Simpson Getting Closer to Meeting His Goals in INDYCAR

Photo: Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment

By Dennis Krause

Kyffin Simpson set some pretty high goals for himself coming into the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season. Now in his third year, the driver of the No. 8 Sunoco Chip Ganassi Racing Honda hasn’t exactly met those goals he set for himself, but that doesn’t mean he’s been discouraged.

Simpson enters this weekend’s Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham on a bit of a roll, having scored four top 10 finishes in the last six races, after achieving only two in the first seven rounds. Simpson claims it isn’t one thing that he’s looked at internally that’s led to an uptick in his recent results.

“Not really,” said Simpson. “This whole year, after each race, we've tried to -- not each race, sometimes it gets busy. We've had times throughout the year where we've sat down at different points, just discussed where we are and what we think we're doing wrong, what we think we need to be doing better. Discuss little points and things here and there that have just built over time. We just are making less mistakes. We're doing the obvious things right, as Chip likes to say. We're just kind of catching a stride.

“The same kind of thing happened last year where second half of the season really picked up. We really caught some momentum, had a strong second half of the season. Maybe we're more of a second-half-of-the-season kind of team.

“We just got to make sure that we keep learning from this and that we can continue to build.”

Simpson says he’s pleased with the progress he’s made since joining the series in 2024.

“I've been happy about it. I think we've done a good job with consistency this year, especially more recently. I felt like that was one of the big things that was lacking last year, was just consistency through the season of results and being able to consistently be in the top 10, consistently qualifying well, and those kind of things.

“I think we've done a much better job of that this year. I would have liked to have done better up until this point at least for sure. But I think we've still got some races to go to be able to hit those targets.

“But I'm happy with it from my side. I think we just keep getting better. Hopefully continuing on into next year I can keep on growing, chasing after new goals.”

And, what about those goals he set for himself for this year?

“Yeah, well, kind of the original goals I set for the season, I always come into the season with very high goals, very high expectations, see if I can meet them. Most of the time I don't, to be completely honest.

“This season the goal was Fast 12 in every qualifying or top 12 in every qualifying, top 10 in every race, which I don't know if anyone's accomplished either of those goals this year. Those are the kind of goals that I like to set for myself. I understand that they may not be achievable, but that's the way I like to go about it.

“I think as of more recently we've been doing a better job at those kind of goals. To start the season off, I feel like we weren't achieving them as often as I'd like to.

“Another goal was top 10 in the championship. We're pretty close to that. I think we've made good progress and we're I think only 20 points out of top 10 or something like that in 13th. We're pretty close to that one. I'd like to try to wrap that one up by the end of the season.”

When it comes to having teammates to learn from, Simpson says he’s picked up so many things from Scott Dixon, Alex Palou and driver coach Dario Franchitti.

“Yeah, I mean, if I were to list everything off, it would be a long list. We'd be here a long time. You learn so much from those guys even just sitting in the room with them.

“Their experience is very valuable. They both have a lot of experience at this point, winning championships, winning races, winning Indy 500s. You're always able to take so much from all of their experience.

“I think obviously Scott's kind of known for his fuel save, how amazing he is at that,” Simpson explained one thing he’s learned from the 6-time series champion. “It's been great to be able to learn from him on that, how he's able to do that so well, kind of apply it to my driving and learn how he does it. It's been fun. It's been a challenge to try to be as good at fuel saving as he is. I feel like I'm getting there.

“Yeah, it's been a huge thanks to him. He's helped me a lot. Dario's also helped me, coached me along. They know each other pretty well. Dario's a huge help for that. The two of them have both helped me out a lot. It's going to be sad seeing Scott missing next year. Times change and people move on.”

With Dixon moving on to Arrow McLaren next season, what kind of a teammate is he hoping to get in the No. 9 car for 2027?

“Man, that's a tough one,” the 21-year-old from Barbados said.

“You always just want someone that's going to push you, someone to learn from. That's always helpful. Someone who's going to not just push you, but elevate the whole team is very important. I think anyone that can come in and point out weaknesses in the team is great. I think that's always helpful for growth. That's how we'll get better.”

As he closes out the second half of the season, Simpson insists his goals remain the same.

“Yeah, I mean, final goals are just continuing trying to get top 12 every qualifying, top 10 every race, ultimately trying to finish off in the top 10 in the championship.”

Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute.

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