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It seems like there are going to be lineup changes at almost every team this off-season. And of all teams at this time, Dale Coyne Racing is looking like the most stable, which is great from them as they performed well in spite of all the havoc the team had to face this past season. Both Sebastien Bourdais and 2017 Rookie of the Year Ed Jones are expected to return, though not confirmed yet.
At Penske, there are question marks over the #3 car. At Ganassi, they closed up the shops of #8 and #83, so the whole B-team is gone. That was quite a shocker. At Andretti, reigning Indy 500 champion Takuma Sato has chosen to leave, in spite of having been a very good fit with the team. Rookie Zach Veach is going to have to fill some large shoes there. Bryan Herta Autosport will be continuing its fruitful cooperation with Andretti Autosport. AJ Foyt Racing is eyeing Tony Kanaan. Will he join the Team's Waller, TX, based #14 team or the Indianapolis based #4 team? That remains to be seen. Mikhail Aleshin unfortunately did not continue his promising 2016 form into this past season and he was dropped from Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. His replacement in the #7 is still to be determined. At Ed Carpenter Racing, former IndyLights champion Spencer Pigot moves up to the full-season ride #21 after JR Hildebrand had a rough year in that car involving a new and unproven engineering team that came from sports cars, having to sit out one race due to a broken hand Long Beach and podium finishes on ovals. The "road course specialist" to alternate with team owner Carpenter in the #20 still needs to be found. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has Graham Rahal returning and Takuma Sato joining him. Given the strong showings of both drivers in recent years, that could lead to Team Rahal re-joining the teams of Penske, Ganassi and Andretti in the "Big 4". New team Harding Racing which showed lots of promise this year at Indy and scored very impressive Top 5 result at Texas Motor Speedway this year, are expected to join the grid full time with driver Gabby Chaves. Also, Carlin Racing's plans of moving up to IndyCar from IndyLights are very much looking to come to fruition next year, as longtime Carlin cohort Max Chilton is a free agent at this time and has been linked again with the team that his main sponsor owns a stake in.
This year's Indy 500-only entrants Michael Shank Racing, Juncos Racing and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing are likely to return in that capacity, and it remains to be seen if more appearances might happen during the season.
That's the current status of this silly season from a teams perspective. Have I missed anything? Do you have any additions?
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