Tag: Andretti Global

Andreti Global Signs Kirkwood to Multi-Year Extension

thepitwindow

From Andretti Global:

INDIANAPOLIS (November 3, 2025) – Andretti Global announced today that five-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES winner Kyle Kirkwood has signed a multi-year contract extension to remain with the team. Kirkwood will continue to pilot the No. 27 Andretti Honda for the 2026 INDYCAR season. 

Since joining Andretti in 2023, Kyle Kirkwood has delivered five wins, three poles and six podiums, leading more than 300 laps. His breakout 2025 season — highlighted by a Long Beach sweep, back-to-back wins in Detroit and his first oval victory at World Wide Technology Raceway — reflects the blueprint of performance and progression driving Andretti forward. 

A former INDY NXT by Firestone Champion with Andretti, Kirkwood remains the only driver to capture titles in all three development series (USF2000, USF Pro 2000 and INDY NXT) in consecutive years. His trajectory embodies the team’s framework for sustained success, built on focus, discipline and a shared drive to elevate Andretti’s competitive and connected future. 

Under the TWG Motorsports umbrella, Andretti Global continues to strengthen its INDYCAR program with a focus on performance, innovation and long-term driver development. Kirkwood’s extension is central to that vision in retaining talent and consistency to embody the competitive spirit that defines both organizations. As a proven race winner and rising star within the Andretti lineup, Kirkwood represents the next generation of leadership on track, anchoring the team’s pursuit of championships while reflecting TWG’s broader commitment to cultivating excellence across its global motorsports platform. 

Kirkwood will join INDYCAR veteran and recently announced teammate Will Power and Indianapolis 500 Champion Marcus Ericsson for the 2026 INDYCAR season, kicking off with the season opener on the Streets of St. Petersburg on Feb. 27.   

JILL GREGORY, PRESIDENT, ANDRETTI GLOBAL  

“Kyle represents exactly what we strive for across TWG Motorsports and Andretti Global. His blueprint for success has made him a key part of our INDYCAR lineup defined by talent, tenacity and a relentless drive to win. Kyle’s growth and ambition reflect the strength of Andretti Global and our commitment to developing world-class competitors on and off the track.” 

KYLE KIRKWOOD, DRIVER, ANDRETTI GLOBAL  

“These are very exciting times for myself, Andretti Global and TWG Motorsports. I’d first like to thank the entire team and especially Dan Towriss and Jill Gregory for putting their trust in me. We’ve had an amazing three years together and our future together is very bright. We have proven to be true contenders, and most recently, Championship contenders. Our trajectory has only been up, and I am confident that we will be fighting again for championships. Between the new shop, leadership, teammates and the many evolving factors within the organization, I believe this team is an absolute powerhouse, and we’re so excited for the journey ahead.” 

### 

About Andretti Global 

Andretti Global, part of the TWG Motorsports umbrella, is a leading racing organization competing in INDYCAR, INDY NXT and Formula E. With more than 300 race wins, multiple series championships and decades of success across premier racing categories, Andretti Global is built on a legacy of innovation, teamwork and competitive spirit. The team continues to push performance forward while representing the best of American motorsport on the world stage. Learn more at AndrettiGlobal.com. 
 

About TWG Motorsports 

TWG Motorsports is the motorsports entity of TWG Global, unifying a robust racing portfolio across the world’s biggest stages in Formula 1®, INDYCAR, Formula E, IMSA, and NASCAR. With strategic partnerships that include General Motors on the Cadillac Formula 1® Team and ownership of Andretti Global, Wayne Taylor Racing and Spire Motorsports, TWG Motorsports combines deep technical expertise, proven competitive excellence and industry-leading business acumen. TWG Motorsports is committed to innovating, growing and winning at the highest levels of the sport. Learn more at TWGMotorsports.com. 

