NTT INDYCAR SERIES NEWS CONFERENCE

May 18, 2026

Dan Towriss

Jill Gregory

Ron Ruzewski

Will Power

Kyle Kirkwood

Marcus Ericsson

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good morning, everyone. Hope everyone's recovered from a busy, pretty exciting qualifying day yesterday, and the teams are looking forward to practice later on this afternoon as we look ahead. The countdown's on officially for the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500.

Before we get to that, great opportunity to catch up with Andretti Global this morning, winners of five Indy 500s and four INDYCAR Series Championships as well.

Joining us today, Dan Towriss, the CEO of TWG Motorsports.

To his left, Jill Gregory, President of Andretti Global.

Ron Ruzewski is here, Team Principal of Andretti Global.

And of course all three drivers: Driver of the No. 26 TWG AI Honda, the all-time record holder for most pole positions in INDYCAR Series history and the winner of the 2018 Indy 500, Will Power.

Driver of No. 27 Sam's Club Honda, currently second in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES points standings. Winner of the -- rather, earlier this year on the inaugural Streets of Arlington race as well, great to have Kyle Kirkwood joining us.

And driver of the No. 28 Phoenix Investors Honda, winner of the 2022 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, in Marcus Ericsson.

Dan, let's start with you, Memorial Day Weekend, I lost track of how many series you guys are running in: Obviously INDYCAR, Formula One, NASCAR, Australia Supercars as well. What does a weekend like this say about TWG Motorsports heading into a big weekend like this?

DAN TOWRISS: It's a huge weekend for us. Obviously the Indianapolis 500 is the greatest spectacle in racing. Racing with 350,000 people is a tremendous opportunity and event in motorsport.

Again, I think, as we look across the platform, whether it's NASCAR, INDYCAR, Formula E, sports cars, Australian V8 Supercars, Formula One, on any weekend, yeah, TWG Motorsports, we could be racing in upwards of six series across the globe.

I think, in terms of each team, we're trying to build a global platform. Each team is at a different stage in their development, and we're building and just getting better each and every race to build a world class motorsports platform, whether it's INDYCAR, NASCAR, and the like. I think you see that upward trajectory in every series.

THE MODERATOR: Jill, for you, obviously the Indianapolis 500 puts every part of your organization under pressure: competition, operations, logistics, comms department as well. What makes the 500 uniquely demanding, I guess, from a leadership standpoint from where you sit?

JILL GREGORY: Well, like Dan said, the month of May means so much to everybody here and not just what happens on the track. We've been building or rebuilding this organization. We've got a lot of new people. So making sure that the team is operating as one.

Building a winning culture is not just about winning on race day, although that's obviously important, it's what we're doing each and every day to get ready for that. And May puts a certain amount of emphasis and pressure for all of us, but it's what we've been doing every day that makes us ready for this month.

THE MODERATOR: Competition-wise, a lot of great successes this year, maybe some challenges as well. What's the confidence level from the competition side of this group and how it's developed really since the start of the year for you?

JILL GREGORY: I think the confidence level is high. Obviously we want to make sure that we're performing our best every single day that we come out here or at every race weekend, but it's going back to fundamentals. We have the talent. We've got the process. How do we make sure we're using that and don't deviate from our plan no matter what the track throws at us.

So I think we're just going back to basics. We're relying on each other and the talent we have, some of us at this table, and making sure that we're each executing at the highest level.

THE MODERATOR: Ron, for you, this is your first Indianapolis 500 with Andretti Global after joining the organization only a couple months ago. I remember the test at Phoenix, we saw you there. That really kicked things off for your tenure here at Andretti Global. What has stood out the most about this organization and the successes you guys have already had?

RON RUZEWSKI: Initially there's a lot of experience here, there's a lot of commitment by the individuals. It's a rich culture of people that are willing to do pretty much whatever we ask of them because they are committed to the organization and they really -- they want to win.

So I think just trying to -- look, there's no silver bullets. There's no individuals that are just going to come in here and storm away and turn it around and make it a winning operation in one day.

So it's just harnessing that energy. We're making gains. We led the Championship for the first part of the year. That was coming out of the gate strong, and we're going to continue to build on those successes.

THE MODERATOR: For sure. Will, bring that mic a little closer to you, if you don't mind. So much time obviously with one organization, and now you transition into Andretti Global. What's the transition period been like, maybe the confidence that has grown for you, especially heading into a big race like we have coming up on Sunday?

