CHEVROLET IN THE NTT INDYCAR SERIES – Juncos Hollinger Racing 2026 Preview

Juncos Hollinger Racing Location: Speedway, Ind. Owner: A.J. FoytSeasons (including 2026) with Chevrolet: 18th

First year with Chevrolet: 2017

Years with Team Chevy: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, & 2026

Starts with Chevrolet-power: 138

Wins with Chevrolet (rank all-time/since 2012): 0

Poles with Chevrolet (rank all-time/since 2012): 0

Podiums with Chevrolet (rank all-time/since 2012): 1(T31st/9th), with the first podium by Conor Daly at the Milwaukee Mile in 2024

Notes:

•  Rinus VeeKay (2019) and Sting Ray Robb (2020) both won USF Pro 2000 championships while driving for Juncos Hollinger Racing, and both drove for the Speedway, Indiana-based team in the INDY NXT by Firestone championship
• A dozen drivers have made Chevrolet-powered INDYCAR starts for the team, with Callum Ilott leading all drivers with 36 starts powered by the Bowtie at Juncos Hollinger Racing
• A pair of Daves with Formula 1 experience lead racing operations at Juncos Hollinger Racing

o Team Principal Dave O’Neill held team manager roles at Jordan, Marussia and Haas in Formula 1 prior to joining Juncos Hollinger Racing just before the 2024 season

o Technical Director David Brown, who joined Juncos Hollinger Racing prior to the 2025 season, spent over 20 years as a race engineer in Formula 1 with Williams, McLaren and Jordan, before a move to the United States where a short stint with RuSport in the Champ Car World Series led to technical director and race engineer roles in sports cars before a return to open wheel

Driver: Rinus van Kalmthout (VeeKay) Age (Birthday): 25 (11/11/2000)Hometown/Residence: Hoofddorp, Netherlands/Carmel, Indiana Car Number: No. 76 Best championship finish: 12th (2021 & 2022) 2025 championship finish: 14th

tarts with Chevrolet: 80

Wins with Chevrolet (rank all-time/since 2012): 1 (T27th/T15th) – his first win was on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in 2021

Earned Poles with Chevrolet (rank all-time/since 2012): 2 (T24th/T12th) – his first pole was on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in 2020

Podiums with Chevrolet (rank all-time/since 2012) : 4 (T27th/15th) – his first pole was on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in 2020

Strategist: Dave O’Neil

Race Engineer: Townsend Lucas

Crew Chief: Adam Farrer

Notable:

• Signing with Juncos Hollinger Racing is a homecoming for VeeKay, who spent two of his three seasons on the INDYCAR ladder with Ricardo Juncos’ team

o   In 2018, the Dutch driver won seven times, started on pole six times and stood on ten podiums on the way to the USF Pro Championship

o   Next up was the 25-year-old’s lone season of INDY NXT by Firestone, where he won six times, started on pole seven times and stood on 14 podiums on the way to second place in the championship. 

• In seven NTT INDYCAR SERIES seasons, VeeKay has only finished 12th (2021 & 2022), 13th (2024) or 14th (2020, 2023 & 2025) in the championship
• Six of his seven seasons, including his one win, two poles and four of five podiums, have been with Team Chevy 
• Like his driver, VeeKay’s engineer Townsend Lucas also made his way to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES via Juncos Hollinger Racing’s ladder series
• Team principal Dave O’Neill will serve as VeeKay’s strategist

Quotable:

Q.  You’re coming into JHR kind of having worked with the team before in the Road to Indy. Does that sense of familiar faces and the team and the name you know before give you a really good launching pad coming into 2026?

“Yes, there’s definitely a few faces that I recognize from that time. Not too many, though. There’s been a lot of changes.

“But no, it’s been really good within the team so far. I’ve been in the shop a few times a week doing pit stops with the guys and just talking about life, which is a great way to get to know everybody.

“Yeah, I feel like I’ve got a good connection with my crew already, and within the engineering office, as well. I feel like we are ready for our first days on track. I already feel like I’ve been at this team for a while.”

Q.  You’re back with a Chevy power unit. How good does it feel to return back to normalcy after that one year of Honda with Dale Coyne?

“Yeah, it still felt like an INDYCAR. It wasn’t completely different. It is nice to be back, though. I’ve spent so much time with Chevy power in the past that it’s just nice to be back, nice to use all the namings for all the tools that are in my head instead of just getting confused every time. That’s very nice.

