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2026 Predictions

2026 Predictions

Off Track with Hinch and Rossi Jan 07, 2026 18 min
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About this episode

Hinch and Rossi kick off 2026 with lively predictions across major racing series including IMSA, NASCAR, IndyCar, and F1. They debate likely winners of iconic races like the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the Daytona 500, discuss bold scenarios such as Denny Hamlin's retirement announcement mid-season, and speculate on emerging talents like Connor Z. The hosts also touch on potential surprises in F1, including new race winners and team dynamics, while sharing personal bets and humorous takes on the racing year ahead.

Topics: 2026 racing predictions Rolex 24 at Daytona Daytona 500 IMSA NASCAR championship IndyCar season F1 season outlook driver retirements emerging talents bold racing bets
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This is off track.
Hey, Benny boy, what happen buddy?
It's off track with Hinch and Rossie. Hello?
There you go. Not the first. Oh, look at him. Look at him.
He's a natural. He's a natural on the
microphone. Incredible.
And looking, looking away from it. Just like his
dad. .
It's a noise pal. Makes him noise buddy. Go.
Oh, he's, he's floored by this, this new toy.
Mm. He sure
Is.
What a piece of technology.
Well, I'm glad that Ben could join us on our first show of 2026.
It sure is. We're not gonna, we're not gonna get a new year
'cause we're gonna do that on Thursday.
Um, which we're definitely doing at a totally different time.
Wait, Alex, turn your head around backwards. Turn your head
Around backwards. Sorry. Sorry dude.
My bad. Yeah. So yeah. Totally different
day than the Thursday episode.
Uh, welcome everybody. What?
Uh, and given that it is the new year, we didn't wanna bug anybody to try to interview anyone fresh off coming back from Right? Like,
No one wants to go back to work.
No. Yeah, Exactly. It's just, yeah.
So don't, don't wanna start asking. No, we don't.
Yeah, exactly. We don't wanna be here.
We're not gonna ask anyone else to be here. Ben doesn't
Wanna be here.
Ben is furious. Yeah, absolutely furious.
So we figured we would take .
We figured we would take this opportunity to preview 2026 in the racing sense, uh, across kind of the four major championships that we pay attention to in some way or not. We're previewing
It or making predictions. We're
Gonna make predictions.
Oh. In a preview style.
'cause like we don't know enough to preview everything.
I mean, do you wanna preview it?
Would you rather just preview it or do you wanna just make some I, I think think we should make predictions.
I think we should just funnier. Should put some bets on 'em.
Not money. Just dumb things.
Super legal. Can't do that. I also
Recently said not money, dumb things.
I also just recently made a dumb bet with Alex that I already, you hear Gray You on Thursday and you'll hear all about it.
Late and Thursday's episode and I'm, I'm, dude, I'm literally like, I'm seeing my chair shaking. I'm like, oh
No, this is So you have to go first. That's the deal.
It bad that I was like, wait, what bet. Even though we just
Recorded that 45 seconds ago.
No we didn't. That was last week. No, it's a different day.
It's a totally different day.
Sorry, we haven't done that yet with Yeah.
And look at the worst.
Ben was not here, will not be there.
I mean on Thursday. Damnit,
Right?
Like Ben, Ben wouldn't be in the the room over.
There's no way. No, he's
On SI missed the memo on the hats. Is this better?
We know that's better. We know that on Thursdays,
Ben has jazzer size so he will not be recording with us.
Mm. Um, okay, so
Well let's start with Im za 'cause it comes up first.
I like that. That's a good start. Okay. Okay.
Um, in the IMSA world, Yes.
You start off with the Rolex 24 Daytona.
We can, I mean we could talk about the championship.
We could even just talk about predicting Daytona.
I don't know enough about the championship to predict the championship.
So let's just do Daytona. Let's
Just Daytona I'm Gonna go first.
Okay. Um, Wayne Taylor racing returns to Victory Lane
because quite frankly it has been, they have been absent from not only the championship but from Daytona, which is their bread and butter.
Um, ever since the switch back home to Cadillac to gm, which I think came as a surprise to everyone, including them because, you know, they were ultra successful with the previous generation of prototype when it was, um, the first DPI, uh, that came out with Cadillac, I think they won a, like a couple in a row and then they switched to Acura.
And while Acura wasn't as plug and play for them, um, I can speak firsthand with the experience.
