By Andrew Cutler
March 10 2009

With less than a month to go until the start of the IndyCar season, it is getting down to "crunch time" for drivers and teams to get togeather & get contracts signed. One squad that we haven't heard much of anything from on that front yet is Dale Coyne Racing.

Last year Coyne ran two Brazilians, veteran Bruno Junqueira and rookie Mario Moraes. As I have reported earlier, Moreas has moved on to KV Racing Technologies for the '09 campaign.

The past week's test session at Homestead-Miami Speedway found ex-Newman/Haas/Lanigan driver Justin Wilson behind the wheel of a car from Coyne's stable. While the final details of the contract have yet to worked out, it appears that he will find a home at Coyne this year.

"(Dale) called me about 10 days ago. We chatted on and off prior to that, and he called me up and said he wanted to move ahead, so that's when we progressed things," Wilson told reporters at Homestead. "I went over to the workshop and got fitted for the car, and here we are."

One question that Wilson couldn't answer was; will there be a second car at Coyne this year? It seems that Dale may be looking to get rid of Junqueira - who verbally threw the team under the bus last year at Sonoma - if at all possible.

Long-time racing journalist Gordon Kirby has reported being told by former CART & CCWS star Paul Tracy that he was offered Bruno's seat at Coyne. "I told Dale that Bruno is a friend of mine and a good driver who deserves a ride," Tracy told Kirby. "I told him I couldn't take Bruno's seat. That wouldn't be right." 

Dale Coyne is one of those team owners who is in motorsports for the sheer love of racing, so I don't for a minute question his desire & intentions. That being said, his squad's performance level has historically not been all that great, so I'm not sure that I am willing to accept Tracy's reason for delcining Dale's offer at face value.