Hauger Joins Coyne; DCR in Technical Partnership with Andretti

thepitwindow

New release from Dale Coyne Racing:

Dale Coyne Racing Welcomes Dennis Hauger, Enters Technical Partnership with Andretti Global
Dennis Hauger - INDY NXT by Firestone Music City Grand Prix - By_ Travis Hinkle_Ref Image

INDIANAPOLIS, (September 23, 2025) – Dale Coyne Racing announced today that reigning INDY NXT by Firestone Champion Dennis Hauger will pilot one of the Dale Coyne Racing Honda’s for the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season. In addition to adding Hauger to the team’s driver lineup, Dale Coyne Racing has entered into a technical partnership with Andretti Global for the upcoming season. Coming off a Championship-winning rookie INDY NXT season, 22-year-old Norwegian driver Hauger secured six wins, five additional podiums, seven poles, 13 top-10 finishes and 301 laps led across 14 races. Additionally, Hauger set multiple qualifying records in 2025, recording the fastest laps in track history on the Streets of Detroit, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and The Milwaukee Mile. Hauger’s on-track success allowed him to clinch the 2025 INDY NXT Championship at the penultimate race of the season at The Milwaukee Mile. Prior to making his debut in North American open-wheel racing, Hauger advanced through the European racing ranks, capturing the Italian F4 Championship (2019), the FIA Formula 3 Championship (2021) and earning five wins and 13 podiums over three seasons competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship (2022-2024). Hauger will take his first INDYCAR laps in offseason testing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with Dale Coyne Racing and will make his official on-track debut at the 2026 INDYCAR season opener on the Streets of St. Petersburg, February 27 – March 1. DALE COYNE, OWNER, DALE COYNE RACING “This is a great opportunity for us here at DCR to bring on a talented driver and gain a strong technical partner in Andretti Global, Thanks to Dan and his belief in our sport and his dedication to elevating Dennis to the top of the ladder.” DENNIS HAUGER, DRIVER, DALE COYNE RACING “I’m excited to be joining Dale Coyne Racing for my rookie INDYCAR season. The progress the team has shown this year is really impressive, and it’s an honor to take my place on the grid with them in 2026. I want to thank Dale Coyne and everyone at the team for putting their trust in me. It’ll also be nice to see some familiar faces through the team’s technical partnership with Andretti Global. They’ve been a big part of my success since making the switch, so having their involvement in another rookie season for me will be great. I’m looking forward to contributing and starting this next chapter together.”

Andretti, McLaren 500 Liveries Revealed

thepitwindow

Andretti Global and MacLaren unveiled liveries for the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500. Andretti presented the colors for thgeir one off entry, the 98 which Marco Andretti will drive. It is basically the same as last year’s car.

McLaren has gone with a new look for each of its three entries.

Pato O’Ward
Nolan Siegel
Christian Lundgaard

I like that McLaren has made each car distinct. These three entries are the best looking McLarens for the 500 to date. I thought their throwback liveries missed the mark a bit.

I’m not sure if these liveries will be on display in the test sessions this week, but I am looking forward to seeing them in May.

Quick Thoughts- Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach

thepitwindow

Photo by Joe Skibinski

For those who enjoy tactical races, this one was a beauty. Several pit strategies were in play, but Kyle Kirkwood’s crew made he right calls. Kirkwood won his third career race and second Long Beach Grand Prix in three years.

There was some passing and some contact, but nothing that warranted a caution. In three 2025 races, the only caution took place at the start of the season opener at St. Pete. Christian Lundgaard thinks the hybrid has contributed o the lack of cautions since the drivers can refire the cars. Plaou thinks it is just a coincidence.

Kirkwood drove a masterful race. He maintained pace and there was perfect execution in the pits.

Kirkwood said that winning the 50th Long Beach Grand Prix was “massive.” He thanked Honda for their efforts over the off season, which led to improvements.

Top Drives

Christian Lundgaard drove a great race as one the six drivers starting on primary tires. His tire choice got him to the front and he stayed in the lead group all day.

Felix Rosenqvist finished where he started in fourth. He lost third to Lundgaard near the end of the race.

Will Power had another great drive, finishing fifth from 13th onn the starting grid. If Power can qualify in the top 12 or six, he will probably win a race or two.

Notes

Kirkwood is now second in points, just 34 points behind Palou. Lundgaard, in third is slightly more than a race behind Palou.

