scott Dixon | 3-6 | 3-6 |
Juncos Hollinger Racing
Juncos Hollinger Racing signed Rinus VeeKay over the winter to deliver more consistent results across all track types. With three top-ten finishes in nine races, that has partly come to fruition. VeeKay's sixth-place finish in the Indy 500 was the best result in that race in team history and he has shown competitiveness on street circuits as well. Strategically, however, the team appears to be becoming the Ferrari of the IndyCar Series, regularly making strategic blunders or committing to high-risk, low-percentage strategies. On permanent road courses, the team has been hopelessly slow so far.On top of that, VeeKay is once again not being helped by his teammate. Sting Ray Robb is there to pay the bills and is almost every race weekend far behind his teammate, who once again must largely find a competitive setup on his own. The one time Robb did finish ahead of VeeKay, it was only after VeeKay ran into problems.
| Battle | Qualifying | Race |
|---|---|---|
| Rinus VeeKay / Sting Ray Robb | 9-0 | 8-1 |
Meyer Shank Racing
Meyer Shank Racing once again appears to have one of the most competitive driver lineups in the field, with Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Armstrong pushing each other forward. This is clearly reflected in the qualifying battle, where Rosenqvist leads with a narrow 5-4 margin.Armstrong has continued his trend from last year by finishing ahead of Rosenqvist more often in the races, although the gaps between the two drivers are frequently small. That said, Rosenqvist won the Indy 500, the team's second victory in the IndyCar Series. If the drivers were able to perform more consistently, they could easily be fighting for a top-three championship finish.
| Battle | Qualifying | Race |
|---|---|---|
| Felix Rosenqvist / Marcus Armstrong | 5-4 | 3-6 |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan
At Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, the picture is partly similar to last year: Louis Foster is very strong in qualifying on road- courses and street courses, while Graham is the man of the races, and the third car — driven this year by Mick Schumacher — is at the tail end off the field.There are clear improvements, however. After years of decline, Graham Rahal has massively improved his race performances, translating into no fewer than three podium finishes! Some of this came through outright pace, but also through smart strategy calls (and a little bit of luck) from the team. Louis Foster has also taken a step forward in the races, scoring his first top-ten finishes with seventh-place results in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and Detroit. On the ovals, Foster continues to struggle, while Rahal has improved on this type of track as well.
Mick Schumacher is having a difficult rookie season so far, hampered in part by a wrist injury. It is therefore no surprise that he regularly finishes behind both teammates, particularly when compared to Foster.
| Battle | Qualifying | Race |
|---|---|---|
| Graham Rahal / Louis Foster | 4-5 | 6-3 |
| Graham Rahal / Mick Schumacher | 7-2 | 7-2 |
| Louis Foster / Mick Schumacher | 7-2 | 5-4 |
Team Penske
The question heading into the current IndyCar season was whether the move of David Malukas to Team Penske had come too soon. The 24-year-old American has answered that question by delivering the strongest performances of the three Penske drivers. Unlike Josef Newgarden, he does not have two wins to his name (or just one), but he has been more consistent across all track types and has finished inside the top three on three occasions. A win for Malukas is truly only a matter of time.Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin are performing better than last year, but that is about all that can be said. Newgarden is very strong on the short ovals, where he claimed his two victories, but aside from those two wins he has finished inside the top five only once.
McLaughlin has two podium finishes and is more consistent than Newgarden, but still finished outside the top ten in four of nine races. Both drivers appear, much like Scott Dixon, to have simply lost that extra gear of pure speed. Last year it seemed like a Penske-wide problem, but now that Malukas is making his mark, the blame for the weaker performances may need to be placed more squarely on the drivers.
Looking at the head-to-head battles, the same picture emerges: both in qualifying and in the race, Malukas has the better of his more experienced teammates. Meanwhile, his struggling teammates are fairly evenly matched, though Newgarden's racecraft and experience on short ovals remain particularly valuable.
| Battle | Qualifying | Race |
|---|---|---|
| David Malukas / Josef Newgarden | 8-1 | 5-4 |
| David Malukas / Scott McLaughlin | 7-2 | 6-3 |
| Josef Newgarden / Scott McLaughlin | 4-5 | 5-4 |
PhotographyPenske Entertainment
