The Indycar Dad Podcast Apr 28, 2026

INDYCAR News in 5 Minutes - April 27th, 2026 - Ep. 24

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Concept

33 cars for the Indy 500

That’s how many race cars are expected to be on the starting lineup for the Indy 500. More cars means more teams trying to qualify and more competition for the grid.

Car

DW12

The DW12 is the race car platform IndyCar teams used for a long time. At the Indy 500, teams change parts and aero so the car is set up for that track’s high-speed style.

Concept

Speedway trim

Teams adjust the car’s setup for the Indy 500. “Speedway trim” means the car is tuned for oval racing—where you’re mostly going fast in a straight line and through long turns.

Company

Foyt

Foyt is a racing team in IndyCar. The host is talking about which team’s people (like the pit crew) might be supporting a particular car.

Company

HMD

HMD is another organization involved with the car’s entry. The host is basically saying the pit crew might come from HMD’s Indy program.

Company

Elf Cosmetics

Elf Cosmetics is a brand whose name shows up on the car. In racing, companies pay to have their branding on the car to reach fans.

Concept

27 cars for all races other than the 500

They’re limiting most IndyCar races to a maximum number of cars. That means fewer teams can race each weekend unless they have a guaranteed spot.

Concept

charters

A charter is like a guaranteed spot to race. If you have one, you’re much more likely to get in the field; if you don’t, you may have to qualify and could miss the race.

Concept

six additional cars make the field

At the Indy 500, more cars can qualify and join the race than at other events. So even if charters are the main rule elsewhere, Indy 500 still leaves room for additional qualifiers.

Concept

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

This is the track in Indianapolis where the Indy 500 happens. It’s an oval, so cars are set up differently than they would be for road courses.

Concept

open test

The open test is when teams go to the track before the big race to try things out. Drivers use it to learn the car and the track so they’re ready for qualifying and race day.

Concept

re-qual

Re-qual is basically a “try again” qualifying situation. If you’re not locked in, you may need to re-earn your spot using the rules for that event.

Concept

live timing and scoring

It’s the live leaderboard and lap-by-lap updates you can watch on your phone. It tells you where each car is and how fast they’re going as the session happens.

Concept

co-entry

A co-entry means two teams or organizations are teaming up for one race entry. It can be about sharing costs, sponsorship, or using someone else’s guaranteed spot.

Company

Dreyer and Reinbold

Dreyer & Reinbold is a racing team that competes in IndyCar. The host is saying they announced a special arrangement for the Indy 500 with another team.

Company

Huncos Hollinger

Huncos Hollinger is another IndyCar team. The host is discussing how the two teams might be sharing entry responsibilities for the Indy 500.

LIVE

Indycar Dad Podcast: Hey IndyCar family, I'm IndyCarDad, your host for IndyCar News in 5 minutes. I read and watch everything IndyCar for the past week, then I try to summarize it in 5 minutes. the big news this week is we're definitely going to have 33 cars for the Indy 500.

Jacob Abel and Cat Leg just showed their rides. Jacob Abel's car was pure white and it looked great in my eyes. I know people don't really care that much for the DW12, but I really think that's just kind of sick of it.

But in Speedway trim, that thing looks like a rocket ship and I really like the way it looks. Kat's Ride was provided by Foyt and HMD. So Foyt probably didn't have the pit crew, so they got the HMD Indy White's pit crew working, probably.

That car looks amazing. It's in the Elf Cosmetics library. You can follow my lead and take your daughter to buy all the Elf cosmetics she wants at Target. Elf Cosmetics are very reasonably priced and they're a nice quality brand.

So that made my daughter very happy two years ago and she'll be happy to hear about it this year because there'll be a little shopping spree. Elf will not break the bank. IndyCar, in other news, so that's 33 cars, in other news, IndyCar announced that next year all races other than the 500 are gonna be capped at 27 cars.

No more than 27, which is interesting because next year there's gonna be 27 charters. So essentially what they're saying is every race except the Indy 500 is closed to new entries. Only the teams that have charters will be allowed to enter.

And then at the Indy 500, we'll hope to see six additional cars make the field. So I'd like to just take this moment to give props to Dale Coyne, Ricardo Juncos, Brad Hollinger. These are guys that self-funded their teams for a long time.

They hung in there and they ended up with an asset that is Undeniably worth a decent amount of money. So Congrats to you guys. It's not often you hear about someone who actually makes a little bit of money in racing.

So good job This week is the open test. So it's Monday night now Tuesday and Wednesday will be the open test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway I'm very excited. I'm be there. I'm driving down in Indy tomorrow morning and they even gave me a parking pass So thanks.

Thanks to the Speedway. It's gonna be fun to see the cars on the track It's gonna be fun to see the cars going so fast. The veterans will start the day on Tuesday. Then there'll be rookies and re-qual, re, what are they called?

I don't know, refreshers. And then in the afternoon, it'll be all skate again. Wednesday will be all skate all day long, so anybody can drive. If you wanna follow the action at home, it will be broadcast on YouTube and there should be live timing and scoring in the app.

So that's pretty good. The only other news I could come up with this week that was somewhat interesting is Dreyer and Reinbold had this weird announcement where they announced that they have a co-entry for the 500 with Huncos Hollinger.

So they mentioned that they're co-entering Renes VK in the race. I'm not exactly sure what that means. Does that mean Dreyer and Reinbold is trying to buy one of the charters from Huncos? Or does that mean Dreyer and Reinbold just had a sponsor that wanted in on the race and Huncos needed a sponsor so they're sort of splitting the pot?

Or is this some sort of elaborate ploy to get out of the string stingray Robb contract who knows but something's going on over there between who goes and Reinbold so All right, I we usually do winners and losers, but there's not a lot of action this week so for winners We'll just say Jacob a bone Katherine leg and read us VK For you know making the news and forgetting in the race now.

What's next the open test tomorrow check my social media? I don't do a podcast every day or a couple of times a day, but I might do social media posts a couple of times a day during the open test. So I'm at IndyCarDad on social media.

I try to keep these brief. Thanks for listening. And you'll find my podcast on podcast networks everywhere.

About this episode

Big Indy 500 news centers on a full 33-car field, with Jacob Abel and Katherine Legge unveiling eye-catching rides and the host praising both liveries. IndyCar also confirmed a new charter-era cap of 27 cars for every race except the 500, effectively closing the grid to non-charter entries. The episode digs into what that means for teams and gives credit to long-time independents who built valuable assets. It also previews the Indianapolis open test, plus a puzzling Dreyer & Reinbold/HMD-Hunkos co-entry involving Rinus VeeKay.

27 cars for all races other than the 500 33 cars for the Indy 500 charters co-entry Dreyer and Reinbold Elf Cosmetics Huncos Hollinger Indianapolis Motor Speedway live timing and scoring open test

Original notes

The podcast covers the Indy 500 car reveals, Elf Cosmetics Library, IndyCar race entry cap and charters, props to self-funded teams, open test announcement, and Dreyer and Reinbold announcement. The Indy 500 car reveals, Elf Cosmetics Library, and IndyCar news are discussed, followed by the IndyCar race entry cap and charters. The podcast then covers props to self-funded teams and the open test announcement, and concludes with the Dreyer and Reinbold announcement.

Takeaways

Indy 500 car reveals and race entry cap
Elf Cosmetics Library and IndyCar news
Props to self-funded teams and open test announcement
Dreyer and Reinbold announcement

Chapters

00:00 Indy 500 Car Reveals

The Indycar Dad Podcast

Indycar Dad Podcast

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