WILL POWER: Yeah, it has been really good. It doesn't appear so, as far as the results, but I've led three races this year, certainly had a chance to win a couple times. I think we've made big improvements on short ovals, road courses, obviously Kyle's right there in the Championship.

So the organization is great. The people are great. Obviously we're working hard putting processes in place. I think we had really good handling cars here yesterday, but obviously there was a little bit of speed lacking. But honestly I think our race cars are really good just with the work we've done in the short period we've had leading up to this.

I'm definitely looking forward to the race. Just watch Kyle, obviously been the strongest guy out there in practice, just watching him chop through the field. Marcus and I also have good cars. Yeah, confident that we can be right out in front at the end of this race.

THE MODERATOR: The race running you guys have done certainly reflective of that.

Kyle, second in the Championship right now. How do you capitalize on some of that momentum heading into the 500?

KYLE KIRKWOOD: You just said it, right? Momentum is a big thing in motorsports, and we definitely had it on our side last year, this year. You can tell that it's growing and it's continuing to grow with this leadership, these guys, guys and girls, and everyone a part of the team has been very crucial in that.

It's a cool time to be part of Andretti under this group right now because there hasn't been a single race that I've gone to this year that I felt like we can't win. Every race that we've gone to, we've had a shot at winning. So it's been really good. It's been really, really good.

THE MODERATOR: Marcus, for you, you know what it takes to win the Indy 500 and certainly ran up towards the front last year as well. Confidence-wise heading into this year's race, where you at?

MARCUS ERICSSON: High confidence. I think we've had -- like these guys have said, we had good practice last week. We were strong cars in traffic and felt comfortable running with the best out there.

Qualifying didn't go as we would have liked, but it's a long race, and we know we have good race cars. So I'm super confident we can go up and fight our way to the front. Yeah, fight for the win, that's what we're here for. It makes me excited thinking about next weekend.

THE MODERATOR: And the countdown is on officially now, race week here in Indianapolis.

MARCUS ERICSSON: That's right.

Q. Jill, my first question is for you. You come from a different championship. What stands out about the Indy 500 that makes it so unique and such a different event from all the other big events that you're used to?

JILL GREGORY: Yeah, it's hard to describe, and these guys do it probably better when I hear them do fan Q&As, just about the tension but the tension in a good way, that all the eyes of motorsports are on you, on this event. It means so much to every person that works at the race team, to the drivers, to leadership.

Every motorsport event has a lot of fanfare and all of the pomp and circumstance, but there's something special when you walk onto this property, and people that have worked in racing, whether it's just for a few years or their entire career, you know the importance when you set foot on the property.

So I think that everybody internalizes that pressure a little bit differently, but it's a good pressure. I think just the desire to perform here is unlike anything I've ever seen.

Q. Your marketing background, how important is it that this event has stayed with all the traditional pieces that they do? And also that it is a long event that allows everything to build up over two weeks.

JILL GREGORY: Yeah, I think that it's really important. I think race fans want all the excitement and the adrenaline and the competition, but they also like that familiarity and that tradition, and the traditions here are unlike any other.

I think sticking with that and building on that every year, as INDYCAR has done, just continues to make it more special. If you try to do too much to change that, you're going to lose the cache of this event, and I think INDYCAR has done a nice job of staying true to it.

Q. Dan, this is the biggest event for everyone, but you have other events going on this weekend, including one not too far in Montreal. Will you try to do any sort of back and forth?

DAN TOWRISS: I don't think so. We have a lot of partners here this weekend. I don't want to shortchange the Indy 500.

Even to your question about what's so special or what's so important about this event, just think about qualifying yesterday, the tension, the stress on each of the drivers.

I'm not aware of any other sport where they have to kind of put it out there on the edge quite so much with there's an element of danger, of risking -- you know, they were talking about Ferrucci yesterday in the Fast 6, like is he going to look to qualify the best he can, or is he willing to smash up his car to put it on edge? But you have to make those kinds of decisions. Then you go into the race and the history and all the pieces with it.

So that is something that just -- I think between the history and then that -- just how far on edge these drivers have to go, it's just hard not to have just an incredible respect for what they do, and then you add the endurance element, the 500 miles to the race. So it's just one of the most important races in the world.

