Malukas tight-lipped on IndyCar future as Portland gets underway

Credit: Joe Skibinski

David Malukas insists there remain no updates on what his IndyCar future may hold amid continued links with a switch to Team Penske.

There is still no clarity on who will pilot Penske’s No.12 Chevy as two-time series champion and IndyCar great Will Power’s contract expires. But whether next year or beyond, expectation has grown that Malukas will be the heir to Power’s throne, with Penske reportedly backing his No.4 AJ Foyt Racing entry amid the teams’ technical alliance.

It is appearing more and more likely that it may be season’s end by the time it officially comes to light what the outcome of the driver market’s ‘cork-in-the-bottle’ situation will be.

“From my side, it’s same old, same old,” Malukas said. “As of right now, I signed a multi-year deal with Foyt. That’s where the trajectory goes right now.”

Speculation about Malukas’ future has only intensified ahead of IndyCar’s Grand Prix of Portland this weekend as the No.4 car sports a blue Gallagher Insurance livery, which is often seen on Penske’s No.3 Chevy of Scott McLaughlin.

Malukas has also frequented a Clarience Technologies livery this season - an associate partner of Penske since May 2024. This would appear to further back up claims of Penske’s heavy involvement within Malukas’ Foyt deal, though Malukas suggests it is merely an extension of the technical partnership between the two teams.

“It’s same old, same old,” he said - catchphrase of the day. “When it comes to the sponsorship, there’s an alliance between Foyt and Penske. Obviously that transcends through sponsorship as well.”

Malukas currently sits 10th in the standings with three races remaining - ahead of the two Penske drivers with secure long-term futures at the team after a historically poor, often bewilderingly unlucky season for one of IndyCar’s powerhouse outfits.

McLaughlin sits 12th at 17 points behind Malukas and Josef Newgarden 44 points back in 15th. The Penske driver ahead of Malukas in the championship order after 14 races is the one he is being touted to replace, with Power 13 points and one position clear in ninth.

Credit: Joe Skibinski

When pushed on what the Penske technical alliance and shared resources have brought to Foyt, Malukas was hesitant to take any credit away from his own team. And is there any added satisfaction being in the mix with the Penske drivers? He does not take much notice.

“From our side, we focus on what’s going on in our team,” he said. “There’s not much of a feeling or play into that perspective. It’s just: ‘How good can we get the AJ Foyt team?’ We want to be in the top 10 points, finish on a strong note. That’s what we’re focused on.”

Across his two previous complete seasons in IndyCar after having missed a chunk of 2024 with his wrist injury, Malukas finished 16th and 17th in points with Dale Coyne Racing. 

It would take something of a disaster to not at least notch a career-best season-long result, but a first career top-10 finish in points is an entirely attainable goal. And Malukas is not shying away from his desire to secure that.

“Of course it matters,” he said. “We always want to be performing and performing consistently. As of right now, top 10 in the points, I think it’s somewhat on trajectory of what I expected. 

“Beginning half of the season, thought it was going to be a bit more of a struggle bus ride [as we were] trying to figure out the crew, what I want with the car. Month of May was a good turnaround for us. From that point on, we’ve had a much better second half of the season. 

“I think we’re going to keep continuing that. We have three more to go. Try to maintain that top 10 in the points.”

Two ovals to round out the season play into Foyt and Malukas’ absolute strong suit. But Portland could see the team contend too as, while he finished the race in eighth, Santino Ferrucci took the organisation’s first pole in a decade at this venue last year.

Credit: Chris Owens

“We’re kind of building off of that car, that setup,” Malukas said. “Things have changed. Different tyre compound of course; temperatures are going to be different. So there’s some little things that we need to fix.

“I think we’re in the window, which is good for us. Road courses this year have been something we’ve had a little bit of a decline with. I think our street course car and oval car has been a little bit more up there. Trying to be a little bit more competitive.”

Malukas rounded out opening practice sixth on the combined time sheets having finished second to only to Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR)’s Álex Palou in Group 2 of the end-of-session split segments. Ferrucci was a more lowly 23rd in the order.

