INDYCAR increases teams' Leaders Circle payout to $1.25 million for 2015 (Update)

UPDATE Below, are the 21 Verizon IndyCar Series Leaders Circle entries for 2015. The only eligible team from 2014 to not elect for a 2015 entry was Andretti Autosport, as the team dropped from 4 to 3 Leaders Circle entries. Two confirmed full-season entries (#41 A.J. Foyt and #22 Team Penske) are not part of the Leaders Circle program.

Contrarily, two Leaders Circle entries (#8 Chip Ganassi Racing and #19 Dale Coyne Racing) have not confirmed their full-season programs. Ganassi has confirmed Sage Karam for next weekend's opener at St. Pete, while Coyne will run Italian Francesco Dracone for the first four races.

Full list below

Car	Driver	Hometown	Car Name	Aero kit/Engine	Entrant
1	Will Power	Toowoomba, Australia	Verizon Team Penske	Chevrolet	Team Penske
2	Juan Pablo Montoya	Bogota, Colombia	Team Penske	Chevrolet	Team Penske
3	Helio Castroneves	Sao Paulo, Brazil	Team Penske	Chevrolet	Team Penske
4	Stefano Coletti	Monaco, Monaco	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet	KV Racing Technology
5	James Hinchcliffe	Toronto	Arrow/Lucas Oil Schmidt Peterson	Honda	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
7	James Jakes	Leeds, England	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
8	Sage Karam (R)	Nazareth, Pa.	GE LED Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	Chip Ganassi Racing Teams
9	Scott Dixon	Auckland, New Zealand	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	Chip Ganassi Racing Teams
10	Tony Kanaan	Salvador, Brazil	NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	Chip Ganassi Racing Teams
11	Sebastien Bourdais	Le Mans, France	Team Hydroxycut-KVSH Racing	Chevrolet	KVSH Racing
14	Takuma Sato	Tokyo	ABC Supply A.J. Foyt Racing	Honda	A.J. Foyt Enterprises
15	Graham Rahal	New Albany, Ohio	Mi-Jack	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
18	Carlos Huertas	Bogota, Colombia	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing
19	Francesco Dracone (R)	Turin, Italy	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing
20	Luca Filippi	Savigliano, Italy	Fuzzy’s Vodka CFH Racing	Chevrolet	CFH Racing
26	Carlos Munoz	Bogota, Colombia	AndrettiTV Cinsay	Honda	Andretti Autosport
27	Marco Andretti	Nazareth, Pa.	Snapple	Honda	Andretti Autosport
28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Fort Lauderdale, Fla.	DHL	Honda	Andretti Autosport
67	Josef Newgarden	Hendersonville, Tenn.	Hartman Oil CFH Racing	Chevrolet	CFH Racing
83	Charlie Kimball	Camarillo, Calif.	Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	Chip Ganassi Racing Teams
98	Gabby Chaves (R)	Bogota, Colombia	Bowers & Wilkins/Curb	Honda	BHA with Curb-Agajanian

03/20/15 INDYCAR announced today an increase of $250,000 to its Leaders Circle program, which raises the total annual payment for eligible Verizon IndyCar Series entrants to $1.25 million.

A total of 21 entrants are entered in the Leaders Circle program for the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season.

"INDYCAR is invested in the continued support of its teams," said Derrick Walker, INDYCAR President of Competition and Operations. "The Leaders Circle program rewards INDYCAR teams for full-season participation and helps each of them with an additional source of funding. The program is also an asset to our promoters as it guarantees over 20 cars at each Verizon IndyCar Series event. As INDYCAR continues to grow we're excited about opportunities like this that are beneficial to the teams that compete in our series."

The Leaders Circle program was established in 2002 to provide incentives to teams that participate full time in the Verizon IndyCar Series. Each Leaders Circle member is assured a minimum of $1.25 million if the entrant successfully qualifies for all of the 16 Verizon IndyCar Series events in 2015, including the 99th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. Twenty-one entrants were selected based on final 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series final entrant points.

All Leaders Circle entrants will continue to compete for bonuses that will now be paid to the top-12 finishers – an increase of two positions compared to 2014 – at each Verizon IndyCar Series race aside from the Indianapolis 500. Non-Leaders Circle entrants also will compete for payouts awarded to the top-three finishers in each race excluding the Indianapolis 500.

The Verizon IndyCar Series driver champion and championship entrant again will share a $1 million bonus, with second through 10th in the standings sharing bonuses totaling $320,000. The recipient of the Verizon IndyCar Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year award will receive a $50,000 bonus.

Contingency awards will continue to be presented at all Verizon IndyCar Series events. Read the full story.