Insider: Here's where the IndyCar Silly Season, Indy 500 field sits for 2024

Within the last 10 days, IndyCar’s Silly Season has proven things can change on a dime – or, right in the middle of writing this story, as I found out Thursday. As I wrote Thursday afternoon, I wasn’t as much surprised that Callum Ilott and Juncos Hollinger Racing opted to “mutually part ways” as much as the fact that it happened at this point in the offseason.

If the 24-year-old Brit had he been a true free agent, like Marcus Ericsson, Linus Lundqvist, Felix Rosenqvist, David Malukas, Christian Rasmussen and company, it’s hard to imagine Ilott would’ve found himself nearly into November without his 2024 racing plans in place. That JHR co-owners Ricardo Juncos and Brad Hollinger held a team option on their most veteran driver through mid-December means any rival team in late-summer with interest in signing Ilott would’ve had to be willing to pay JHR in order to free him from his deal. With money tight and the pool of free agents deep, it’s no surprise no team took the bait.

Had JHR freed Ilott to go and look for deals outside his current home earlier you can’t help but wonder if David Malukas still ends up at Arrow McLaren or if Indy NXT champ Christian Rasmussen is the choice at Ed Carpenter Racing.

By no means is Ilott a sure-fire candidate to make a leap in better machinery, but there’s been enough flashes – a front-row start as a rookie in 2022 at Laguna Seca and a pair of top-5 finishes – to hint at it.

Ilott had been coy all year about his contract status then told reporters in a press conference setting after the Friday practice at Laguna, “I’m coming back. There’s no question.” That leads one to think this split had to do with what happened later that weekend with his teammate Agustin Canapino and team co-owner Juncos. Nothing about the team's financial situation over the past seven weeks or the free agent market would suggest this was prudent in lifting JHR’s future prospects. Thursday’s announcement was one of the more puzzling moves in recent memory.

Now, Ilott joins a free agent pool that still isn’t short on talent and experience, with just four certain full-time rides (and the potential for one more) out there to be claimed. With Ilott’s release, here’s where the market stands.

What IndyCar rides have been filled?

At the start of August, fewer than a dozen drivers were locked into their seats for next season, leaving 16 seats (and even more drivers) with various levels of questions marks. Since, 12 of those full-time rides have been settled.

>>Aug. 11: Tom Blomqvist, Meyer Shank Racing No. 06

>>Aug. 23: Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Autosport No. 28

>>Aug. 31: Linus Lundqvist, Chip Ganassi Racing No. TBD

>>Sept. 3: Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing No. 10

>>Sept. 5: Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing No. 60

>>Sept. 7: Marcus Armstrong, Chip Ganassi Racing No. TBD

>>Sept. 8: David Malukas, Arrow McLaren No. 6

>>Sept. 18: Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing No. TBD

>>Oct. 18: Agustin Canapino, Juncos Hollinger Racing No. 78

>>Oct. 23: Pietro Fittipaldi, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing No. 30

>>Oct. 23: Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing No. 15

>>Oct. 25: Christian Rasmussen/Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing No. 20

What 2024 IndyCar seats are left?

>>Made clear by JHR’s announcement Thursday, Juncos Hollinger Racing is yet to fill its No. 77 with a driver to slot in alongside Canapino.

>>Dale Coyne Racing is yet to fill either of its vacant No. 18 and No. 51 entries left by the exit of Malukas and the expiration of Sting Ray Robb’s rookie contract.

>>IndyStar is confident in saying AJ Foyt Racing merely has one of its two full-time rides left to fill: the No. 14 that Santino Ferrucci manned last season. Though there have continued to be rumors suggesting Benjamin Pedersen could exit after one year despite being announced on a multi-year deal a year ago, team president Larry Foyt told IndyStar at Laguna Seca that he “didn’t foresee big changes in our driver lineup” for 2024. When asked to clarify, Foyt acknowledged that Pedersen would indeed be back. When reached again last week to verify if that was still the case, a team spokesperson continued to affirm those plans.

>>In mid-October, Andretti Global COO Rob Edwards told IndyStar he hoped to have a team decision whether the long-time IndyCar program would move forward with a fourth full-time car – as they have for all but two seasons since the start of 2004 – within two weeks. Asked again for an update Wednesday, Edwards said the team had still not landed on an answer. At the center of this decision is the loss of a fourth Leaders Circle spot in 2024 that could pay more than $1 million and the fact that this ride had traditionally been funded by a driver. The team is yet to unveil a sponsor for Ericsson's car after the loss of DHL, and is known to be paying its newest driver handsomely, while allegedly handing Colton Herta the highest salary in the paddock a year ago and signing an extension weeks ago with Kyle Kirkwood.

Insider: What happens next for Callum Ilott, Juncos Hollinger Racing after shocking split

What do we know about the vacant IndyCar seats?

AJ Foyt Racing

With Pedersen (and the budget that comes with him) locked into place, along with an influx of help in its technical alliance with Team Penske, the Foyt team need only to settle on a driver for its famed No. 14 entry. Larry Foyt, the team president, said the team was extremely interested in Ferrucci returning, with the driver telling NBC at the finale that an extension was in the works. But IndyStar understands the team is split on whether Ferrucci’s return would be prudent to the team’s development.

