Scott Dixon, Felix Rosenqvist And The Mental Toll Of INDYCAR Silly Season

In Driver’s Eye with James Hinchcliffe, the six-time INDYCAR winner will bring you inside the mind of a racer while breaking down the nuts and bolts of the sport for fans. July 4th is upon us, and the holiday weekend has meant one thing to INDYCAR fans for a few years now: It’s Mid-Ohio time! This race, like last time out at Road America, is a fun fan-favorite. It has a big camping culture, which never fails to deliver good times at the campsites. Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course used to be in August for the longest time, and year after year, it seemed to be accepted that it was the official start of INDYCAR’s “silly season,” or motorsports’ version of free agency. A lot of contracts back in the day would have an exclusive negotiating period — where drivers couldn’t talk to other teams — through the end of June or July, so naturally, by August at Mid-Ohio, all the rumors were afoot. Well, the race has moved forward a month, but it is still set to be a big silly season weekend. And man, we have a doozy of a silly season already. Things kicked off early this year with the scuttlebutt that Felix Rosenqvist is looking to depart Meyer Shank Racing, something that was confirmed a few weeks ago. This had been theorized hand-in-hand with a few more big moves. So, beyond where the 2026 Indianapolis 500 winner might end up, what are some other must-follow INDYCAR silly season storylines? SCOTT DIXON’S INDYCAR SILLY SEASON The biggest of these, of course, Scott Dixon — after more than two decades, six INDYCAR titles and an Indy 500 win — is leaving Chip Ganassi Racing. His departure was official Thursday, his landing spot is unknown, but this is huge. Dixon leaving Ganassi is the equivalent of Tom Brady leaving the New England Patriots to go to the Tampa Bay Bucs. After clocking in the longest driver-team relationship of what feels like all of professional motorsports, one had long ago thought it was an inevitability that Dixon would hang up the helmet with Ganassi. So where will Dixon end up in 2027? The strongest indicators, from my perspective, suggest he’d go to Arrow McLaren. You’d have to assume part of the motivation there is McLaren’s upcoming foray into endurance racing in the top prototype class. Dixon has always loved doing the long-distance races between INDYCAR commitments, and it has long been thought he would fancy that as a full-time gig for a bit after his INDYCAR days are done. Moving to McLaren would give Dixon the perfect gateway for that path of slowly winding down his racing career. Plus, let’s not forget that his old teammate and good friend, Tony Kanaan, runs that program now, and no one is better suited to understand just what a talent Scott is and what he can bring to the table. INDYCAR SILLY SEASON’S RIPPLE EFFECT With McLaren also being the rumored landing spot for Rosenqvist, two of the three current crop are gone. Crazy to think that Christian Lundgaard — a two-time race winner this year and highest member of the team in the points — is looking at getting a pink slip in his stocking from the team this Christmas. Such is the wild and wonderful world of professional sports. And let’s be real: Lundgaard, with his experience and performances this year, will have plenty of offers. But what a strange situation for a driver to be in. He is performing well — better than his teammates — and yet, his number comes up at the end of the season. As a driver it’s a tough spot mentally to be in. To be performing but still feel like it’s not enough. There might be more to this situation, but drivers are only human, and how can you not think like that? THE MENTAL TOLL OF INDYCAR SILLY SEASON Silly season, free agency, whatever your sport calls it, it’s not easy. But motorsports is a little different sometimes — beyond X’s and O’s, or nuts and bolts. This part of the season for a driver in a contract year is tough. Every race feels like an audition, or a job interview, and the pressure ramps up accordingly. When a driver knows that they aren’t being retained for the following year, it is immensely difficult to maintain the focus and performance needed to win at this level. Now, it’s not as bizarre as some other sports where an athlete can go to bed playing for one team and wake up playing for another, without any consultation whatsoever! Trades aren’t a thing in racing. But knowing your team doesn’t want you anymore makes it so hard to stay motivated. On the other hand, like I said, every race is an audition. You want to show other teams what you’ve got. You want to show your team what they are giving up. And you only have a handful of on-track opportunities to do it. It’s a brutal situation, but it can sometimes create a mindset that puts a driver on a performance tear. As we get deeper into silly season and wait to see where Lundgaard could land or who replaces Rosenqvist at Meyer Shank and Dixon at Ganassi, the INDYCAR paddock is on the edge of its seat. Lots of drivers and managers phones are blowing up right now as people jockey for a few of the strongest seats in the series. THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE FAST: MID-OHIO Well, we’ve talked so much about Mid-Ohio as a symbolic silly season starting point, why don’t we actually hit on the track itself?! This place is so fun to drive an Indy car around. It’s one of the most technical and most physical race tracks out there. I wrote the other week about the physicality of INDYCAR, and few places push that to the extreme, like Mid-O’s 13-turn, 2.258-mile course. That is for two main reasons. Firstly, this track has a lot of long and/or fast corners. The faster the corner, the higher the G force the body is subjected to and the driver has to fight against. The longer the corner, the longer the driver has to survive that peak G-loading. This track has a beautiful mix of long, fast, and long and fast corners! The second key point is the lack of straights on which to rest. Road America has some very fast corners, as well as long ones. But it has massive straight sections that gives drivers the chance to relax the grip on the wheel, take a few deep breaths, let the neck rest. Mid-O has a very short frontstraight, a slightly longer backstraight that isn’t even totally straight, and that’s it! Everything else is cornering. The section from Turn 4 through to Turn 9 is especially difficult. It is a six-corner sequence where each corner leads right into the next. Zero chance for rest. There is not only a ton of lap time there, as being out of place in any one of those corners usually has a knock-on effect for the rest of them. But it’s also physically punishing, particularly late in the race. Add into that fun, little equation that the weather this weekend is going to be absolutely scorching, and these drivers are likely facing their toughest physical challenge of the season. I know the cockpit has an open top, but the heat inside those cars can be brutal. If it’s 90 degrees outside, it can easily be 120 or 130 inside. So imagine sitting in that kind of heat, while doing a high-intensity cardio and strength training workout. For an hour a half. This is the kind of race that can see drivers lose up to 10 pounds of weight — mostly water weight — in just 90 minutes. Hydration is going to be absolutely key this weekend for everyone on site. Though, something tells me what the drivers and the fans watching are hydrating with will be very different! MORE DRIVER’S EYE: Read More

​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports motor 

​