Q. Theoretically if you could go on Saturday to Montreal, would you?

DAN TOWRISS: We've talked about it. I don't think I'm going to. Obviously it will be very tied in with how things are going in Montreal. Colton will be running in F2. We've got Cadillac Formula One running in the race there. There's a lot going on on the weekend, and there will be that Coca-Cola race happening south of here. Busy day.

Q. Ron and Will, you've both been here in years where you could win the race from anywhere on the starting grid, the years where you had to start in the first couple of rows in order to have a really good chance. So where are we at in 2026? Which type of race will it be?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I would say, if it's a hot day, I think you can start anywhere. Even if it's not, you know, I've just been around so long, you just cannot predict how this is going to play out. You can't predict when a yellow may fall.

I think starting back there, you certainly are more willing to take a strategy risk or just be off strategy, which can work out really well.

That's racing. It's unpredictable. You can certainly drive to the front from there. There's a lot of people making mistakes, people have bad cars, and long stints, all of these things just come into play.

Yes, I don't think it matters where you start. You absolutely could start last and end up in the front.

RON RUZEWSKI: Yeah, I would agree with Will. The way the formula is, specifically the last few years, track position can come from strategy, track position can come from all these daring outside passes that we see in turn 1, especially on starts and restarts. We've seen it time and time again, someone drive from the last row up in the top 5, top 6 by mid-race.

I think having a good car, the focus that we've put on race running, you could have started up front and get sent to the back. We've seen that time and time again. So I think you can execute. That is the key, though, executing. I think we're in a position to do that.

Q. Will, I believe in 2018 when you won here, it was very important because of the way the rules were at that time, it was more tactical than strategic, that starting up front, it was tough to pass the leader. Do you feel that was the case back then?

WILL POWER: It was, yeah. That was the one year where, if you led, you could actually pull away if you had a good car, and I was aware of that coming into that race. So I was very determined to get to the front, which I did through a sequence, and then stay there.

Yeah, that is not the case now. The leader will just lead the top two and just go back and forth at the end of the race.

Q. For Ron, the teams had great races, but invariably there was just the slightest bobble in a pit stop or equipment failure not working during a pit stop. What has been done to try to get beyond that?

RON RUZEWSKI: Yeah, there's no hiding from some of the mistakes that we've had on pit road. So I think we have to continue to be honest with ourselves and what can we do better? How can we improve the process?

I've said it to other people. I look at pit stops just like I do car part failures. You need to get to the root of the problem, whether it's mechanical, whether it's equipment, whether it's the way the person's doing it, whether it is the person that's doing it. We continue to look at all those things.

Unfortunately, Rome wasn't built in a day. So we're trying to address each and every one of those. I look at last week, and we had an issue on one car, but then two cars those guys killed it on pit lane all day.

It just continues to be a process, and we're going to work at it. We're not hiding from it.

Q. Jill and Dan, can you speak to the, what appears to be really positive commercial growth for the team? Looks like some large companies coming in, some of those that have been in the paddock are choosing your team. It seems like in the last year or two, a lot more folks are coming to you and wanting to be part of the INDYCAR program. What do you think's behind that?

DAN TOWRISS: Jill has done a lot of the hard work on this. So I'll let her answer.

JILL GREGORY: I appreciate you noticing. I think it was a concerted effort as Ron has a lot on his plate trying to make sure that we perform on the track, but we had just as much emphasis in this past offseason about how can we be the commercial destination for new partners? And not just endemic partners, but Sam's Club coming on Kyle's car for the rest of the season, not just putting their logo on the car, but an activation that includes a partnership at the track. We're really trying to put the total package together.

You see it with TWG AI and using technology actually on the race car. You see it with Phoenix Investors and InPwr on Marcus' car. There was a very direct effort to try to make sure that we are hitting all of our marks on the commercial side of things, and you're seeing it pay off.

I think each partner has extended. We had Allegra last year for a one-race deal, and that has parlayed into a longer partnership this season too. So it's been a very direct effort to make sure we're the team that people want to be with.

Q. Dan, congratulations on landing the TWG AI sponsorship, by the way. That's phenomenal. But can you speak to F1? You've got a lot of places where sponsors might want to go. Are you seeing folks say specifically we want to come to INDYCAR, or do you have folks come to you and you find the right spot for them?