Josef Newgarden’s seat belt issue is the second for Team Penske in the last four races. Will Power had the same problem at Nashville in the 2024 season finale. I find this concerning that one team has had this problem twice over such a brief number of races.

There were 169 passes and 9 lead changes among six drivers, the most since 2012.

Unlike many races I have attended, most ofthe fans in the stands between turns 9 and 10 stayed for the entire race. Incan think of several tracks where fans began leaving before the halfway point.

Thanks for following along this weekend. Tomorrow is a travel day. On Tuesday I will have a wrap-up of this historic weekend.

Long Beach Practice 1:Two Team Battle Shaping Up

thepitwindow

While I don’t put a lot of stock in Friday practice, it5 appears that supremacy by the seas may come down to Penske versus Andretti. Will Power grabbed the top spot on his final lap, nipping Marcus Ericsson, who was just 0.002 seconds ahead of his teammate Kyle Kirkwood. Power’s stablemate Josef Newgarden finished sixth overall, but he led part of the 45 minute portion of the split practice.

Points leader Alex Palou was seventh quick, the fastest of the Ganassi cars.

Meyer Shank racing had a strong showing, with Marcus Armstrong fourth and Felix Rosenqvist fifth.

Notes

The grandstands in turns nine and 10 were nearly at capacity for practice. I haven’t been to Long Beach in three years, but I don’t remember the seats this full for the first practice.

The Grand Prix organization has gone all out to mark the 50th anniversary of a race on the streets. Their merchandise booth has very nice commemorative shirts and outerwear.

For the Golden Anniversary, even the event cars are gold.

IndyCar practice 2 is at 8:30 am Pacific, and qualifying is at 11:30 PT.

IMSA note– Robert Wickens just qualified eighth for tomorrow’s race.

Results

Kirkwood, Andretti Primed for Strong Season

thepitwindow

Kyle Kirkwood helped kick off the track build ceremony for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg this morning. I had an opportunity to chat with him afterwards. Look for some notes about today’s event in a later story.

Kyle Kirkwood believes he and his Andretti teammates will have an even better season in 2025 than they had in 2024, when they had many top 10 and top five finishes, but onlt two wins and a couple of poles to show for it.

The Jupiter, Florida native is always excited to race at St. Pete. His two IndyCar victories have come on street courses, and he would love to add his home race to that total.

On his 2024 season, Kirkwood said, “I think we took a step in the right direction. We just didn’t have the elusive wins and podiums that we needed. But I’d have to say we gave ourselves really good opportunities to have wins. We gave ourselves four or five good opportunities to win races, and none of them panned out for us. So we just got to keep doing it, keep digging, and hopefully this year will be even better than it was last year.”

His optimism stems from the addition of the crew that worked on the Myere Shank teams last year, who are now exclusively with Andretti Global.

“This year is different for Andretti, and it’s a little bit of the C suite change. I just hs pumped everyone up. We have an influx of engineers with Shank going away, they’re now in house. They’re helping us with other projects, and the crew is gelling together. Well, we’re putting a huge effort in. So only good things to come,” Kirkwood said.

On the hybrid at the Indianapolis 500, Kirkwood thinks it is too early to tell how it will affect things, but he doesn’t look for a significant difference.

“I would say, it’s not going to change the racing. You know, I don’t think people want the racing to change, right? I think it’s been phenomenal there. So that’s a positive thing to say, ” he said.

“But ultimately it is adding weight to the car, which is the negative, so hopefully the positives outweigh the negatives with that. So yeah, I mean, we’re looking forward to it. It’ll be a new challenge, hopefully a new thing that we can get ahead on.”

IndyCar introduced the hybrid energy recovery system mind season in 2024. Of the tracks that will se the ERS used for the first time in 2025, Kirkwood cited two where he believes it will be most effective.

“Thermal will be extremely effective. We didn’t have we didn’t have it at Road America (last year), yeah, it’ll be very effective there. We’re going to get a huge influx of power for a period of time on that on that track, because how long it is, so how you use it, how you manage it, and what time gain you have from it will be, will be important.”

