Rinus Veekay expresses displeasure with IndyCar's delay of new car to 2028

Dale Coyne Racing's Rinus Veekay has given his take on IndyCar introducing a new car to the sport in 2028. It was initially planned that the car would hit the track in 2027, but because of the ongoing development of the internal combustion engine and energy recovery system, it has been pushed to 2028.

This has, however, not sat well with Veekay, who has been competing in America's highest class of open-wheel racing since 2020.

"I don't know. I don't like that, just like the hybrid, we get promised one thing, and in reality, we get something else. That's an unfortunate sequence of events, kind of back-to-back. We need a new car. Dale Coyne... he wants a new car. So I feel it's something to get the real die-hard fans that are into F1 and other big series that change their cars every year, I think that's what they are waiting on to tune into IndyCar," Rinus Veekay said on the Pit Pass Indy podcast (28:10 onwards).

IndyCar, on June 21, provided an update regarding the new car, which was also shared with team owners during the Road America race weekend.

Dallara will produce the chassis, which will feature a look designed to appeal to the newer generation of fans. Dallara has been producing chassis for the series since 1997 and has been an exclusive chassis supplier of IndyCar since 2008.

Rinus Veekay managed a P10 finish in the Road America race

Rinus Veekay has been in solid form for Dale Coyne Racing in the ongoing 2025 IndyCar season. After nine rounds, he currently finds himself in 14th place in the drivers' standings with 157 points. Moreover, in the process of doing so, he has also secured a solitary top-five and five top-ten finishes.

In Round 9, the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America, he secured a P10 finish by making up 12 places in the 55-lap race. In line with this, he was extremely pleased with his efforts, and via a post-race interaction, he said (via Dale Coyne Racing):

"Another Top 10, up 12 positions from the start, another good weekend this was a messy one with a lot of cars going off, I was in the mayhem as well, I got hit one time by someone and lost a few positions, we had some incredible pace on a big fuel save, the guys on the stand gave me the perfect number and I had the perfect car to hit that number and have good pace."

In 2024, Rinus Veekay ended the 17-race campaign in 13th place in the drivers' standings with 300 points (one top five and seven top ten finishes). He ended the campaign behind Felix Rosenqvist (P12), who secured 306 points.

Taking into consideration that he is in 14th place in the ongoing campaign, with eight races remaining, he would ideally like to end his run in the top 10. Next up on the race calendar is next week's Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio.