AllRacing

Andretti Global preparing for team leadership change

Advertisement

January 1 will bring a significant time of transition for the Andretti Global IndyCar team.

COO Rob Edwards, who arrived in 2015 to run Andretti’s IndyCar and Indy NXT programs after serving as team manager of the outfit known today as Arrow McLaren, will hand the leadership baton to ex-Team Penske managing director Ron Ruzewski.

During Edwards’ tenure, Andretti Global produced 26 IndyCar victories, two Indianapolis 500 wins with Alexander Rossi in 2016 and Takuma Sato in 2017, and five Indy Lights/NXT championships with Pato O’Ward (2018), Oliver Askew (2019), Kyle Kirkwood (2021), Louis Foster (2024), and Dennis Hauger (2025).

With the upcoming change, Edwards’ 11 seasons of guidance will reach its end as Andretti’s parent company, TWG Motorsports, has repositioned the Briton as its chief of performance across IndyCar, NASCAR, IMSA, and Formula E. The Jan. 1 timing of the leadership switch, which is far from optimal, was unavoidable as Team Penske enforced Ruzewski’s non-compete clause that runs through December 31.

“The added layer of complication is the fact that Ron isn’t free to join us until January 1,” Edwards told RACER. “So that means we’ve had September, October, November, and December preparing for 2026 and trying to do all the right things that we’d be doing, but also being cognizant of the fact that he is ultimately going to steer the ship.

“So we’re trying to leave scope for him to have influence within the timeframe that he’s going to be on board at the start of the year. Obviously, that’s not a long lead time because (Ruzewski’s) decisions can’t talked about until January, but he’ll still have the right influence. Ron will have his influence when he arrives, and have his input. And then in terms of myself being able to move into the role at TWG that I’m slated for, it’s clearly not going to be a light switch on January 1.”

Edwards and Ruzewski are former colleagues from Derrick Walker’s IndyCar team, which should ease the handover process.

“We will transition certainly through St. Pete,” Edwards said. “And if there’s anything needed beyond that, I will be doing some of my new responsibilities, but also making sure that there’s enough time in the day and time in the week to support Ron and support the transition on the IndyCar team.”

Andretti’s three-car IndyCar program will have Ruzewski installed for just under two months before the team heads to the first race of the season. New driver Will Power, who left Penske at the end of the season, is also dealing with a Jan. 1 start date.

The ex-Penske duo will have a lot of learning and adapting to do in a short amount of time – far less than most teams who’ve made significant offseason changes – on approach to the first green flag waving over the IndyCar season on March 1, which could push the full measure of their impact to later in the year.

“It’s sensitive, so I don’t want to get in the details, but [Rusewski’s] agreement with Penske was quite clear that he couldn’t work do anything with the team until January 1, and so we have to respect that,” Edward said.

“Take a long-term view, and we obviously we had some success, but we didn’t have the consistent success that we were looking for. So Ron is someone, from my viewpoint, that is going to watch, listen, and adjust what he sees. He’s not the sort of person that’s going to come in guns blazing – ‘We need to do this, we need to do that.’ That transition period will be as long as it needs for him to get that that flavor. The function of the job is known; he’s done the job before, and done it at the highest level.

“One of the biggest challenges is he needs to get to know the people. Because for all the money and technology, it is a people game, a people sport. And whilst he knows some of our people from being around the paddock, that’s different to working with them and getting to know them from a working relationship.

“So yes, it is less than ideal with the delay, but that is the hand that we’re dealt. And we’ll take a long-term view of it. The better that he and I work together to transition, hopefully, the sooner that we’ll see the benefits of him joining us.”