After months of speculation and near-radio silence from the team, Dale Coyne Racing announced its 2024 driver lineup on Tuesday, just three days before cars appear on track in St. Petersburg for the first race of the IndyCar Series season.
Series veteran Jack Harvey will join the team for 14 races in the No. 18 car driven by David Malukas in 2023. Harvey’s season will start in St. Petersburg this weekend. The 30-year-old’s return marks his first race since being dropped by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing before the final three rounds of the ’23 schedule. Just one top-10 finish has been scored by the Englishman in the past two years.
Reigning Indy NXT (formerly Indy Lights) Rookie of the Year Nolan Siegel will pilot the No. 18 in Harvey’s weekends off, with the California native set to make starts at Long Beach, Toronto and at the Indianapolis 500 in May. Siegel won two races with HMD Motorsports on his way to a third-place finish in the championship during the 2023 Indy NXT season and will run another full schedule with HMD in 2024. With that, the 19-year-old becomes the first driver to run multiple races in both series in one year since Carlos Munoz in 2013.
Team owner Dale Coyne praised those two newcomers in a Tuesday press release: “Jack (Harvey) brings a lot of experience to the team and he immediately fit right in when he tested with us. Nolan (Siegel), like Jack, is a pleasure to work with. He impressed us at the Homestead test with how quickly he was up to speed for his first time in the car. We look forward to seeing what both will do this season aboard our 18 car.”
Pairing with Harvey and Siegel is sportscar veteran Colin Braun. Braun has tested with DCR in the early months of 2024 and will sit behind the wheel of the No. 51 car piloted by Sting Ray Robb last year. The 35-year-old has driven full-time in IMSA since 2014, capturing three championships across multiple classes. The Texas native also ran two full seasons in the NASCAR Truck Series in 2008 and 2009, grabbing a singular win at Michigan in the latter year.
Peaks have been limited over the past few seasons for DCR, as the Illinois-based outfit hasn’t had a driver finish in the top 15 of the championship standings since 2021. Malukas threw down a couple of top-five finishes in both ’22 and ’23, but sustained success has been a challenge.
The 2024 IndyCar Series season starts on Sunday in Florida for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The action starts at noon ET on NBC in the United States.
