IndyCar News: Acura dumps IMSA, moves money to IndyCar

Acura is pursuing new footholds in the motorsports world, leveraging its ‘Precision Crafted Performance’ brand DNA to expand its presence in the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES. Last week, Acura completed its eighth year as the title sponsor of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, which includes one of INDYCAR’s premier street races.

As part of an expanded racing strategy, Acura branding will appear on Meyer Shank Racing Honda-powered Indy cars at select races in 2026, including on Marcus Armstrong’s #66 at the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 in May. This will be the first time for the brand to be featured on the grid at the legendary Indianapolis race. Acura is also exploring other high-profile opportunities in INDYCAR during the 2026 season and beyond.

Editor’s Note: AutoRacing1.com harped on IndyCar to move all its race broadcasts to over-the-air linear TV because it would guarantee at least 1 million TV viewers per race and then the sponsors would follow. Roger Penske finally made that move with FOX TV last year and the results have been exactly as we predicted.

The Acura-branded #60 MSR machine made its debut at last weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in support of the Acura brand’s 40th anniversary. Driver Felix Rosenqvist and the MSR team qualified on the pole at the Acura Long Beach street course and finished 2nd on race day.

Acura is expanding its presence at a time when the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is seeing record attendance and television numbers in 2025 and thus far in the 2026 season—with new television partner Fox delivering the most-watched Indianapolis 500 in 17 years last season. The first four races of 2026 have generated the largest TV audiences for the series since 2008.

“We’re excited for the Acura brand expansion into the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and we can’t wait to see our Acura livery take on the Indy 500”, said Hundy Liu, manager, Acura Brand Marketing. “We saw a great response to the livery on Felix Rosenqvist’s MSR car last week at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, and I know it will be even more exciting to see the Acura brand on Marcus Armstrong’s car at Indianapolis.”

“The IndyCar series has shown incredible growth in the last year and a half and we see it as a powerful opportunity to build awareness for our Acura brand—particularly on a stage where Honda-powered teams and drivers have been so successful recently,” added Liu. We look forward to this new chapter for Acura in motorsports.”

This pivot toward the NTT INDYCAR SERIES keeps the Acura name in motorsports as the brand and Honda Racing Corporation USA (HRC US) pause the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP program with the Acura ARX-06 following the 2026 season.

Acura currently competes with two electrified ARX-06 GTP class prototypes fielded by Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian. The #60 ARX-06 is driven by Colin Braun and Tom Blomqvist for the full 2026 season. On the #93 Acura GTP entry, HRC US calls strategy and handles race engineering for the car in IMSA competition—a manufacturer first. Piloting the #93 machine in 2026 are full-season drivers Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly.

“We are extremely proud of what we’ve accomplished during this era of Acura prototype racing which began back in 2018 with the introduction of the Acura ARX-05 and we are committed to compete for the championship in IMSA’s GTP category through 2026 with the hybrid Acura ARX-06 competing in IMSA’s GTP category,” said David Salters, President Honda Racing Corporation USA.

“We’ve scored 25 wins, 34 poles and 10 championships during this time and look forward to finishing 2026 strong. I want to recognize all the talented women and men of HRC US, Acura, Meyer Shank Racing and Oreca who have worked tirelessly to get us to where we are in this highly competitive GTP field,” said Salters.

While this is the first appearance for Acura branding this season in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Meyer Shank Racing and its driver Jack Harvey did run a special Acura livery in 2019 at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach to celebrate the brand’s first year as title sponsor of the race. It was the brand’s first foray into IndyCar since 1994 when Comptech Racing ran Acura branding on its Honda-powered Lola driven by Parker Johnstone.