After a tumultuous off-season in keeping with IndyCar’s recent history, its full-time 2025 grid is now complete as Rinus VeeKay has been signed by Dale Coyne Racing.
VeeKay had been expected to take the seat for some time, with only Dale Coyne’s last-minute driver signing antics many fans will be familiar with providing any doubt that it would be another driver.
VeeKay was arguably the best free agent on the market and one of the only available race winners, and he had looked set to stick with Ed Carpenter Racing for a sixth season before it decided to sign Alexander Rossi at the last minute alongside returning sophomore Christian Rasmussen.
So now VeeKay will race for a different team other than ECR for the first time in his career.
“Very exciting news. I am happy to announce my partnership with Dale Coyne Racing for the 2025 IndyCar season,” said VeeKay.
“It makes me proud to see my name among the drivers competing in this fantastic series for a sixth consecutive year. After a difficult start to my off-season, I am delighted to end the winter with this news.”
VeeKay's IndyCar career highlight came as he denied Romain Grosjean a fairytale early IndyCar victory from pole by pipping him to the finish at the Indianapolis road course.
ECR has struggled to remain competitive in VeeKay’s stint with the team, and while he is highly rated, they only managed one top five all season in 2024.
Jacob Abel, the Indy NXT feeder series runner-up in 2024, is VeeKay’s team-mate for the year in a great move for Coyne. Last year it ran nine drivers across two cars over the course of the year, creating plenty of uncertainty.
"The stability allows us to grow as a team, and that’s important to me," explained eponymous team owner Coyne.
"For that to be accomplished, having a proven veteran in one of our entries helps tremendously, and that’s one of the many reasons we have decided to go with VeeKay to complete the 2025 grid."
The team has lost key personnel, as it has done regularly in recent years as it has a knack for finding and developing elite staff that get snapped up by the bigger teams.
VeeKay is a better all-around driver than any Coyne had on its roster last year, especially factoring in experience, so despite a loss of personnel, it will be hopeful the Dutch driver can lead the team forward.
His hiring means another impressive driver, Linus Lundqvist, is definitely out of a full-time seat.
In his rookie year last year, he secured a pole and a pair of podiums, and while he didn’t deliver a perfect season, there was a lot of bad luck, too. The Race understands he could be a reserve driver in 2025.
Ex-Haas Formula 1 drivers Grosjean - now a reserve driver at new team Prema - and sportscar-bound Pietro Fittipaldi also won’t have seats.
Full-time 2025 line-ups
AJ Foyt - Santino Ferrucci, David Malukas
Andretti - Marcus Ericsson, Colton Herta, Kyle Kirkwood
Arrow McLaren - Pato O'Ward, Christian Lundgaard, Nolan Siegel
Chip Ganassi - Scott Dixon, Alex Palou, Kyffin Simpson
Dale Coyne - Jacob Abel, Rinus VeeKay
Ed Carpenter - Christian Rasmussen, Alexander Rossi
Juncos Hollinger - Conor Daly, Sting Ray Robb
Meyer Shank - Marcus Armstrong, Felix Rosenqvist
Prema Racing - Callum Ilott, Robert Shwartzman
Rahal Letterman Lanigan - Devlin DeFrancesco, Louis Foster, Graham Rahal
Team Penske - Scott McLaughlin, Josef Newgarden, Will Power