It wasn't as plug and play and, and didn't really suit their setup and Ricky's driving style as well as the Cadillac.
Um, they still won a a 24 hour.
They won four Daytona's in five years and the past two years they've been nowhere.
Um, even with the return to Cadillac, as I said.
So I think 2026 is the year that Wayne tail racing is back in Victory Lane with, it's not a bow tie.
What is it? It's a, it's a
Shield of sorts With a, with a Chrome shield. Let's call it that.
Chrome Shield. Okay.
I think that's a, that's a pretty solid, solid bet.
Solid guess. Um, I'm gonna go a different route. Okay.
They have not been absent as long, but it's been a couple years since Meyer Shanks won.
Uh, they had their back to back wins in 22 and 23, but it's been back to back for Penske 24 and 25.
And then like you mentioned, it was three in a row for Wayne Taylor before that.
So there seems to be like trends and this race and I think that, you know, that organization is strong.
They got a cool driver lineup and they have um, an exciting driver coming in for the 24, I should say returning in AJ Alman Dinger.
Cool. So that's cool aj? Yeah. Super cool. Cool story.
AJ ran with Mike for years and years in that, uh, in that race and was there when they won their first one, I think back in like 2012.
Mm-hmm . Uh, back in the Daytona prototype,
the original DP era.
So yeah, I'm gonna predict for uh, top class overall winner.
That's gonna be a Mike Sha Meyer Shank racing, uh, victory.
All Right. And GTD Pro,
obviously it's gonna be the number nine. Faf. Oh Lord
Lamborghini, What are you gonna say?
It's not, are you gonna say it's not?
No, I'm gonna say it's insane to try and predict a gt winner with how many of you there are and how much happens.
It's also pronounced gtd. There's also like eight
cars .
That's true. That's true.
It is a much harder class to predict.
Uh, both in pro and GTD, probably even more so GTD. Alright, so
Separate of, of winners or anything else.
Is there just something unexpected that you guys are expecting to happen? Well
Then it wouldn't be unexpected would it? Tim?
Well, unexpected by most, but not you That we expect to happen in at Daytona. Yeah.
Yeah. I expect, okay, let's, okay,
let's make a weird prediction now.
Let's make a bold prediction.
The predictions, uh, an obscure prediction is that Mm, Mine is it doesn't rain once.
Not during the roar, not during qualifying, not during practice, not during the race. I love
That.
I would love that. Yeah. If we're doing predictions like
that, I'm gonna say the temperature will never be below 68 degrees for the entire two weeks Night.
Why wouldn't you have gone 69 night?
I mean, I don't dunno. I was just
being, I was just trying to Number, I was just gonna say, um, Ferris wheel's gonna break down.
Someone's gonna get stuck there for two hours.
Someone's two hours. Okay. Two
Hours on the Ferris wheel.
Say I think that Connor Zi will have the fastest lap of the race and throw that out there as a random one.
That is a, that has a very interesting prediction that I think Right. Could be correct
Because like you gotta beat some pretty good guys in that class to, to have that lap. Yeah,
Well you do and you don't.
You do because you have to beat some pretty good guys.
But most of the pretty good guys, all those guys Pushing Aren't Yeah, exactly.
Connor so's gonna be hell bent on going as fast as possible at all times.
I like it. I look forward to reading the big
pillar data afterwards.
Uh, okay, so after that next we have Daytona 500.
Yes. Yes. So I'm going to,
okay, I'm all, okay, let's do it.
Let's do 500 predictions.
And I think for NASCAR we should make a like a Hail Mary championship prediction too.
For 500. I'm gonna say Kyle Larson
Boring.
Boring but Boring.
Why is it boring? Because you're choosing like
the best driver in the field. But he's never
Won the Daytona 500.
Right? So he's got multiple championships now.
He is won a lot of stuff, but he is never won Daytona.
So it's like, it's like, you know when Joseph hadn't won Indy, right?
It's like the, one of the best guys who have not won it.
So I like Larson for Daytona.
And then along the almost exact same lines, I think Denny Hamlin wins the championship.
My bold prediction is Denny Hamlin wins the championship after halfway through the season while leading the championship.
He announces his retirement.
Ooh, really a that's your bold prediction. I like that.
Mm-hmm I like that. Okay. Okay.
So we both have Denny win the championship.