“Of course, I’ll find the biggest change of going back to Chevy when we go out on track.”

Starts with Chevrolet: 34

Wins with Chevrolet (rank all-time/since 2012): 0

Poles with Chevrolet (rank all-time/since 2012): 0

Podiums with Chevrolet (rank all-time/since 2012): 0

Strategist: Ricardo Juncos

Race Engineer: David Brown

Crew Chief: Ryan Lall

Notable:

• The 2026 season will be Robb’s fourth in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, but it is the first time he’s returned to the same team
• The Idahoan finished ahead of where he started in 14 of 17 races in 2025, gaining a total of 45 positions, the fourth most in the series last year
• Robb’s three seasons across the USF Pro 2000 and INDY NXT by Firestone championships with Juncos Hollinger Racing Ladder included seven wins, 17 podiums and the 2020 USF Pro 2000 title. 
• Technical Director and former Formula 1 race engineer David Brown will guide Robb’s program from the technical side, and team owner Ricardo Juncos will call his strategy
• Robb and his wife Molly, recently bought a house in Indianapolis that they are renovating, and busy raising chickens

Quotable:

Q.  You talked about the consistency of being with the same team. Has there been a lot of turnover at the team level as far as the staff or anything like that? Do you feel that’s fairly consistent, as well?

“There hasn’t been a lot of turnover, thankfully. Mechanics-wise we have a solid group. I think we were one of the most reliable teams in the series last year, so that was really good to see.

“But our engineering staff has been what it was as last year, pretty much. I will, I think, be working with someone new, same person on the team but someone new to me on my car, which is fun.

“But yeah, the staff, they’re working well together, I think. The continuity from last year — I think to be fair, there was a few guys that were lost at the beginning of last season, went to other teams, and there was a bit of recovery to be done because of that.

“I think having the same group held together year to year is going to be a huge advantage.”

Q.  Looking at your stats from last year, your finishing position was higher than your starting position, which is awesome, but I think your average starting position was like 22, so what would it mean to be able to improve that, and do you think you can get more top 10s if you can start up higher in the field?

“Yeah, qualifying is hugely important. You see issues with cars all the time where they can come from the back of the field. My race at Long Beach, I think we started 17th or 18th at that event and finished where we did. It’s not impossible by any means.

“But I did have my best qualifying results of the year last year. It’s just the consistency wasn’t there. I think just building that consistency in is probably our biggest focus this year. Still have those key performances that move us forward, but if we can build in that consistency and shrink that window of performance down, so to speak, I think that’s the key part of what we need to be able to do.”

Q.  How is home remodeling? Do you know what you’re doing?

“Home remodeling has been fun. It’s nice being a homeowner. Molly and I, we’ve been settling in as much as we can in Indy. Obviously, she’s a local, so that’s been nice. We’ve got some chickens at home that we’ve been taking care of, so learning how to take care of chickens, having our own little farmstead going on here in Indianapolis has been good.

“Working on little things here and there. The racing season is coming up close so, Molly has a honey to-do list for me just about every day when I get home, which is nice. I’ve got things to do.”

Q.  What’s the most difficult thing about chickens?

“Getting them not to peck each other. You never heard of the pecking order? I didn’t realize this was a thing. I thought it was just like a fun phrase. It’s a real thing.”

Q.  How many chickens are we talking?

“11, currently.”

The 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season gets underway this week with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. 

Tune-In Alert

Friday, February 27

•  NTT INDYCAR SERIES Practice #1 – 1:30pm (ET)/12:30pm (CT)/11:30am (MT)/10:30am (PT) – FS2/INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218

Saturday, February 28

•  NTT INDYCAR SERIES Practice #2 – 9:30am (ET)/8:30am (CT)/7:30am (MT)/6:30am (PT) – FS1/ INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218
• NTT INDYCAR SERIES Qualifying – 4:30pm (ET)/3:30pm (CT)/2:30pm (MT)/1:30pm (PT) – FS2/INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218

Sunday, March 1

• NTT INDYCAR SERIES Warm Up – 9am (ET)/8am (CT)/7am (MT)/6am (PT) – FS1/ INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218
•  Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (100 laps) – noon (ET)/11am (CT)/10am (MT)/9am (PT) – FOX/INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218