Last Week in IndyCar (11/10-16/25)

Another week has gone by in the IndyCar world, and with it came developments on and off the track bearing implications that could stretch years into the future. For now, though, let’s size up the key headlines of the last seven days.

Hunter-Reay joins McLaren

Our top story arrived Thursday morning, when Arrow McLaren unveiled the great Ryan Hunter-Reay as their fourth driver at next year’s Indianapolis 500. The 2012 National Champion and 2014 Indy 500 winner will pilot the renumbered #31 car, thereby returning to the number he debuted with in 2003.

For Hunter-Reay, this move is a well-earned upgrade. At last year’s 500, he emerged out of nowhere in a Dreyer & Reinbold machine to become one of the day’s top contenders, leading 48 laps before the car sadly broke down right as the strategies were converging for the endgame. Had it not been for that, he almost certainly would’ve been in the final fight for the win. Now, Captain America will get his first ride in top-tier equipment since leaving Andretti at the end of 2021. For McLaren, meanwhile, this adds a second proven threat to win in case Pato O’Ward runs into some bad luck early on.

As for the wider implications, we now have 30 cars in for the 500, meaning we’re three away from a full grid and four away from Bump Day drama. The big opening to watch is at Andretti, where Marco Andretti ended the “It’s Marco’s year!” meme forever by retiring. That’s left behind a giant void of speculation where everyone from Colton Herta to Jamie Chadwick is getting floated as a possibility.

Ferrucci plays in the dirt

Every offseason, Santino Ferrucci becomes IndyCar’s ambassador on dirt, and he’s resumed that tradition a little early this time. As a warmup for January’s Chili Bowl Nationals, the dirt oval equivalent of the Indy 500, Ferrucci competed in the USAC Hangtown 100 not far from Sacramento, California.

Rain cancelled Friday’s sessions, but the weather cooperated Saturday, and Ferrucci was able to make it all the way to the main event. However, he would only get about two-thirds of the way through the race before a hellacious crash, bringing out a red flag and dooming Ferrucci to 20th place with a DNF. However, this isn’t the first spectacular wipeout he’s walked away from on an oval, and it shouldn’t dissuade him from trying to show up and show out in Tulsa in a couple months.

Foster signs RLL extension

Driver extensions have been a bit of a theme in recent weeks. The first week of November, Kyle Kirkwood got his big lockdown deal at Andretti, signaling their faith in him as the long-term franchise player, and this past Tuesday, reigning Rookie of the Year Louis Foster got a similar one with Rahal Letterman Lanigan.

With both the driver and his key sponsor locked in for the foreseeable future, RLL have clearly seen enough in the young Brit to treat him as their new Christian Lundgaard. The question now is if he can keep improving, and whether the team can give him strong enough setups to get results.