IndyCar fans have grown accustomed to a six- or seven-month offseason with little or no activity until Dale Coyne Racing announces its drivers a week or two before the first race of the new year.Not this time around. Since Simon Pagenaud wrapped up the 2016 IndyCar Series title at Sonoma Raceway on Sept. 18, he gained a new teammate at Penske Racing in the form of Josef Newgarden, Chip Ganassi Racing revealed it will switch camps from Chevrolet to Honda, with Tony Kanaan retained to remain in Ganassis No. 10 car for another season.Meanwhile, Indianapolis 500 champion Alexander Rossi decided to remain in IndyCars rather than jump back to Formula One, and A.J. Foyt Racing has all but confirmed that it will jump from Honda to Chevy.Heck, last-minute master Coyne even tabbed one of his future drivers months in advance, with former IndyCar champion Sebastien Bourdais set to rejoin. And lets not forget about the successful run James Hinchcliffe is having with partner Sharna Burgess on Dancing With The Stars ...The new IndyCar season doesnt start until March 12, but theres plenty to digest between now and then. Hes a breakdown of what we know so far:Newgarden to Penske: Barely a week into his Penske career, the 25-year-old has already tested for his new team at Road America and Gateway International Raceway, and hes settling in nicely. Some folks worry that having the IndyCar Series brightest young star join the sports most successful team is another case of the rich getting richer. But it took the highly rated Pagenaud a full year to become comfortable and take full advantage of the resources at his disposal, rewarding the patience of Roger Penske and team manager Tim Cindric.I talked to him [Newgarden], and he was pretty happy with the car over at St. Louis, Penske told ESPN.com. All in all its going pretty good.Penske rarely selects youth over experience, but with five full-time seasons already under his belt, Newgarden arrives at Penske as a young-but-seasoned veteran.I dont know if were trending younger, but hes a good guy and its great to have him on our team, Penske said. Overall its going to be a real strong team again next year.Ganassi to Honda: Roger Penske is a shareholder in Ilmor Engineering and the man who single-handedly brought Chevrolet back into Indy car racing. Chevrolet provides equal equipment to all of its teams, but even with all of Chip Ganassi Racings success (including 11 championships under CART or IndyCar sanction since 1996), any team is automatically going to be No. 2 in the Chevy pecking order behind Penske.CGR started the current chassis/and engine formula as a Honda team in 2012, winning a title with Scott Dixon in 2013, but switched to Chevrolet in 2014. Dixon stole another championship in 2015, but Chevrolets 2016 season was thoroughly dominated by Penske, with Penske taking 10 wins to Ganassis two.Even so, its somewhat shocking that Ganassi would switch back to Honda, given how poorly the Honda aero kit has fared over the last two years. But thats precisely the reason Honda needs Ganassi so badly, and with aero kit development frozen for 2017 until standardized body parts are rolled out a year later, Honda has the budget to recruit the top-line team and drivers that it badly needs.The feeling exists that Andretti Autosport and the other Honda teams have underperformed over the last couple of years; having Ganassi back in the fold could validate that theory very quickly and should bring competitive balance between manufacturers back to the series.In a behind-the scenes switch, former Ganassi engineer Eric Bretzman has joined the Andretti team in a technical director role.With Honda picking up Ganassis four cars, an existing team will probably switch to Chevrolet, with the Foyt team the most likely. Team boss Larry Foyt all but verified the move, putting Honda favorite Takuma Satos future with the team in jeopardy.None of us are happy, Larry Foyt told Indycar.com. A.J.s not happy, Im not happy, the crews arent happy, the drivers arent happy and certainly [sponsor] ABC Supply is not happy. We know we can do a lot better than this.There will be some changes coming and no doubt well be headed a different direction next year.Kanaan, Rossi return: Once the Honda news broke, Kanaan, a favorite of fans and sponsor NTT Data, was quickly confirmed to return to Ganassis No. 10 car. He was immediately whisked off to St. Louis at short notice for Ganassis first Honda test at Gateway, nearly having to cancel a long-planned appearance with the Boys and Girls Club of Wayne County (Indiana) until Dixon stepped in to help charter a private plane for his teammate.Kanaan, the most experienced driver in the field, will be 42 when he embarks on his 20th season in Indy cars. Hes always a factor at Indianapolis, where the Honda aero package was particularly strong in 2016, making him an early favorite for next years 500.Meanwhile, with no competitive seats open in Formula One, last years surprise Indy winner Rossi has opted to return to IndyCars. Hell continue to drive the No. 98 Honda for Bryan Herta Autosport in association with Andretti Autosport. Drivers for the fourth cars run by Ganassi and Andretti have not yet been determined.Bourdais back to Coyne: Sebastien Bourdais ran with Dale Coyne Racing on a part-time basis when he returned to IndyCars in 2011 after a few years away racing F1 