Welcome to the RACER mailbag. If you have any questions for the RACER writers, please send them to mailbag@racer.com. We’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions. However, letters that include questions are more likely to be published. Questions received after 3pm every Monday will be saved for the following week.
Q: What’s the latest on Jamie Chadwick in 2025? The Andretti Global website lists drivers for the NXT program, but does not list Jamie. She recently took a test at Barber. Going one step further next year? Will Andretti be able to field four cars full-time?
Michael Andretti proved to be an important mentor to her. Does his recent departure from daily activities affect her status?
Terry J., Maryland
MARSHALL PRUETT: It’s been known for some time that Jamie is her own woman and that she won’t get a chance to race IndyCar with Andretti. She has been focused on charting her path with her sponsors. So Michael’s ouster has nothing to do with where Jamie’s career is headed.
As F1 reporter Chris Medland wrote yesterday, her target is IndyCar, and the challenges she faces include being one of the few teams with seats left for sale and securing a significant budget to attract attention to the few seats available. Included.
She was exceptional in Indy NXT, but not as dominant as Louis Foster, Jacob Abel, or Caio Collet. That’s why I was hoping she would do one more year of NXT, become a true title contender, and draw greater interest from IndyCar teams willing to use that output to run her at a discounted rate.
Finishing seventh in the NXT standings with one win and one pole wasn’t enough to give Dale Coyne Racing, Juncos Hollinger Racing or Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing a chance to drive at a bargain price. So with so many buyers interested in the best drives, you’ll need to come up with a strong budget quickly.
Q: Are you curious about what we heard about the 2024 Rookie of the Year Award? I know Kyffin Simpson will be placed in the No. 8 car, but I think they should have announced it by now. In the end, is there any hope for Linus Lundqvist to retain his No. 8 job? Or is he destined to be on the sidelines again?
handsome joe
MP: Two sources said on Monday that Kyffin is currently testing in Europe with race engineers and wouldn’t have been able to do that if he hadn’t returned to IndyCar with Ganassi. Linus is one of the top contenders for the one or two remaining paid seats in the series, but he won’t be racing for Ganassi in IndyCar.
Simpson’s Ganassi journey (or supposedly ‘Journie’) is just beginning. Michael Levitt/Motorsports Images
Q: You may have mentioned this issue before. If so, I apologize. My question is, with IndyCar now having a new charter system in place, will this affect one-time teams in the Indy 500? I am particularly interested in the Dreyer & Reinbold team. I hope DRR gets another chance. They have been dedicated to racing for over 25 years.
Speaking of DRR… Do you know if Cusick Motorsports will be teaming up with them again next May? It appears to be a solid partnership, especially for a ‘small team’. On Carb Day last May, I was walking by the DRR garage. I saw Don Cusick in the garage and said hello to him. He said hello and came out to chat with me and my friends. He even let us go to the garage and take pictures next to Ryan Hunter-Reay’s car! I couldn’t believe it. After that we had a nice chat for 10 minutes.
Don is a really nice guy and seems to really like IndyCar and the 500. I have a lot of passion. I’ve read rumors that he will take over from Juncos Hollinger, but I hope Don and his team come back to DRR in May. The Indy 500 needs a team like them in the race.
Ted Yezman, Sonoma, California
MP: As Dennis Reinbold said in a story a few months ago, being removed from the charter could be what causes DRR to leave the series in the near future. We’ll find out if it’s just his frustration or if there’s a real intention behind it.
Don Cusick has been one of the great gifts to IndyCar fans. I’ve heard more stories of Don and his wife welcoming fans into the DRR garage or something from Thermal or sending crew shirts or other memorabilia as fundraising or charity items than any other team or participant.
I texted Don Monday night and he said yes. He will be back with DRR and an announcement will be made soon.
Q: I’m really looking forward to the Mazda MX-5 Cup race this weekend. How many guest drivers will there be? Should we look at Parker or the mayor? What about next year? Who would you like to guest star on the series? I would like to have a guest driver every weekend.
steve
MP: I haven’t seen the entry list, but what’s the point of life if Dale Jr doesn’t race? I would love to see Newgarden and Pato replicate their Indy 500 finish for the entire race.
Q: I read a question and answer about Hailie Deegan in Mailbag last week. I followed her career. Hailie didn’t seem to get the best car in NASCAR. Tony Stewart races in the SRX series and races his own with equally prepared race cars and some very good drivers. I would love to see her in some really nice gear, racing a sprint car or a midget on a dirt track.
Pete Pancucci (Wisconsin)
MP: In her first laps in the Dallara IL15-AER Indy NXT car, she finished the session 6.0 seconds faster than the fastest driver on the IMS road course after 23 joint tours. With time to rest and digest the car and the track, she returned for a second session, completing 44 more laps and reducing the deficit to the fastest driver to 3.8 seconds.
Sure, a gap like 3.8 seconds is huge, but considering her progress and incredibly high learning curve, this gap will likely be closer to 2.0 seconds by the end of the offseason. Seven-time Trans Am champion Ernie Francis Jr went through a nearly identical learning curve as he transitioned from a lifetime of piloting big, boxy sports cars to open wheels.
He was out of touch from the start and continued to improve, ranking in the top 10 by the end of the second and final NXT season in 2023. She will have every opportunity to follow Ernie’s exploits at HMD Motorsports.
