Written by Dan Jones
Kyffin Simpson will stay at Chip Ganassi Racing for a second season in IndyCar, as the Caymanian was announced alongside Scott Dixon and Álex Palou for the 2025 season, as the team downsize to three entries for the year, after the signing of IndyCar's new charter agreement.
Simpson had an unremarkable first season in the series, finishing 21st in the standings, with a best finish of 12th in the season opener on the Streets of St. Petersburg. The 19-year-old also led laps on his maiden Indianapolis 500 appearance.
Heading into the 2024 season, Simpson will switch from the No.4 entry to Ganassi's more traditional No.8 entry, which was occupied by Linus Lundqvist through the course of the 2024 season. With the new charter agreement capping charters at three per team, Ganassi had to downsize, or risk drivers being forced to qualify their way into the field throughout the course of the season.
Marcus Armstrong, who occupied the No.11 has since announced his move to Meyer Shank Racing in the No.66 alongside Felix Rosenqvist, with Lundqvist's future uncertain. Armstrong's move to Meyer Shank Racing co-incides with the team's newly-found technical alliance with Ganassi. Simpson will remain with Journie Rewards as his primary sponsor, as he did across the course of the 2024 season.
Simpson said: “I am very excited to continue with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2025. I look forward to building on a strong start to my INDYCAR career and I can’t wait to see what our team can achieve together.”
The long-expected confirmation of Simpson, came alongside that of Scott Dixon and double-defending series champion, Álex Palou.
Palou stated: “2024 was another amazing season in the books. The work doesn’t stop, and I can’t wait to be back on track with more hunger than ever in 2025!”
Palou will be gunning for a three-peat of championships, but teammate, Scott Dixon will be aiming for a record-equalling seventh: “I’m excited. I’m ready to get going. I wish there wasn’t such a long offseason. We had lots of great races last year. It didn’t end the way that we would’ve liked with some DNFs and some poor results here and there, but the team did a great job with great speed. I’m looking forward to the season, and obviously going for championship number seven.”
Team owner, Chip Ganassi also stated: “By all accounts 2024 was another stellar year for our organization with five INDYCAR SERIES wins and our third championship in the last four seasons. So, as we move toward 2025, we are looking to defend the championship with a strong lineup of drivers and look to continue Kyffin’s development and the development of our young drivers through our INDY NXT program.”
For the first time since 2007, the team will also field cars in the Indy NXT Championship, with the team fielding two cars, with two second-year drivers in Jonathan Browne and Niels Koolen. Both drivers completed their rookie seasons with HMD Motorsports .
It's a long-expected confirmation for Simpson, but the team have their line-ups locked in, as they aim to reach similar heights to what they did across the course of the 2024 season, where the team took four victories, including Palou's third series championship.
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