Marcus Ericsson has been an improved performer through the first four races of the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season.

Ericsson enters the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday, April 19 eighth in points, just 14 behind Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden for fifth.

At this point last season, Ericsson sat 13th in points, 40 back of fifth. He has improved that production this year, scoring 99 points compared to 65 through four races in 2025.

The results come at an opportune time for the Swedish driver amid speculation he is in a contract year with Andretti Global.

In his third season with Andretti Global, Ericsson strives to rebound after going winless in 34 starts across 2024 and 2025 with the team, finishing 15th and 20th in points, respectively.

“Worked really hard this winter to be better,” Ericsson said. “It’s an important year for me. I know that.”

Ericsson took a hard look at his performance and committed to regaining the confidence that defined his four seasons with Chip Ganassi Racing.

The Swede finished 17th in points during his rookie season in 2019 with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Ericsson improved to 12th in his first year with Ganassi in 2020. He broke through in 2021 with two victories and a sixth-place points finish. He repeated that sixth-place result in 2022 -- highlighted by his Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge win. In 2023 he won the season opener at St. Petersburg and produced a third straight sixth-place points result.

All four of his wins occurred in a 28-race stretch. That raised expectations. A move to Andretti Global followed, but results dipped.

“I was very pissed off really after last year and the way I performed, especially the second half,” Ericsson said. “I just felt like I didn’t recognize myself as a driver. I wasn’t aggressive; I lost confidence. I put a lot of work in in the offseason, tried to drive different things. I jumped in GT3 cars and all kinds of things to build up my confidence and sort of enjoyment of driving race cars again.

“I really felt like the beauty in some ways with INDYCAR is you have a long offseason to analyze and think about things, and I really could take a lot of things that I could learn from last year.

“I’ve sort of tried to push myself to be in the right kind of state of mind when I go to the racetrack, and I feel like that’s been paying off this year.”

That work is showing in the results.

Ericsson qualified second for the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and earned his first career NTT P1 Award two races later at the Java House Grand Prix of Arlington.

Execution has cost him stronger finishes. A strategy call at St. Petersburg left him sixth instead of contending for a podium. At Arlington, a slow pit stop dropped him to fourth despite leading 15 of 70 laps.

Most recently, he started eighth and finished ninth at the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst on March 29 at Barber Motorsports Park.

The only outlier came on March 7 at Phoenix Raceway, where he finished 17th after starting 14th in the Good Ranchers 250.

“Hard work pays off, and I feel like I have put it in,” Ericsson said. “It gives me confidence knowing you’ve put in a ton of work in the offseason, physically, mentally, with the team. When you’ve done that, you feel stronger and more prepared, and that helps when you’re out on track.”

Marcus Ericsson

Ericsson believes this year’s St. Petersburg weekend marked his most complete race weekend yet with Andretti Global, a level he carried further at Arlington. With Long Beach ahead, the question is whether that momentum can translate into a victory.

Three of Ericsson’s four career wins have come on street circuits – Belle Isle (2021), Nashville (2022) and St. Petersburg (2023) – each at a different venue.

Long Beach could be next. The 90-lap race airs at 5:30 p.m. ET Sunday, April 19 on FOX, FOX One, FOX Sports app, FOX Deportes and INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls.

Ericsson finished third in 2023 and fifth in 2024 at Long Beach. He has opened this season with sixth and fourth-place finishes on street circuits and has an average starting position of 1.5 on those tracks in 2026.

Andretti Global also excels on such tracks, including having three of the top four finishers in the last street race this season in Arlington. Kyle Kirkwood claimed Andretti’s fourth street victory in the last seven tries.

Another layer of the surge stems from changes atop the No. 28 Allegra Honda timing stand, including new race engineer Ron Barhorst, who replaced Dave Seyffert. Last season, Seyffert replaced Olivier Boisson before the July 6 race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Ericsson had nine top-10 finishes with Boisson, including eight in 2024. He had one in eight starts with Seyffert.

His average finish in 26 starts with Boisson was 16.19. That was 16.87 with Seyffert. It’s ninth in four races with Barhorst, who joined the 28 car after spending 2025 in INDY NXT with Andretti Global.

“Ron has come in and done a really good job,” Ericsson said. “I got the feeling straight away with Ron that he’s got a bit of a chip on his shoulder. He’s been in INDYCAR, then last year in INDY NXT, and now he gets this opportunity again. He’s been putting in a lot of work.

“We’ve hit it off really well.”

The pit crew also features new members, helping the No. 28 team rank second in the Firestone Pit Performance standings.

“They’ve done a ton of work in the offseason, as well,” Ericsson said. “Again, it shows. It’s a team effort. It’s not one guy going out and putting a pole on the board. It’s everyone, and the 28 crew has done a really good job to start the season.”