The Silly Season for drivers has wound down for most teams in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, but movement continues for key team personnel.
Veteran manager and executive Brian Barnhart has moved from Arrow McLaren to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing as the team’s senior vice president of operations, while experienced mechanic Kyle Sagan also left Arrow McLaren to join RLL as its pit stop manager.
It wasn’t all substitution for Arrow McLaren, though. Veteran engineer Olivier Boisson has joined that team as its head of damper engineering.
Barnhart also will serve as the race strategist for Graham Rahal’s No. 15 Honda as part of his new role. The arrival of Barnhart reunites him with RLL President Jay Frye, as the two worked together in the 2010s at INDYCAR. Barnhart joined Harding Steinbrenner Racing as team president in late 2017, shifting to Andretti Global through September 2022, when he joined Arrow McLaren as general manager.
Boisson joins Arrow McLaren to continue a long career in the INDYCAR SERIES paddock during which he has become one of the most well-recognized engineers. He served as an engineer with KV Racing Technology from 2008-16, then climbing to race engineer with Dale Coyne Racing from 2016-21 before taking the same role with Andretti Global in October 2021.
This is the second major offseason technical addition for Arrow McLaren, which placed two drivers in the top five of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES standings for the first time in 2025, with Pato O’Ward placing second and Christian Lundgaard fifth. The team also hired Eric Cowdin as director of engineering in September.
Palou, Dixon Added to MSR Endurance Racing Lineup
NTT INDYCAR SERIES champions and Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Alex Palou and Scott Dixon will join forces with Meyer Shank Racing in 2026 to compete in selected long-distance IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship events.
Dixon (photo, above, courtesy of IMSA) and former INDYCAR SERIES driver AJ Allmendinger will join full-time MSR sports car drivers Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun – both also INDYCAR SERIES veterans – behind the wheel of the No. 60 Acura ARX-06 prototype in the premier GTP class in the Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 25-26 at Daytona International Speedway.
Six-time INDYCAR SERIES champion Dixon has won the Rolex 24 four times. He was part of MSR’s team that finished runner-up in the twice-around-the-clock endurance classic in 2025.
Palou and Japanese standout Kakunoshin Ohta, who recently tested an NTT INDYCAR SERIES car with MSR, will share the No. 93 Acura ARX-06 with full-time MSR sports car drivers Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly in the Rolex 24. Palou was part of the MSR team that finished second this year at Sebring.
Dixon and Palou also will be in the team’s lineups at the 12 Hours of Sebring in mid-March and the season-ending Petit Le Mans in early October.
Arrow McLaren Sponsoring Women’s Motorsports Group
Arrow McLaren announced Nov. 3 a multiyear sponsorship of Women in Motorsports North America (WIMNA), collaborating to advance, connect and enable women across the motorsports industry.
The team will play a key role in Women with Drive – Driven by Mobil 1, WIMNA’s annual Indianapolis-based summit Dec. 8-10 that gathers professionals, students and leaders across the motorsports landscape to forge connection and opportunity. The event features panels, breakout sessions, special events and networking opportunities, with Arrow McLaren Vice President of Marketing and Communications Lauren Gaudion speaking on a panel entitled “Breaking In: Non-Traditional Pathways into Motorsports.”
