There haven’t been many NTT INDYCAR SERIES drivers who have recently gone the way of Ryan Hunter-Reay, Oriol Servia, Ed Jones and now Devlin DeFrancesco.

These four were completely out of the series for a full season only to find their way back in a full-time capacity.

Michael Andretti, Juan Pablo Montoya and Sebastien Bourdais also left and returned, but they were series champions who took advantage of Formula One opportunities. The drivers mentioned above had no such gig to accept.

In most cases, an NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver becomes out of mind when he’s out of sight that long. Servia was able to connect with Newman/Haas Racing in 2011 after a year without a ride, and Jones found his way back to the series through a return to Dale Coyne Racing. Hunter-Reay waited 22 months before Bobby Rahal picked him up in July 2007.

DeFrancesco spent the 2022 and ’23 seasons driving for Andretti Steinbrenner Racing, then was left without a seat for last season. In the time away, DeFrancesco competed in five IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races with Forte Racing’s GTD program, but he never gave up on the INDYCAR SERIES dream. During cardio workouts, he watched as many of his 34 series races as possible to see where he could improve.

In December, the Canadian driver secured a return to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and was named to drive Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s No. 30 Honda, paired with Graham Rahal and rookie Louis Foster, who won last year’s INDY NXT by Firestone championship. DeFrancesco, from Toronto, remains almost at a loss for words for an opportunity few get.

“I’m over the moon,” he said. “The day I found out, I had the flu and was laying down when I got a call from Bobby (Rahal). I’m on the couch and it was, ‘Welcome to have you aboard.’

“It was one of the best days I've had in a long time.”

DeFrancesco, who credits the work of manager Sean Jones and the support of the Steinbrenner family, described sitting out last year as a mental challenge.

“It was definitely very tough to watch,” he said of the action. “But also (it was) good to be able to reflect and really analyze what I need to work on and improve on. I’ve really been able to use this time sitting with the ‘30’ team and everyone and (decide) how we're going to have a good, strong, consistent year and be fighting at the front.”

Graham Rahal is among those who has noticed DeFrancesco’s effort.

“I'll just tell you that I've been ultra-impressed with Devlin,” he said. “He's the first teammate I have ever had that the minute the signing happened, I received a text message with a list – literally a list – of items that he wanted help with, that he knew he needed help with, things he knew he had to get better at. He wanted my advice and guidance to help improve at tire saving, fuel saving, and the list kind of went on. I was ultra-impressed with that.

“His desire to get better is strong, and I also feel that his efforts to be at the shop almost daily, working out with the (crew) and being present has been really exceptional. I'm excited for him. I feel like it's a good opportunity for him to maybe prove himself in a different manner for a lot of people, and hopefully we can help him do that.”

In two previous INDYCAR SERIES seasons, DeFrancesco was the fourth driver at what is now Andretti Global, and he didn’t generate the results of his teammates. He advanced to the Firestone Fast Six qualifying round only once – he started fifth in the GMR Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2023 – and his best race finish was 12th on a pair of occasions (in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear in 2022 and the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway in 2023).

It’s important to note that DeFrancesco will still be one of the youngest drivers in the series – he turned 25 on Jan. 17. He has a Rolex 24 At Daytona class victory on his resume, having co-drove to the LMP2 win in 2022 with Colton Herta, Pato O’Ward and Eric Lux.

DeFrancesco said he has a multiyear contract with RLL, and he believes the team is poised for a bounce-back season this year.

“It's very nice to have stability,” he said. “(RLL) is a great group of people. The team is very, very ambitious. They've been working very, very hard during this offseason.

“I’m very much looking forward to getting going. I think we're going to have a good few years together.”

For what it’s worth, Servia turned his return to the series into two full seasons and then 25 series races over the next seven years. Ed Jones ran one more season as a full-time driver before moving on to a handful of IMSA, World Endurance Championship and NASCAR Xfinity and Truck Series races. Hunter-Reay’s second chance in the sport – he didn’t have a ride in 2006 after winning two races during a three-year run in Champ Car – generated a series championship in 2012 and an Indianapolis 500 victory in 2014.

The rest of DeFrancesco’s career is still to play out, but he is appreciative of what amounts to a rare second chance.

“I think Rahal is a very strong, up-and-coming team,” he said. “They’re a team that has a lot of resources and that has been really, really working hard. I think together we both have a big, big point to prove this year and for the few years that we have together.”