Who Were Most Improved Drivers of 2026 Season?

The NTT INDYCAR SERIES does not single out most improved drivers in a given year, but there certainly were worthy candidates among the current 25 full-season participants.

Some of the drivers in the category have elevated themselves to championship contenders while others have raised their status within their teams. Some are younger than others some have more experience than others.

Some have race wins on their resume; others appear to be winners in waiting.

Some made more year-over-year progress than others, but all pass the eye test.

Becoming Title Contenders

Kyle Kirkwood

Andretti Global’s 27-year-old Floridian finished second in the standings, so he gets the honor of being highlighted first. No one doubted Kirkwood could be a star in this series – he was one in each of the junior categories – but he elevated his game this year and gave reigning series champion Alex Palou competition. Kirkwood (photo, above) had the points lead through four races.

Fourth in last year’s standings, Kirkwood got this season off to a strong start, posting top-10 finishes in 12 of the first 13 races, including four podium finishes and the victory in the inaugural street race in Arlington, Texas. Later in the year, Kirkwood won the highly anticipated street race in Washington.

Kirkwood knows he and others still have a lot of ground to make up on Palou, who has won five of the past six series championships and has shown no signs of slowing down. But Kirkwood took another big step in his fifth season in the series and is positioned to take another step up in 2027.

Christian Lundgaard

The 25-year-old Danish driver had a season similar to Kirkwood’s, and he also made people realize how close he is to hoisting an Astor Challenge Cup. Also like Kirkwood, Lundgaard (photo, above) improved two important positions in the standings, jumping from fifth to third in points.

There were lots of examples of Lundgaard’s brilliance on road courses – he won at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Road America – but with Arrow McLaren he also had podium finishes on the streets of St. Petersburg (third place) and Washington (second).

But where Lundgaard improved the most this season was on short ovals. His best outing was finishing a career-best third and sixth in the doubleheader at the Milwaukee Mile. He also finished 10th at World Wide Technology Raceway. If he can continue to make that type of progress on the ovals, he’ll become an even stronger championship contender with his new team in 2027.

David Malukas

There were some who questioned Team Penske’s decision to bring on the 24-year-old Chicago native for 2026, but those questions have disappeared.

Malukas (photo, above) narrowly lost the closest “500” finish in history, placing second for one of his four times this season. At the Milwaukee Mile, he led a career-high 93 laps in the second race, and he led at least 25 laps in four other races.

Most surprising was that Malukas scored more points this season than his two more experienced teammates. Malukas finished fifth in the standings, with Scott McLaughlin sixth and Josef Newgarden eighth.

Malukas finished 11th in last year’s standings with AJ Foyt Racing.

Veterans Moving Up

Perhaps “Comeback Driver of the Year” better fits Marcus Ericsson’s season.

Simply put, 2025 was a low point for the 36-year-old Swede (photo, top), who finished 20th in the standings – not the place for a one-time Indianapolis 500 winner in his seventh season, and he knew it.

Ericsson vowed that his third season with Andretti Global would be better, and it was. He was the biggest statistical gainer, vaulting to seventh in the standings, an improvement of 13 positions.

The Swede started the season by qualifying on the front row in two of the first three races – both street races – and won the first pole of his career at the new event in Arlington, Texas. He also led laps in each of the first three races and in five races during the season.

Ericsson closed the season with seven consecutive top-10 finishes, including the fifth win of his career (in the new street event in Markham, Ontario). He desperately wanted to match his career best with a sixth-place standings finish, but Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin secured the position by winning the season-ending race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Rinus VeeKay won his first and only series race in 2021 and has had three years where he qualified on the front row for the “500,” but this was easily his most complete season.

VeeKay, 26, finished ninth in the season-opening race in St. Petersburg, finished a career-best sixth at Indy and closed the second half of the season with one of the sport’s strongest kicks.

VeeKay (photo, above) posted seven top-10 finishes in the final 12 races, highlighted by finishes of third and seventh in the doubleheader at the Milwaukee Mile. He also delivered three fourth-place finishes (at World Wide Technology Raceway, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Portland International Raceway).

The product of VeeKay’s success was a career-best 10th-place finish in the standings, two positions better than his previous best seasons (in 2021 and 2022). He also gave Juncos Hollinger Racing its best standings result – its previous mark had been 16th by Callum Ilott in 2023.

Not To Be Overlooked

Kyffin Simpson’s third season with Chip Ganassi Racing easily was his best, and it continued his climb to series relevance.

Simpson, 21, had his best run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, qualifying in the seventh position for the “500” and finishing 14th, both personal highs by a wide margin. For the season, he delivered a pair of top-five finishes (fourth at Road America, fifth in Washington) and a personal-best eight top-10 finishes.

Simpson (photo, above) finished 13th in the standings, just four points behind teammate and six-time series champion Scott Dixon. Simpson had finished 21st and 17th in his two previous seasons, so this was another four-position gain.