The IndyCar off-season always feels much longer than other series, especially for fans, but luckily The Race IndyCar Podcast is back to pick out five things to watch in 2025.

Indy 500 runner-up, IndyCar podium finisher and former Indy Lights champion JR Hildebrand is alongside The Race’s Jack Benyon to look in-depth at some big topics.

What Andretti might look like with less Michael involved, how Prema’s new IndyCar team will fair, McLaren’s personnel reshuffling and Christian Lundgaard versus Pato O’Ward there, Josef Newgarden’s chances of an Indy 500 hat-trick and the latest with IndyCar’s new car plans for 2027 are all in the mix for in-depth analysis.

Of course, we highlight some other big stories to watch for the year, too.

The Race F1 Podcast is taking to the stage! Buy tickets to our live shows:

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Birmingham on 17th January - https://podlifeevents.com/event-details/the-race-f1-podcast-live-from-birmingham-17th-jan-2025-tickets

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It's the traditional The Race IndyCar Podcast post-season rankings episode, but did Jack Benyon and JR Hildebrand get the top 10 right?

Jack and JR offer their top 10s and had some pretty big disagreements in terms of where they placed some drivers (including Pato O'Ward and Scott Dixon) and both had drivers not included in the other's 10 on their list.

Jack also discusses the last seats remaining in silly season to be filled.

You can contact the show with questions (in a voicenote, if you prefer) and suggestions, via our email address: [email protected]. Let us know your top 10 drivers of the season and where we went wrong.

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Freshly-crowned IndyCar champion Alex Palou pauses his breakfast to chat with The Race IndyCar Podcast about his latest title success.

Palou discusses some of his standout stats this year, sticking with Ganassi, how his analytical skill fits IndyCar so well, and his next goal of winning on an oval and an Indy 500.

He also addresses his future, and talks about his previous efforts to get to Formula 1 and where he stands on that now - he says he is “not knocking on doors” to get there anymore.

Co-hosts JR Hildebrand and Jack Benyon also discuss Palou’s position as one of the IndyCar greats, Herta’s breakthrough oval win and title credentials and Jamie Chadwick joins to discuss her upcoming IndyCar test.

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It’s a packed episode of The Race IndyCar Podcast ahead of the series finale, with champions, podium breakthrough drivers, strategists and more all packed in.

Jack Benyon and JR Hildebrand preview what a Nashville oval IndyCar race might be like and look at the championship decider between Alex Palou and Will Power.

Those drivers' respective strategists are also featured ahead of a big weekend for Penske and Ganassi.

Elsewhere, the scorer of Juncos Hollinger’s first podium, Conor Daly, discusses that feat and being parachuted in mid-season, while seven-time Indy NXT winner Louis Foster also joins the show to discuss his amazing championship season and what could be next for him.

To view the full IndyCar championship permutations, click here.

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Everything from a lack of a race in Mexico to a brilliant Milwaukee double-header featuring a huge championship missed opportunity make up this week’s The Race IndyCar Podcast.

JR Hildebrand is on hand for fascinating insight into how drivers bounce back from missed opportunities within their control after Will Power spun while looking set to erode the ailing Alex Palou’s points lead. Both drivers’ weekends are investigated.

While talking about the race winners and Pato O'Ward, Hildebrand and Jack Benyon examine the furore over NASCAR getting a race in Mexico before IndyCar, with debates over getting the most out of a diverse driver base and if IndyCar really needs to focus closer to home rather than looking further afield.

The fight for $1 million for the top 22 cars in the series also heated up and took a huge swing in Milwaukee as the event returned for the first time since 2015, while one team got its first podium ever and another got its first top fives of the year.

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A shock first-time polesitter and a rare instance of Alex Palou's championship lead being reduced give The Race IndyCar Podcast plenty to review from Portland last weekend.

More race control decisions in the spotlight, a much more traditional style of race and how that worked out strategically in race winner Will Power's favour, plus the changes made at AJ Foyt recently that made Santino Ferrucci's pole possible are all discussed by Jack Benyon and JR Hildebrand.

