Today's question: In this holiday season, what is a gift you would give a competitor in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES?

Curt Cavin: There are obviously several drivers I’d enjoy seeing in Victory Lane following next year’s Indy 500 – Scott Dixon, Ed Carpenter, Marco Andretti, Graham Rahal, Alex Palou, Pato O’Ward – but I’d be one of the first standing in approval if A.J. Foyt (shown above in May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway) and his team returned for the first time since 1999. A.J. is still going strong – he turns 90 in January – and it would mean the world to him to know the organization led by his son Larry had returned to the pinnacle of this sport and “the place that made A.J. Foyt,” as he likes to say. Not coincidentally, AJ Foyt Racing has two shoes who have shown well on short tracks in recent years. Santino Ferrucci is riding a string of seven consecutive top-10 “500” finishes to begin his INDYCAR career, and David Malukas will be fun to watch with the team that has a technical alliance with Team Penske, the winner of a record 20 such races, including the past two. Can you imagine the roar of the crowd if the No. 14 car wins Indy again?!?! I say, "Bring it!"

Eric Smith: What do you give someone who has it all? Scott Dixon ranks second in career wins (58) and runner-up finishes (51), and he is tops all-time in top-three finishes (142) and top-five results (211). I’m giving Dixon the only thing he’s missing and arguably the biggest prize available: a second Indy 500 win. Dixon is one of the fastest drivers at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His five NTT P1 Awards on the 2.5-mile oval track rank second-most behind the six accumulated by Rick Mears. Dixon's 677 career Indy laps led also is No. 1 among the drivers to have competed in the 108-year history of the race. Dixon has led at least one lap in 16 of his 22 "500" starts, most ever as well. To sip the milk only once with those incredible stats is borderline criminal. The opportunities to become the 22nd driver to win multiple "500s" is dwindling. At 44 years of age, a win in 2025 would make Dixon the sixth-oldest “500” winner. Maybe that’s fitting for Dixon to enter another rare fraternity of race car drivers and also set the record for most races between “500” victories held by Juan Pablo Montoya at 15 years between 2000 and 2015 victories, too. If he’s on the nice list in 2025, maybe a record-tying seventh championship will be on the wish list next December.

Arni Sribhen: I’ve never been a rule follower when it comes to giving holiday gifts. I routinely go over the set budget on the office white elephant gift exchange or spend too much money on gifts for my niece and nephews because “it was the gift they wanted.” So in that spirit, my gift for the paddock is a mystery box. I’m giving it to most of the paddock – more specifically the 21 drivers and teams who aren’t employed by Roger Penske or Chip Ganassi. The teams receiving my gift are the ones who usually end up with the championship lump of coal at season’s end. Hopefully that ends with my gift. Did you know the last time a non-Penske/Ganassi driver won the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship was in 2012 when Ryan Hunter-Reay won with Andretti Autosport? It’s the only time since INDYCAR SERIES racing unified in 2008 that the Astor Challenge Cup went to a non-Penske/Ganassi driver. So somewhere in these gift boxes is the Astor Challenge Cup. I don’t know who will get it, but my holiday wish is that one of you finds it under your tree.