Carpenter aligns with Cape, Howard

The Cape brothers’ multi-year Indy NXT collaboration with Andretti Global came to an end after the 2025 season, but the longstanding open-wheel entrants have found a new alignment with Ed Carpenter Racing ahead of the 2026 championship. The two-car program led by Dominic and Nicholas Cape will continue to run from their shop in Brownsburg, Ind.

“The teams will collaborate to provide technical support, testing opportunities for emerging drivers, and career development for engineers and mechanics,” Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR announced. “The Indy NXT entries will carry ECR’s team colors of Carpenter Blue and Indiana Gold, mirroring ECR’s IndyCar Series Chevrolets.”

ECR also inked a deal with “Jay Howard Driver Development in the USF Pro Championships (USF Juniors, USF2000, and USF Pro 2000),” the team announcement stated. “Similar to the entries in Indy NXT, the Jay Howard Driver Development cars will also race in ECR’s team colors and carry the ‘Powered by ECR’ moniker. The new ladder of Jay Howard Driver Development, Cape Motorsports, and ECR establishes a direct pathway to the IndyCar Series.”

“I’m very excited to bring these highly successful programs together to create a complete development path through the entire open-wheel ladder system,” Carpenter said. “As ECR continues to grow and work toward becoming a championship-caliber team, this is an important step forward. This partnership should not only strengthen ECR, but also Cape Motorsports and JHDD. I’m looking forward to being involved and working with all of the programs and drivers in 2026 and beyond.”