The duo also look ahead to the return of the Milwaukee Mile, home of this weekend's IndyCar double-header after which only one race will remain this season.

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An under-the-radar wildcard who's impressing team owners makes a guest appearance on this week's episode of The Race IndyCar Podcast, which also looks back at the Gateway round - where Penske team-mate drama and more issues for Alex Palou's title rivals made for a brilliant race.

Jack Benyon is joined by JR Hildebrand to discuss the main talking point from Gateway: a controversial late-race restart. Hildebrand evaluates what he learned from seeing the data, which exonerates winner Josef Newgarden of any wrongdoing on a slow restart late on that resulted in a crash and eliminated title contender and Newgarden's team-mate Will Power.

The pair also assess Linus Lundqvist's second podium and what that could mean for the rookie's IndyCar future as he battles to stay on the grid, Colton Herta's rollercoaster weekend and more.

Joining the episode is Toby Sowery, the Brit who got a shock IndyCar debut at Mid-Ohio earlier this year and equalled Dale Coyne Racing's best result of the year. He has the best average finish of any rookie in 2024 after two starts and will be back racing this weekend at Portland.

Sowery discusses his need to be adaptable, how his talks for next year are coming along, and how vital it is for his hopes that he performs well at Portland.

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It’s the driver move nobody saw coming, as David Malukas joins The Race IndyCar Podcast to discuss his blockbuster decision to switch to the AJ Foyt team for 2025.

Malukas has his third team in a year - after being dropped by McLaren after his wrist injury and returning to action with Meyer Shank - and he outlines the reasons for his decision to switch.

He also addressed rumours about this being a ploy to get to Team Penske - linked to Foyt - in the future, and answers those who think this is a backwards or sideways move, as well as discussing his strong form on his return.

Kyle Kirkwood - and Malukas - preview this weekend’s race at Gateway, too.

Andretti Global's Kirkwood also discusses his incredible consistency this year - something he’s been criticised for a lack of in the past - and talks about the adaptation to IndyCar from a successful junior career.

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We've got a bonus episode in the feed this week, from our sister podcast Bring Back V10s.

Glenn Freeman and Matt Beer are joined by longtime IndyCar reporter Curt Cavin to look back at the 1995 Indy 500 - a race won famously by Jacques Villeneuve - which was the last before US single-seater racing's dreaded CART vs IRL 'split' that changed the racing landscape in North America.

But this episode isn't just a celebration of Villeneuve's incredible victory after getting a two-lap penalty. We also look at the pre-race shock of the Penske team failing to qualify, Firestone's stunning return to the Speedway for the first time since the 1970s, Honda's recovery from a humiliating 1994 attempt, and the moment that decided the race, when Villeneuve's fellow Canadian Scott Goodyear passed the pace car on the final restart, getting himself black flagged while leading. 

With 'the split' on the horizon, we also look at the political landscape in IndyCar racing in May 1995, when nobody realised just how bad the battle between CART and the IRL was about to become. 

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IndyCar commentator Kevin Lee joins this week’s episode of The Race IndyCar Podcast to analyse Colton Herta's two-year win drought coming to an end in Toronto, and a shock call-up for Theo Pourchaire at the McLaren team which sacked him.

Lee joins The Race’s Jack Benyon to discuss Herta’s path to redemption, plus the excitement in the paddock when it became clear Pourchaire would be flying from Nice to Canada to qualify and race for McLaren.

The huge crash triggered by Pato O’Ward’s spin prompts discussion about the development of car safety in IndyCar, and the guys also chat about what to expect next from the title race after almost all of Alex Palou’s rivals stumbled while he went from 18th to fourth.

Lee also explains how he came to be a commentator in IndyCar, discusses the new perspective he's got since his son Jackson started racing, and gives his take on what the new hybrid has done both for IndyCar and for him as a commentator.

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