Note: This series gathers the Inside Line panel to discuss the major storyline surrounding each NTT INDYCAR SERIES team entering the 2026 season. An installment on each team will appear at INDYCAR.com on Fridays.

Curt Cavin: The obvious answer is Will Power’s transition to a new team for the first time since 2009. But shouldn’t we be watching Kyle Kirkwood, who should open the season as the team’s best candidate for the series championship? Kirkwood won three races last year, a total that was second only to series champion Alex Palou (with eight). The thing is, when Kirkwood (photo, top) has been good, he has been great. Consider: Five of his six career podium finishes have landed him on the top step. In the other instance, he was a dutiful teammate and followed Colton Herta to the finish line in Toronto in 2024. Kirkwood started on the pole in three of those races, two in Long Beach. He was a serious title contender in the first half of last season, with the three wins and a strong Indianapolis 500 finish until a post-race penalty relegated him to 32nd. But he had a forgettable final stretch: An average finish of 14.0 in the last eight races with no top-fives and only nine laps led (all of those in the second race at Iowa Speedway). This will be the Floridian’s fifth season in the series, and he can challenge for the title with more consistency.

Colton Herta

Eric Smith: I’m curious how Andretti Global will perform on natural road courses. For a time, ovals were the team’s Achilles’ heel, with no wins from September 2018 until Colton Herta broke through at the 2024 finale at Nashville Superspeedway. Between June 2013 and August 2018, nine of the team’s 15 victories came on ovals. Two of its last four wins have also come on circle tracks. As oval performance has improved, success on natural road courses has dipped. Since 2023, all seven wins have come on ovals or street circuits. The team’s last natural road course victory was in July 2022, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course via Alexander Rossi, part of a sweep that year that saw Colton Herta win the Sonsio Grand Prix in May (photo, above). The last win away from IMS was Herta in September 202 at Laguna Seca, and the only other road-course win since the aeroscreen debuted in 2020 came in September 2020 at Mid-Ohio. Natural road course struggles are holding the team back from championship contention. Can Andretti Global reverse that trend next season and balance its performance across all track types? Six of the 17 races this season, or 35-percent of the schedule, are on natural road courses, including the season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Will Power

Paul Kelly: I’m paying attention to two areas for Andretti Global in 2026. One, can Marcus Ericsson salvage his Andretti tenure with a rebound season? The Swede’s time at the team has been a disappointment, with championship finishes of 15th and 20th in 2024 and 2025, respectively. No victories, either. That’s a far cry from the form with Chip Ganassi Racing that delivered him consecutive finishes of sixth in points in 2022 and 2023, with one win each of those seasons, including the 2022 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. Andretti and its people and processes no longer are new for Ericsson, so it’s shape up or ship out time this season. I’m also looking at something not quite as closely as Ericsson that has little to do with performance, and that is how much will the Andretti name will stick around this team now that owners Mark Walter and Dan Towriss have put their stamp on it since taking ownership control from Michael Andretti in 2024? We’ve already seen TWG Motorsports branding (photo, above) on the team’s cars during some tests. Is that a sign of a name change to come?