Uh, I think it's just a weird sort of karmic poetic justice thing.
Everything that he's been through personal life obviously, you know, so sad what happened to him and his family and condolences to them for the loss of his dad And wish that his uh, mother's recovery continues.
Everything that happened with the court case.
Everything that happened in the championship last year, you know, uh, this is Denny's year and the universe is gonna gonna shine upon him.
I think I also think I'm gonna throw out like here's my really bold one.
You, okay, so yours was Denny wins, but you're like out there is that he's gonna announce his retirement.
My out there one is gonna be, uh, guess what?
It's gonna be a similar theme till my last one.
Connor Zi will be in the championship four.
I think he'll be, he'll go down to the final.
I wonder how you can get Connor into IndyCar and F1 predictions too.
I just wanna see how you can make it all work.
I do think my bold prediction for the future of the Indy 500 is that Connor Zi will run it within the next three years.
Okay. And then I predict that
Cadillac F1 will hire him as a sim driver in the next three years.
So there you go. Connor Zi
is involved in everything that we're talking.
So speaking of F1, 'cause that starts before us. What's your F1
Impression?
I think it does actually, I think we start before that.
No, because St.
Pizza at March 1st, I think we actually win that war.
Wow. First time Ever their testing starts. Yeah.
I mean they only finished racing like three weeks ago, but Yeah, No, I just figured they would still beat us back to being Play .
All right. Indie car predictions.
Champion 500 winner. Go.
I'm not gonna go that route. Okay.
Don't go that route. I didn't want you to go that route
anyway. , I'm gonna go.
Kind of feels like you did wanna go that route.
No, no, no. I just, I thought it was fine.
Supposed to say that because You expressly asked it, you Told me to say We are, we already Oh yeah, you listen to Mes ago a couple episodes ago, we covered the fact that we thought Palolo was gonna win the championship again, just because nothing's changed, so, right.
I don't really want to keep beating that into the universe.
Okay, . So just go back to previous, go back
to previous episodes.
I don't feel comfortable trying to predict a 500 winner because obviously it's gonna be me and I don't wanna talk about that.
That's fair. So, um,
Who's gonna win Long Beach ?
Uh, Also you Probably willpower. Mm
Oh yeah.
Willpower and an andretta at Long Beach. Yeah. Yeah.
I so yeah, so bold prediction.
I was chatting to a, a colleague of mine who, I'll, I'll leave nameless in case he wants to say this for himself, but he was like, I predict a willpower win at St.
Pete. 'cause Andrei cars are very good at St. Pete.
Will's got like more polls than every, like everyone else has one poll.
He has like 10 there, right?
He has owns half the poles in the history of that race.
He's won it a bunch of times.
We know how good those cars to be.
Colton probably should have won that race last year if it wasn't for a bad pit stop.
So, and he's in the car. He's in that car.
That's an interesting pick that I, I don't hate the sound of, Um, my prediction is before the end of the season, we have an international race added to a calendar. Oh,
And wait, you mean For next year they're gonna say announce it or It will be this Upcoming season for 2026.
But for 2027, Just make it And my uh, next prediction is the 2028 car will be delayed. .
Oh no. Oh, I hate that. He is probably right. .
I don't even, I don't even wanna comment on this.
I don't even wanna talk about this right now. Yeah, you do.
No, I don't, I don't.
'cause I, again, you're putting it in the universe and I don't want it to be true. It's not gonna be true.
I don't want it to be true either.
2028 car's happening, Alex, it's happening and it's gonna be great. Yeah, it's gonna be great.
The 28 28 car will be sick in 2031. .
Well, at that point we might as well call it like the 2024 car or whatever it was originally designed.
Yeah. Oh man. No.
Okay, so let's, uh, how about, how about, I'm gonna go with a, um, I'm gonna go with a mixed Schumacher podium for the end of the year.
I'm gonna go, this is my final one. Honda stays. Oh, I
Hope so.
Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna also just put that in the universe.
I like that one a lot. Let's, uh, let's bank on that. Um,
And finally, Dixon into coin Happens.
Dixon the coin is finally happening. We know that.
We've been singing for years. Sorry,
Sir Dixon.
Sir Dixon, how about that?
Pretty cool. I'd clap but my hands are full. Yeah,
You got a kid there.
That's, I mean guys, how many indie car drivers have been knighted? I assume,
Assume how Many assume PJ Chessen.