It was Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard quickest overall - the team turning around fortunes from a miserable Portland last year - with Pato O’Ward ninth having placed fifth in Group 2.

Palou, who can clinch the championship with two races to spare this weekend should O’Ward fail to outscore him by 13 points, was second to Lundgaard. The pair were followed by Meyer Shank Racing (MSR)’s Felix Rosenqvist, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL)’s Graham Rahal and Newgarden in the top five.

Malukas was sixth, then MSR’s Marcus Armstrong, Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood, O’Ward and RLL rookie Louis Foster. CGR’s Scott Dixon was 11th and caused the only incident-induced red flag - the only other brief stoppage caused by debris - after locking up and veering off track without contact in Turn 11 during the all-car session.

Conor Daly was one of the more impressive performers of the day in 12th for a Juncos Hollinger Racing outfit that has struggled on road courses this year. Penske’s remaining pair of Power and McLaughlin were 14th and 19th.

Andretti were the only team to have opted to use a test at Portland International Raceway in recent weeks, with Kirkwood inside the top 10 in opening practice as teammates Colton Herta - limited by an issue for much of practice - and Marcus Ericsson sat 13th and 16th.

Credit: Joe Skibinski

“We were good here last year,” Kirkwood said. “This has tended to be a pretty solid track for the Andretti name. We expect things out of this weekend considering that we did test here.”

Temperatures are set to rise throughout the weekend - to an unusually hot state for Portland by race day on Sunday. But Kirkwood has confidence that Andretti’s test exposed them to a range of temperatures and may give them a headstart.

“We got a bit of all of that,” he said. “Early in the morning it was in the 60s, 70, but by the end of the afternoon it was in the 90s, which is similar to what we’re going to have throughout this weekend. It was very good from that sense. 

“It’s going to change a lot of things. It’s going to change car balance, performance of the car in general, tyre life. There’s a lot of factors that will come into play as the temperature rises. We got to be fast on our toes with that.”

Kirkwood believes the fluctuations could lead to teams being lured into a false sense of security after practice, while Malukas admits the tyre situation could become somewhat of a guessing game.

“I hope that’s not us. I hope it’s everyone else but us,” Kirkwood said. “We got a good understanding of where the balance will go based on temperature, which is good for us. That’s one of our strong suits based on our test.”

Not so long ago, Kirkwood was regarded as Palou’s closest challenger. Through eight rounds, the pair had split the victories five-to-three in favour of Palou as the only two race winners. 

But after a tumultuous July, he has fallen to fourth in the standings - 15 points behind Dixon and 92 points adrift of O’Ward in second. His deficit to Palou is now 213 points. 

“July was not that good to us,” Kirkwood said. “Iowa was not great for us by any means. Mid-Ohio, that’s how I’ve been at Mid-Ohio in IndyCar; I was so good at Mid-Ohio in every other series but IndyCar. 

Credit: Chris Owens

“Toronto was unfortunate the way the race panned out; [without cautions] we would probably have been 1-2-3 Andrettis, which would have been phenomenal. Can’t always get the luck on our side. Then Laguna, disaster for me. Glad July is over.”

Kirkwood’s Laguna Seca was marred by an avoidable contact penalty after a misjudgement that saw him run into the back of Dale Coyne Racing’s Rinus VeeKay. A post-race social media post from VeeKay showing Kirkwood’s onboard led to the Andretti man voicing his displeasure at his own mistake being spotlighted by a fellow driver.

“I wasn’t necessarily mad,” he clarified. “I thought it was a little strange that he posted it. It was the broadcast but it was onboard video from me. I’ve just never seen another driver do that.

“I wasn’t going to let it fly. We talked about it. I wasn’t upset; he wasn’t upset. All things are fine between us.”

Looking ahead to the end of the season, Kirkwood is targeting a podium in points by fending off the likely competition of Dixon and Lundgaard for third.

“We’ll have three races to somewhat redeem ourselves and hopefully come away with some points,” he said. “Hopefully a top three in the championship would be very nice. 

“Not sure about Milwaukee; we were fairly solid in the second race last year there. But Nashville for sure was one of the strongest oval events I’ve had in my career. We’re really looking forward to that one.”