Dale Coyne announces 2026 contract renewal timeline for Rinus Veekay and Jacob Abel

Dale Coyne Racing has revealed an interest in retaining Rinus Veekay for the 2026 IndyCar season. The Dutch driver has been the standout performer for the team this season and has been serving as a great mentor to rookie teammate Jacob Abel.

Veekay's story in the 2025 season is something right out of a Hollywood movie. He was the last driver to be signed on this year's 27-driver grid, with Dale Coyne bringing him on board with less than a month before the season opener at St. Petersburg.

The 24-year-old proved his worth in St. Pete, qualifying in P12 and improving on that in the race to secure P9. The Top 10 finish was impressive for more than one reason, including that it was his first race in a Honda-powered car after five years of driving a Chevrolet-powered car for Ed Carpenter Racing.

Rinus Veekay secured four more Top 10 finishes and a Top 5 result before a fairytale podium in Toronto. It was his first podium in over three years and DCR's first in two years.

Team owner Dale Coyne recently spoke with RACER about Veekay's contract situation for 2026. When asked whether the Dutch driver would be retained, Coyne said:

"I think it will. Like I’ve been saying, I don’t think we’re going to see many changes next year. We just saw (Marcus) Armstrong’s going to continue with Meyer Shank, so he’s staying put."

Coyne also set an expected timeline for finalizing the drivers for both od DCR's seats, adding:

"I think you'll know our two drivers long before Halloween (October 31)."

Rinus Veekay raced for Ed Carpenter Racing for five years from 2019 to 2024. Despite outperforming teammate Christian Rasmussen last year, ECR replaced him with 2016 Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi for 2025.

Rinus Veekay is waiting for Will Power to announce his 2026 plans before committing to Dale Coyne Racing

Will Power, Josef Newgarden, and Rinus Veekay at the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 - Source: Getty

In July this year, a few days after his Toronto podium, Rinus Veekay appeared for an interview on fellow driver Conor Daly's podcast, Speed Street. One of the topics the Dale Coyne Racing driver touched upon was his 2026 contract and his "stock" increasing in the driver market on the back of his remarkable performance.

Interest from other teams made him not commit to DCR, which isn't a frontrunner. And more importantly, he wanted to see what two-time IndyCar champion Will Power does for 2026, with his Team Penske contract up after this season.

"Of course, Dale and me too are very interested in working with each other again in the future and next year," Veekay said. "But I need to see what my options are right now. My stock has been pretty good. It's gone up quite considerably. You know, I am hearing some chatter around, but it's still not clear what the silly season is gonna bring."

When Daly asked him if there was any particular silly season chatter affecting his 2026 plans, Rinus Veekay replied:

"I think we're all waiting for Will Power to make his move. That's gonna shuffle the board game."

Team Penske will announce Power's future not before the 2025 season finale in Nashville, scheduled for the last weekend of August. Depending on that decision, a flurry of driver moves could follow.