Don't think so. Ignited by
who? ,
I mean, yeah, That's anybody at this point. Yeah. .
It's probably still a pretty small list.
Uh, super impressive, well deserved. Congratulations Scotty.
Yeah, super cool honor to get All right.
F1. Okay, final F1
Final series.
Um, my, I have two predictions. Okay.
One is Max wins the championship.
Number two is a first time race winner.
Well, a person who will be winning the race for their first time wins that set race before Lewis wins a race next year.
So you think there will be a new first time winner before Lewis wins his next race For, for example, Haja wins a race before Lewis. Right,
Right, right.
I'm trying to think of what those options are.
Actually, I'll, I'm gonna go with you on that because like you've got Antonelli and a Mercedes who are touted to be pretty strong.
You've got Haja in a red bull always good.
Who knows, who knows what hos could be? Who knows?
I dunno. Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, Williams, you could have Alban winning a race if Williams nail it. If,
If as if Aston is as good as they say they are and there's a weather race, Lance could win. Yeah,
Yeah, yeah.
We've seen weirder stuff. All right, I like that.
That's a good one. Um,
My, my F1 prediction, Fernando Alonzo continues to not retire.
I'm not sure That's a good one actually, pal.
I think if, uh, I feel Like he's permanent.
I think if the first four races aren't good, he, I don't know if he'll make the end of the year. . .
Yeah. It's a shame. Dragovich finally
gave up that reserve driver role.
Yeah. Because he might be getting half a season, uh, whoever
that person is now, but, um, okay, so my, I'm gonna go championship.
I'm gonna, you're gonna love this.
Uh, I think George Russell's got a shot because here's the thing.
Boring If Mercedes, how's that? Boring?
He's won like five races.
First time champion. Yeah. First time champ.
Boring. Oh, okay. Just
Because he's so boring. He said
Max for staffing. Dude, he's
So boring.
Okay, so it's not me.
My, it's not my prediction that's boring. It's, you thinks
Boring him as a person. Got
It. Okay.
Like, it infuriates me how good he is at driving a race car.
He is very good at that. That is an undeniable fact.
And if Mercedes kill it with the engines, they've got that advantage.
But then you've gotta out develop McLaren, right?
'cause they've got the same engines and they're obviously hitting on pretty, pretty well right now.
So, I don't know.
I think it's gonna be between like Lando Oscar and, and and Jorge. But you
Don't think Max, you don't think Max is even gonna play? I
I don't know if I believe that the engine can do it.
I just dunno. I just dunno.
You know, they hired an aggressive amount of people from Mercedes specifically And there's already been like a scandal about the engines and how both Mercedes and Red Bull have found like a pretty massive loophole.
Yes. So yeah, if that doesn't get closed, then yes.
You, you might be onto something there.
You might be onto something there, but yeah.
Dude, what if Aston Martin's just amazing?
'cause you got Newey and Honda just kills it. It's
Well, they very much, they very much could be.
Which would be, it would be cool.
It would be, it would Cool. Cool to see
Fernando one more time.
Yeah. Winning races in a competitive
In contention. Yes. I agree.
'cause he, he has been on the wrong side of like the team swing for a decade and a half, right?
Yes. Yeah. Like just missed it
by a couple years on either end.
And it'd be really cool for it to come right for him at the end.
Like I just feel like that would be a cool story.
I don't disagree. I think that'd be awesome.
I don't think it's potential. Like I, my,
my bold one could be Fernando Alonzo wins a race in 2026.
Cool. I think that could be pretty cool. There you go.
So those are, and I think my boldest prediction for 2026 off track turns a Profit.
I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go one higher.
I am gonna bet you, Tim, that I can find a way to get James to ride a hundred miles on a bicycle .
If you did that, I'd run a half marathon.
I so would I if I did That, I would get, I would get Alice to run a half marathon.
If, if if I can get him to ride a hundred miles on a bike, I'll run a half marathon .
No, we agreed that you gotta run first.
That was, now you're giving away the whole point of listening to Thursday.
God damnit . Oh man.
There's no point in listening to Thursday's episode.
We're still heavy in the off season.
Oh, here's a bold prediction for 2026.
Tim actually does his job and we have some live shows. Let's
Talk about it on Thursday. Let's set one up.
Let's do that. Tune in Thursday.
This has been off track with Hinch and Rossi.
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