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Thirty-nine days after team founder Dennis Reinbold died after a battle with cancer, the organization he owned, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, announced that it will be returning to full-time NTT IndyCar Series competition in 2027.
News broke on Wednesday that Dreyer & Reinbold had purchased a charter from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing for 2027, which will allow DRR to compete full-time in IndyCar for the first time since 2012 and downsize RLL to only two full-time entries.
"There are a lot of emotions today," Derek Reinbold, son of Dennis Reinbold, said Wednesday on a media call. Let me just start with my dad because he spent years working towards this moment: He believed this team belonged in the IndyCar Series full-time, and he never stopped building toward that goal. He and I were talking through this charter purchase right up until he went into the hospital.
"Today is bittersweet. I wish he were on this call with us. But I know exactly how he'd feel today because this was his vision, and we're really proud to finish what he started."
While they haven't raced full-time in IndyCar in 14 years, Dreyer & Reinbold have still been fielding entries in the Indianapolis 500 on an annual basis. Noblesville, Ind., native Conor Daly finished 12th for the team in the 2026 running, and while none of the team executives named a driver for the organization's full-time car next year, Daly is presumed to be the favorite.
"We haven't signed another driver yet," said DRR team principal Chase Selman. "We're throwing all the names in a hat that are available, and we'll evaluate each one of them on their own basis. Indy is obviously extremely important to us. But the simple facts of the matter is it's about the championship as well now.
"We've got to make decisions for the team that are going to put us ahead and help us develop not only for next year and do the catch-up program but when the playing field is leveled, if you will, with the new car, who puts us in the best place for that as well. A lot of factors we've got to put into play here. The next several weeks will be just that and deciding who it is."
What move means for RLL
Rahal Letterman Lanigan is now confirmed to only have two full-time entries for 2027, and with drivers Graham Rahal and Louis Foster locked down for next season, it appears that former F1 driver and IndyCar rookie Mick Schumacher will be out the door.
The question will be if a team, even potentially DRR, considers Schumacher for a full-time ride in 2027. He's coming off a career-best eighth-place finish at Nashville Superspeedway on Monday, though he's 24th of 25 full-time drivers in the standings and last among the three rookies in the 2026 class.
For RLL, however, downsizing may not be the worst thing in the world. The team has shown improvement this year with Graham Rahal sitting 12th in points with three top-five finishes and Foster being 18th in points. The organization has not won a race since Christian Lundgaard scored his first career win in Toronto in July 2023.
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