Santino Ferrucci will return to A.J. Foyt Racing as the full-season driver of the No. 14 Chevy.
Partnered with Sting Ray Robb, Ferrucci’s signing gives the Texan team its first all-American roster since 2004, when the family pairing of A.J. Foyt IV and Larry Foyt represented the four-time Indianapolis 500 winner in the Indy Racing League.
Ferrucci drove the No. 14 to third at the Indianapolis 500 in May and will make use of the team’s recent technical alliance with Team Penske to improve its overall results.
“I’m super-stoked to be back with the team,” Ferrucci said. “It’s really good to start building some continuity with everybody, and I think it’s going to improve our results. My expectations for the year are to come out of the gate a lot more prepared than we were last year; working with Penske, things are hopefully going to be a lot smoother and I’m looking forward to being back at the Indy 500 again.”
Although the team is expected to run a third car at the Indy 500, there are no plans to field a third car at other rounds, which suggests the team does not intend to continue its relationship with Benjamin Pedersen.
“I’m very happy to have Santino back,” said team president Larry Foyt. “We worked well together, and he brings a good energy to the team. Obviously we have our eyes set on the Indy 500, but we also had some good pace in other races but didn’t get the results. Together we are focused on moving up in the championship standings ,and I believe we can achieve that.”
As with the team’s announcement for Robb, the release confirming Ferrucci did not include reference to Pedersen.
Pedersen, who drove for the team in 2023 in the first of a three-year contract, allegedly broke the terms of the agreement and was dropped, which resulted in the arrival of Robb and the retention of Ferrucci. Upon Robb’s confirmation in December, Pedersen took to social media and welcomed the former Dale Coyne Racing driver to the team, and in doing so, made it clear the Danish-American intended to drive for Foyt in 2024.
With the vacant No. 14 Chevy seat filled and the lack of a third full-time entry being readied, Pedersen’s future in IndyCar is unclear.