Pedersen had a rough a rookie season. Ferrucci finished better than Pedersen on 10 of 12 road and street courses but in only five was Ferrucci four spots or more higher up the finishing order. Whether that’s enough separation to make what little budget Ferrucci can bring enough to secure the seat remains to be seen. Free agent drivers have also been told the team has considered splitting that ride into road and street/oval programs for two drivers, but that’s by no means guaranteed.

Juncos Hollinger Racing

With Ilott’s exit, paddock attention and speculation has homed in on Romain Grosjean, who is in the midst of a messy exit from Andretti after a two-year stint that included good (two poles and three podiums) and bad (numerous public outbursts lambasting team officials, engineers and crew members) and now includes arbitration proceedings. His fit at a team with clear chemistry issues would undoubtedly be questionable, but his aura still shines bright in the worldwide motorsports landscape – particularly for a team in need of funding.

Other drivers sporting their own budgets – Devlin DeFrancesco and Sting Ray Robb, most notable among them – could factor into this discussion, too, should Grosjean and JHR not come to an agreement. When reached this week, Grosjean told IndyStar of his 2024 IndyCar prospects: “Working on it.”

Dale Coyne Racing

As so often is the case, how DCR factors into the free agent market is anyone’s guess. The team has frequently been linked with DeFrancesco – dating back to midway through last season – as well as a spot for Grosjean. Robb’s camp, unhappy with the general performance of the No. 51 crew that includes a partnership with Rick Ware Racing, is understood to only be interested in a return to Coyne’s pseudo lead-car, the No. 18. Sixth-place Indy NXT finisher Danial Frost, who tested with Coyne last offseason, could also be in the fold.

The key: At least one driver will need to provide a solid budget – if not both – to land one of these rides.

Who will end up in the remaining IndyCar rides?

I’d consider Ferrucci, Grosjean, DeFrancesco, Robb and Ilott (in no particular order) among the most likely names to snag those four certain full-time seats, with Frost, Conor Daly, Jack Harvey, Oliver Askew, Tatiana Calderon, various young European-based drivers (like eventual F2 champ Theo Pourchaire and Fittipaldi's younger brother, Enzo) and Jacob Abel among those potentially factoring into the full-time picture.

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Where does the Indy 500 field stand?

When the four total seats at Foyt, Coyne and JHR are filled, we’ll be back to 27 full-time IndyCar entries for 2024. A somewhat unexpected fourth car at Andretti would give us 28. But for the rest of this exercise, let’s operate under the assumption Andretti Global will remain at three.

Known (or seemingly assured) Indy 500 one-off entries beyond those full-timers already include:

>>Marco Andretti (Andretti Global)

>>Helio Castroneves (Meyer Shank Racing)

>>Kyle Larson (Arrow McLaren)

>>Christian Rasmussen (Ed Carpenter Racing)

Questions answered: What ECR will look like in 2024 after hiring Christian Rasmussen

With those full-time and Indy 500 one-off cars, Honda sits at 15 full-time cars and 17 entries for the 500, with Chevy at 12 full-timers and 14 for May. As those with aspirations with joining the 500-only fray, deadlines continue to creep earlier and earlier each year.

IndyStar understands RLL has held preliminary conversations with drivers for a fourth car in May, even though it already has reserve driver Juri Vips under contract for next season. Though team co-owner Bobby Rahal told reporters this past week his team is in the early stages of a fourth full-time IndyCar entry that it would like to use for Vips, it would be logical to think the team would look instead to a deep pool of free agents with deep – and, in some cases, winning – experience in the 500, rather than a rookie with no oval experience.

Drivers at the top of that wish list would likely include Ryan Hunter-Reay, Takuma Sato, Simon Pagenaud and Daly, along with Katherine Legge, who ran with RLL in that role in 2023.

Similarly, Foyt has also held early discussions about an additional 500 car.

In five of the last six years, Dreyer and Reinbold Racing has run two cars in May at IMS – including the last two – and is a frequent top-10 contender. Both its drivers from a year ago, Hunter-Reay and Stefan Wilson (who would come with partner Don Cusick), would seem logical options, as would Daly, but IndyStar understands the team is comfortable waiting through the winter and into 2024 to see how the full-time driver market shakes out before making decisions.

Behind the scenes, potential partner programs Cusick Motorsports (which would bring Wilson) and Marotti Autosport (who has signed Ed Jones to any alliance it makes) are in search of partnering with established teams to try and each make another 500 appearance. Whether Abel Motorsports, which made its IndyCar debut in May’s 500 with RC Enerson, will make another run at the 500 is unclear. Same can be said for Beth Paretta's Paretta Autosport, which still has only made one single 500 appearance in 2021 and didn't race at all in IndyCar in 2023.

Despite those larger question marks, two cars at DRR would lift us to our minimum field of 33, with prospects of additions at Foyt and RLL providing the prospect of bumping again during qualifying weekend in 2024.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar silly season: Here's where 2024 full-season, Indy 500 stand