By: Ashley McCubbin

After a successful couple of seasons with Andretti Global, James Roe has a new home for the 2026 campaign as he will be part of Chip Ganassi Racing’s line-up for the Indy NXT season.

“I’m pretty fired up – new team, new environment here at Ganassi and the season has started with Daytona (ran 24 Hours of Daytona with Lone Star Racing), and the Indy NXT season starts in a couple weeks time at St. Petersburg,” James Roe told News From The Pits earlier this month. “So yeah I’m super excited in this program in Indy NXT, and being in the paddock staying in the IndyCar community, and the endurance runs in IMSA GTD. I have a busy year so pretty fired up for it all.”

Roe feels he has made the right decision for his career, in feeling being around a team that has won a lot in the NTT IndyCar Series will allow him to develop as a driver. He plans to immerse himself in the environment and “pick as many as I can, probably be the annoying guy asking the questions all the time.”

It’s also why going into the season, Roe is keeping his goals simple – he’s ready to win some races.

“I know every driver says that, but for us it’s to grow this Ganassi program in Indy NXT and get it to where we all believe it can be,” he commented. “Along with IMSA and GTD, likewise at that program – podiums is the goal over there and we believe that’s possible. So really that’s what we’re striving for on all fronts, and then it comes to learning and growing and building all the blocks hopefully for IndyCar next year.”

Roe comes into the season following a 12th-place finish in the standings last year with Andretti Global. His best final points finish in four seasons of competition was a sixth back in 2024.

“I know the thing is in this series there’s always new guys coming in,” he commented. “Teams are always fighting so everyone has the same product to work from so the margins are always very small, and you know street course, road course, and ovals as well – there’s never one common thing. So for me it’s about getting used to this program, getting it to where we want to be and then from there, just week in week out making those small gains because you’ll never find any big gain in this series now because everything’s been around for so long. The drivers are all at a pretty decent level so we’re looking for little gains throughout both driving and engineering and so on forward and tying it all together hopefully throughout the course of season.”

In a season that will see Roe visit several tracks that he has ran at previously, the new addition with Arlington on the schedule is where he’s most excited to get to this season.

“There seems to be a lot going on around it with the promotion side of things and racing around the Cowboy Stadium sounds pretty cool,” he shared. “So fired up for it. I’ve always loved ovals – Nashville is a favorite of mine, and obviously Daytona on the IMSA side everyone circles and obviously we did that earlier this year.”

Roe and Lone Star Racing had placed sixth in the 24 Hours of Daytona in the GTD class, a “great” result as Roe called it in noting everyone, from his co-drivers to the pit crew, executed well all race long.

“We realistically could have had a podium with some issues that fell at the end with the wave around,” he explained. “Basically lost time on the storing screen as it didn’t know where the car was with an hour and a 1/2 to go, so didn’t take a pass around. (We) should have taken it so we went back to 11th and came back to sixth. So looking back on it, yeah, we were very competitive and a podium was there for a taking. So proud of the fact that we’re there and obviously hungry for more.”

Keeping the hunger will certainly be important, as Roe does see himself making to IndyCar in the next five years.

“That’s really what I’m working towards,” he commented. “That’s what we’ve been going for and looked at the goals to have a sustainable long-term career in motorsport and moving on this IndyCar Avenue so I want to see that through. First, I have to get there and then staying there is a different story so hopefully that’s where we are in five years.”