Andretti Liveries- Something, Something New

thepitwindow

Andretti Global revealed their 2025 liveries yesterday. Colton Herta’s number 26 remains pretty much the same, while Kyle Kirkwood and Marcus Ericsson will sport combinations of red, white, and black. on the 27 and 28.

Auto Nation dropped its sponsorship of the 27, so Kirkwood will drive with Chili’s sponsorship. Ericsson now carries primary sponsorship from Bryant heating and Cooling, which has been an associate sponsor.

I’m glad that the cars of Kirkwood and Ericsson have different combinations of the red,white, and black. There are plenty of red and white cars on the grid already with paint schemes that are very similar.

Marco Returns for Indy; Helio to Attempt Daytona 500

thepitwindow

The Andretti name stays on the grid. The rumors and speculation have been put to rest. Andretti Global confirmed that Marco Andretti will return to the team for his 20th Indianapolis 500. The 2020 Indianapolis Pole winner has eight top 10 finishes and top 5 runs in the 500. His best finish was his rookie year, when he was nipped at the line by Sam Hornish, Jr., in 2006.

Andretti’s’ last Top 10 was in 2017, an eighth-place result, and his last Top 5 was in 2014 when he ran third. In addition to his pole, Andretti also started on the outside of the front row in third.

Castroneves Tries Daytona

Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves will attempt to qualify for the Daytona 500 next month with Trackhouse Racing. Castroneves, a part owner of Meyer-Shank racing, will also drive in the Indianapolis 500.

I like when drivers race in different forms of racing outside their primary category, but the corporate. proprietary nature of racing today makes it such a big deal when it happens. It shouldn’t be. Drivers used to race in several different series all the time during the season.

The Field of 33

Andretti’s entry brings the entry list to 33 for the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500.

The entry list to date:

McLaren (4): O’Ward, Siegel, Lundgaard, Larson

Penske (3): Newgarden, McLaughlin, Power

ECR (3): Rossi, Rasmussen, Carpenter

Foyt (2): Ferrucci, Malukas

JHR (2): Robb, Daly

Prema (2): Ilott, Shwartzman

DRR (2): RHR, Harvey

Andretti (4): Herta, Kirkwood, Ericsson, Andretti

Ganassi (3): Simpson, Dixon, Palou

MSR (3): Rosenqvist, Armstrong, Helio

RLL (3): Rahal, DeFrancesco, Foster

DCR (2): TBA, TBA

Andretti Shake Up- Michael Steps Aside

thepitwindow

As the not so calm. not so quiet IndyCar offseason enters its second week, a major bombshell exploded this morning. Michael Andretti, former champion, successful car owner, and head of the Andretti Global racing enterprise, will step down as CEO to “focus on the strategic side” of the operation. Dan Towriss, owner of Gainbridge Financial Group, will be the new CEO. Towriss bought an ownership stake in then Andretti Autosport in 2022.

A statement from Andretti Global announced the change, but gave few details:

“Michael’s goal has been to transition to a more strategic role with Andretti Global and focus less on the operational side of the race team,” the team said in a statement. “Michael and Dan Towriss have been working closely on developing this new structure, one which Michael is excited to see take shape under Dan’s guidance.

“Michael remains engaged and will continue to serve as a strategic advisor and key ambassador.”

The statement also said that more details would be forthcoming after Andretti and Towriss have had a chance to “talk to the team.”

Thoughts

I find it mind boggling to think that Michael Andretti is not charge of his team if he were 75 or80 years old, I would get it.

I don’t get the “until we talk to the team” part. If an organization is making a seismic change like this, shouldn’t the team be talked to before anything is released to the public?

The Andretti shake up bookends a week that started with Ed Carpenter Racing announcing an ownership stake purchase by Ted Gelov of Heartland Foods. Will All IndyCar teams be owned by corporate entities with no racing backgrounds eventually like Formula 1? I hope that never happens.

Off season turbulence will be the norm this fall and winter, I believe. I understand this story is still developing. Who knows what else we will find out?

I will update as I learn things and they are confirmed.