DAN TOWRISS: We've had both, but predominantly it's people wanting to be a part of INDYCAR. They've seen the trajectory and the growth. I think we can all applaud Fox on the effort they've put into the series and the commercial growth. It's exciting to see that this race is again a sellout for the second year in a row.

Certainly the upward trajectory of INDYCAR is translating to increased commercial interest, and then the work the team has done to be that team of choice for the commercial interests that come.

But there's some uplift across the series. Sponsors may come to us with some interest in NASCAR, INDYCAR, and Formula One, and we can put placement across and so forth.

But I would say the people we have here want to be here. INDYCAR is not a relegated sponsorship place to be. It's where people want to be. There's real excitement, and I think there's real authenticity in the partnerships. I think that's something that Jill and her team have been great at doing. So, yeah, we're excited about that.

Q. Kyle, obviously coming in second in the Championship, but this is also the biggest race in the world. Where do you balance going for the win here but also thinking about the title?

KYLE KIRKWOOD: Quite honestly, it's the biggest race in the world, right? You said it. We're here to win. That's exactly what we want to do. We're only, what, six races in now? We'll worry about the points afterwards. Hopefully the win will catapult us back towards the front. That's kind of the focus.

Of course I watched qualifying yesterday. There are some points that are paid out for qualifying, if I'm not mistaken, so that one hurt a little bit.

Quite honestly, I'm not focused on the championship points, but I see it in the aftermath. But we're here to win. That's the focus.

Q. Just a brief follow-up to that, obviously it's kind of a similar story in terms of momentum coming into the month of May that you've had before. Any lessons from prior that you can apply this time around?

KYLE KIRKWOOD: Always is, right? Every time you come back here, something's different, something's new. There's always something that you can learn.

I'm drinking from a fire hose from these two that do it so well around a place like this and have many more years of knowledge than I do. So we actually have a great camaraderie between all three of us drivers. I think we're a powerhouse group if you look at the lineup.

And then there's always past, future -- I mean, future predictions you're trying to learn off of. Past predictions you're trying to -- not predictions, but past you're trying to learn off of. So every year I come back here, I feel more confident.

I know what a good race car feels like. It feels like almost every year I've driven from the back to the front at some point, whether we've qualified at the front and ended up at the back and then gone back forward or we've qualified at the back and gone back forward. But it gives me a lot of confidence coming here. No matter where I think we're going to start, you'll see our Sam's Club Honda near the front at some point next week.

It's exciting times, and there's always something to learn off of for sure.

Q. Ron, obviously you didn't work this race last year. I'm curious, how emotional, how different is it? How much -- I guess I don't know if pride is the word you have in now working with a new group.

RON RUZEWSKI: I guess for me it's independent of what group I'm working with. This place is -- it's an emotional place. Honestly, it's why I do it. It's why I'm in INDYCAR and not another series. This place is special. It's the greatest race in the world. Super fortunate to drink the milk seven times, and I only want to drink it the eighth time even worse.

It's going to be a process, but I'm confident that we can get there.

Q. I have two questions for Mr. Towriss. You said earlier that you're not planning to go to Canada. I was yesterday looking at a media release from the FIA there's an important meeting. Who will represent you in Canada at this meeting? The second question is you're involved in so many championships. How did you catch up logically, personally yourself getting all the updates? Also, is there engineering crossover between various teams technically?

DAN TOWRISS: That was a lot of questions there.

THE MODERATOR: That was more than two, really, Dan.

DAN TOWRISS: One question, 27 parts.

Certainly Graeme Lowdon, the team principal, will be there to take the meetings for Cadillac Formula One, which I think is appropriate for that. Yeah, a lot of interesting things that are happening there around new regulations and so forth that are constantly in a state of change.

Across the series, I think, again, it's always about the people. So as I look at the team principal in each series, it's really about having the right team in place, the right leadership. I can't say enough good things about Ron.

I think even the question asking about this year to last year, and I've never seen -- Ron is just about the work. It's just doing all the things that it takes to win in this foundational way. They always say it's like process over outcome. You don't come here and say I want to win. You come here to want to do the work to put yourself in a place to win. To me that epitomizes Ron. There's no ulterior motive than just to do it the right way, to do the work, and to come away with a victory.

