The Indy 500 is a famous car race that takes place every year in Indianapolis. It's known for being very challenging and is a big event in the world of racing.
The Craftsman Truck Series is a type of racing where drivers compete in specially designed pickup trucks. It's part of NASCAR and includes races on different types of tracks.
Ganassi Racing is a well-known racing team in the United States that competes in different types of car racing. They have a strong reputation and have won many races and championships.
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Hi, welcome to the IndyCar News in five minutes.
I'm IndyCar Dad and this is my podcast.
Every week I try to bring you up to speed
with what's happened in IndyCar over the last seven days
and I try to do so in five minutes.
So let's get right to it.
The first interesting thing that happened
or the most interesting thing I think
is that Mick Schumacher finally drove an oval.
His team, RLL, had him down at the Homestead track.
It was a testing day for rookie, they do get one day.
And they were smart to do it in an oval,
but Mick had the track all to himself.
So he was down there with driver coach Ryan Briscoe,
formerly with Prema, and before that
as a driver with Penske.
I think that, you know, you can't really tell
how fast he was, there's no time to run the test.
And also there was no one else there to compare him to.
But it was a good idea to get him comfortable on an oval
before he goes out to the test
that involves everybody at Phoenix.
So interesting stuff.
Second thing that happened this week
is your friend IndyCarDad hired someone
to go out and take some spy photos
of what's going on at the Prema shop.
And the news are it's not good.
There's only about 10 cars in the parking lot,
which is way understaffed for an IndyCar team.
Even Meyer Schenck, which doesn't even have
an engineering staff in-house
because they use Gnasi engineering,
usually has 30 to 40 to 50 cars.
And someplace like CGR has like 60 to 80 cars
in the parking lot.
So Prema only having 10 is a real bad sign.
I don't think we're gonna see good things
out of the team this year.
Also, Callum Eyelot was interviewed
and he indicated that it didn't seem likely
that the team will be a test days or at St. Pete.
So not great.
The Freedom 250 race in Washington DC
was put on the calendar.
We haven't seen much detail like there's no track map
and it does seem like a short runway
between now and the race.
But apparently there's been a team
working on it for months and months.
So hopefully it'll go well, I hope.
Another thing that happened this week
was McLaren launched their 2026 cars.
They said, you know, there's a lot of continuity
with the team.
I mean, it's the same car.
They look the same, I guess,
probably good opportunity to get the media there
and give them some free food.
So another scoop that happened,
and this comes from the sluice at Reddit,
is that Roman Grosjean was at Media Day last week.
IndyCar didn't make a big thing of it
and didn't announce it.
But all of the driver photos showed up
on Getty Images this week,
which is like a clearing house
and place where you buy the rights to images.
And Roman Grosjean in a black fire suit
matching Dennis Hoggar's fire suit was there
and he did have his picture taken.
So that's interesting.
Let's see, what else?
We all got to see a letter
that Roger Penske wrote to Donald Trump,
thanking him for his great leadership, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah.
You know, I was like Roger Penske,
he lives not too far from where I live,
here in Michigan,
and I always thought of him as like a bold,
kind of, you know, individualistic guy,
but I don't really care much to see my heroes kissing up.
So I wasn't no crazy about that.
News from Dario Franchitti,
younger viewers of IndyCar might not know who that is,
but he won the Indy 500 three times
and he left IndyCar to move up to like a NASCAR career,
which didn't work out that well.
But he also got in some bad wrecks
and had some concussions, so he retired pretty early.
He's handsome, he's funny, he's very interesting,
and he'll be back in a race car at St. Pete,
but it's not an IndyCar.
He's driving a Craftsman truck series truck
or whatever they call that series now,
and so we'll get to see him run and he'll be around.
I mean, I usually can see him sometimes at the track,
he's that technical advisor
or something like that for a ganassi racing, so.
And then Connor Dewey on his podcast
said there's a percentage of a chance
that he will be at St. Pete in an IndyCar.
I'm not sure what that percentage is,
but that's the news for this week.
Next week should be quite exciting,
we've got some testing going on,
and it's getting closer and closer to St. Pete,
where I'm very excited to be attending the race.
So there you go, I'm IndyCar Dad,
this was your IndyCar News in five minutes.
About this episode
Mick Schumacher took his first oval test at Homestead with RLL, aiming to prepare for upcoming tests. Concerns arise for Prema Racing, with only 10 cars spotted at their shop, indicating potential struggles this season. The Freedom 250 race is confirmed for Washington DC, while McLaren unveiled their 2026 cars. Notably, Roman Grosjean made a surprise appearance at Media Day, and Dario Franchitti is set to race in the Craftsman Truck Series. Excitement builds as testing approaches and the St. Pete race nears.
Here is the Indycar news for the week of February 5th, 2026.
Here is what happened in Indycar this week. Presented in 5 minutes:
Mick Shumacher Testing. He had the entire track (homestead) to himself. He didn’t crash. Ryan Briscoe is his driver coach. I think that is a great result for the team. But there is no data to work with here. It will be useful to prep him for the Phoenix oval test.
We have some spy shots of outside the PREMA shop and it doesn’t look good.
Callum Ilot was interviewed and he also indicated that they don’t seem likely to be at the test days nor at St. Pete.
The Freedom 250 was put on the calendar. We haven’t seen much detail, but everyone is promising a race in Washington DC as a celebration of our country’s 250th birthday.
McLaren “launched” their 2026 cars. Considering they look pretty much the same and the chassis and engine is the same, the only thing we missed from that event was some free food. Maybe I’ll get an invite next year.
It turns out that Romain Grosjean was at media day last week. He wasn’t part of the official images released by Indycar, but pictures of him in an all black firesuit that matched Dennis Hauger’s appeared on Getty Images.
We all got to see a letter that Roger Penske wrote to Donald Trump. I always admired Roger Penske. I live near him and he always seemed like a guy who spent his money doing things that I would do if I was a Billionaire. I tell you what, I wouldn’t be writing letters to kiss anyone’s ass if I was Roger Penske.
Dario Francitti will be racing at St. Pete this year. Unfortunately, he will be in a Toyota truck, but it will be fun to see him back and racing competitively.
Conor Daly said there is a percentage of a chance that he will be at St. Pete in an Indycar.
