Simpson hoping Sunoco partnership grows into long-standing relationship

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Kyffin Simpson is thinking long-term with the addition of Sunoco coming onboard as his full-time sponsor in 2026.

How long-term? To the point of being synonymous in the archives of motorsports such as Rick Mears and Pennzoil, Al Unser Jr and Valvoline, Jeff Gordon and Dupont, or even Jimmie Johnson and Lowe’s.

Even Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR), the organization Simpson drives for in the No. 8 Honda, shared 27 years of success with Target, with IndyCar wins and/or championships captured by the likes of Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jimmy Vasser, the late Dan Wheldon and Alex Zanardi, among others. Dixon, with CGR, has also since gone on to have a similar partnership with PNC Bank.

Now, with Sunoco, the largest independent fuel distributor in the Americas, returning as a full-time sponsor in the IndyCar Series for the first time since 1973, Simpson hopes to carry the iconic brand and colors in a similar vein as some of the sport’s all-time greats.

“Yeah, that’d be great,” Simpson told Motorsport.com. “That really is the goal with a lot of these things: to really grow together. Obviously, Ganassi and PNC Bank have had a long-standing relationship. Before that, there was a very long-standing relationship with Target. Both worked out very well for both parties.

“That’s definitely the goal with Sunoco. I know from our side, we’d love to work with them for as long as possible and we see this being potentially a long-term thing.”

The 21-year-old Simpson is no stranger to carrying the weight of history, either, having run the No. 4 entry at CGR during his maiden IndyCar campaign in 2024.

“That was the car that Zanardi ran and Montoya ran,” Simpson said. “With that situation, I thought that was really cool in the historical sense of getting to run a number that so many other great drivers had run.”

It’s a similar feeling for Simpson with Sunoco, which debuted on Mark Donohue’s No. 12 Eagle at Riverside in 1968 before winning the Indianapolis 500 together four years later. The likes of Gary Bettenhausen and Tony Kanaan are among others to have also carried the Sunoco colors.

“Driving a Sunoco car, a livery of a sponsor to have been with so many great drivers, it’s very cool and I hope to make them proud,” Simpson added.

And that’s likely to happen if the Caymanian continues his development. He’s fresh off a sophomore season that featured a maiden podium (Toronto), three top fives, six top 10s and a Fast Six appearance.

Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing livery

Photo by: Chip Ganassi Racing

What’s more is next season will also mark the first time in his career in any category he has spent three consecutive years in one car.

“That’ll be a big thing for me and just that continuation is very important in continuing to learn in the same car,” Simpson said. “I’m just really looking forward to that and having that consistency. My main engineering team is staying the same next year as well, so that’ll be a big help. We worked together really well last year, and I think we can just continue to build on that and improve into next year. We’re in a really good spot.”

Although Simpson hasn’t spent too much time thinking about goals for next season, which is still 75 days away, there’s one simple task that immediately comes to mind.

“The first thing would just be to knock off that win,” he said. “We’ve got that first podium this year, so next on the list is the win. Other than that, I don’t know that we’ve really said anything yet. Top 10 in the championship would be nice. We definitely could have done that this year with a couple things going our way, but we haven’t thought about it too much.”