Across the series, there's a lot of keeping in touch with the team principals from each of the series. We'll get together occasionally and we'll look for best practices across the series that can lift up. It's very interesting to see the variety across motorsports. There are some things that are the same and some things that are different, when you think about Formula One, INDYCAR, NASCAR, sports cars, and the like.

There's a lot to learn about how other people think about it, how other people do that, and to have that ability to share is certainly important for us there. Yeah, for me personally, it's been drinking through a fire hose learning so much about that.

But I think what you see in every team, what you see even set up here is with Jill focusing on the business side and Ron focusing about what's on track, that we have the best people in the business focusing on commercial success and on-track success. We think that that makes a tremendous race organization.

And doing that in each motorsports series, and then as you roll it up into TWG Motorsports, it makes for a very powerful organization.

Q. Dan, real quick, can you just reiterate the conversation that you had once you found out Colton Herta wouldn't be able to run the Indianapolis 500? Your ultimate decision to stick with three. You have three great drivers that gelled this year: Marcus has a pole, Will came from the back and was contending at Phoenix, Kyle obviously second in the championship and with a win. Can you talk about the decision to stick with the three-car lineup for the 500?

DAN TOWRISS: I think, once it was apparent that Colton was going to be running in Formula Two, Ron and I talked about it, and we actually spent a few hours in the shop walking around, looking at all the work being done on the cars to get ready for this race.

I think we decided that -- it was a joint decision. It was really just about putting the best -- putting our best foot forward and not trying to just find a fourth driver. I think you plan for this race. You don't just jump into this race.

So as we think about -- you know, the way I always like to think about it is you're sitting in a drivers meeting and you're looking at the four drivers there. Does that fourth person elevate the three that we have, or does it somehow feel like an exhibition?

So as I think about that, it was our heads are down. We're here to win this race, not just to say that we have four cars in the race. So I think that about business type of mentality, that workman's mentality is really what made the decision to run these three cars, to put these three best drivers that each have a great shot at winning this race, and that's what Andretti's bringing this year.

Q. The three drivers have seemed to gel well. Sometimes it can take up to a year, year and a half. What have you seen here the first couple months of the season the team camaraderie between the three?

DAN TOWRISS: It's been fantastic. I can't say enough good things about Will, what he's brought to the team, Kyle and Marcus, they're all three the consummate teammates. Anyone else in this series would want any one of these three as their team in INDYCAR.

Also, it's part of the culture. We don't want rivals. That's something that's often talked about. Maybe it's more of a Formula One concept, but regardless, we are a team. We want these guys working together. So when we have that camaraderie and they have that sharing, it's everybody is doing their best to put that forward. If it's helping another person -- it really is a rising tide lifts all boats mentality.

If Will is sharing something with Marcus that's making Marcus better, that's just going to raise the bar and push Will. So that competition, even amongst the team, of knowing you're in a drivers meeting, you look across, any one of those three can win the race that day. So they're challenging themselves.

So having that push from within the team, not just from pressure from outside of the team, I think is essential. And for them to be able to do it with the relationships that they have, I think just speaks volumes about the character of the three drivers sitting at the end of this table.

Q. Marcus, I couldn't let you sit here and just be totally ignored.

MARCUS ERICSSON: Thank you.

Q. In St. Pete you were candid that your confidence took a hit last year, and that pole was a big deal for you in that moment. I'm wondering where you are 10, 12 weeks later, how you're feeling.

MARCUS ERICSSON: I'm feeling great. I think we've had a really good start. I think like Will it maybe hasn't shown it in the end results, but I think in general all three Andretti cars have been competitive every single weekend, and we've been fast every session, every type of track.

I think that's been a big thing for us as a team, but also me personally, like I said, last year was definitely a sort of negative spiral after the season not going well. I put in a ton of work in the winter, and I'm really proud of that paying off. The hard work has paid off.

I felt really like I've been driving at my best this year. We were unlucky too, mechanical failures the last two races really lost us some valuable points and has been completely out of our control. I think without that we would have been well inside the top 10 in the championship.

Yeah, I feel really confident, and I know how to drive this race. So I'm excited to show that next Sunday.

THE MODERATOR: I know the drivers have a hard out. They've got some engineering meetings to get ready for practice, which begins at 1:00. We'll cut these guys loose. Some brief opportunities for one-on-ones with leadership if you'd like that.

Otherwise, guys, have a great day today. Good luck on Sunday, the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500.