and sports cars. After three years with KV Racing, which produced four wins, Bourdais returns to a Coyne team that continues to get more competitive every year. Justin Wilson, Mike Conway and Carlos Huerta all won races for DCR, and four-time Champ Car series champion Bourdais could put together the teams most serious championship challenge since Wilson finished sixth in the 2013 IndyCar Series standings.Joining Bourdais will be Craig Hampson, his race engineer during his successful run at Newman-Haas Racing from 2003-07, along with Olivier Boisson, his more recent engineer at KV.Back in 2011, Dale was the one who gave me the opportunity to come back to IndyCar, and Im looking forward to a very exciting second stint with his team, stated Bourdais.Cheap Nike Baseball Jerseys .Y. - Free agent outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, fresh off winning the World Series with Boston, reached agreement with the rival New York Yankees on a seven-year contract worth about $153 million, a person familiar with the negotiations said Tuesday night. Custom Baseball Jerseys . The Montreal Canadiens announced on Friday that the veteran forward will return to the teams line-up on Saturday night when the Habs visit the Nashville Predators. https://www.fakebaseballjerseys.com/ . But now that hes in the NHL, the Calgary Flames centre showed big improvement in that department by scoring the winner in the eighth round of a 5-4 shootout victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Monday. Cheap Baseball Jerseys China . - Connor McDavid scored 53 seconds into overtime as the Erie Otters came from behind to defeat the visiting Guelph Storm 4-3 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. Cheap Baseball Jerseys Authentic . Thousands of Southern California fans enveloped the Trojans to celebrate an improbable win secured by an interim coach, an inconsistent kicker and a thin defence that wouldnt break.SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- DeShone Kizer was running to celebrate what he hoped would be the game-winning touchdown when he found himself grappling in a pile of bodies trying to recover a fumble with the score tied and two minutes left.The 6-foot-4, 230-pound junior somehow muscled his way to the ball after tight end Durham Smythe fumbled near the goal line, allowing Notre Dame to keep possession so Justin Yoon could kick a 23-yard field goal with 30 seconds left to give the Irish a 30-27 victory over Miami on Saturday.One of the things I was looking for from him wasnt whether he could run another dig route. We needed some more toughness from him, some mental toughness, coach Brian Kelly said. Thats an indication. He was not going to be denied. He was going to find a way to get that football.Kizer didnt sound as though he had a strong grasp of the ball, saying a Miami player was kicking it as he tried to get a grip.The refs came in and started yelling white and then I heard one blue and as soon as I heard one blue I let go of the ball to allow them to not see anymore. Because obviously that guy had one leg, all 10 fingers and maybe his chin on the ball, Kizer said.The victory ended a three-game losing home streak for the Irish (3-5), who rallied back after squandering a 20-point lead.Notre Dame outgained Miami 143-2 in total yards in jumping to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter and extended the lead to 20-0 early in the second quarter. But special teams turned it around for Miami.It began when Travis Homer recovered a punt after it bounced off Notre Dames Tony Pride Jr. and the Hurricanes scored four plays later on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Brad Kaaya to David Njoku.Miami scored on the opening possession of the second half and continued to rally.Everyone just let it cut loose at all positions, Kaaya said. The o-line played a little bit better and we were able to run the ball a little bit better, and that opened things up for me. We made good plays and guys finally woke up.The Hurricanes capped the 27-0 run when Miamis Michael Jackson recovered a botched punt in the end zone for the go--ahead touchdown with 6:49 left.dddddddddddd But the Hurricanes (4-4) couldnt finish it off.From that point on, Notre Dame pretty much took the game over, and we werent able to get the job done on either side of the ball, Miami coach Mark Richt said.The Irish tied the score less than a minute later when on third-and-1 Josh Adams bounced out of the pile and raced in for a 41-yard touchdown.There wasnt a belief, when I looked in the eyes of every one of those players, that they werent going to figure out and find a way to win, Kelly said.THE TAKEAWAYMiami: The Hurricanes, who gave up eight sacks against Virginia Tech, struggled along the offensive line early, and were held to a season-low 18 yards after being held to 42 yards rushing against the Hokies. The Hurricanes came up big on special teams with the recovery of a punt by Homer after it bounced off Pride to set up Miamis first touchdown, and a partially blocked punt by linebacker Zach McCloud that set up a field goal. Miami also recovered an onside kick.Notre Dame: The Irish finally had a game where their offense and defense played well but still struggled with special team gaffes. The Irish entered the game 125th in the nation in sacks with six in seven games, but sacked Kaaya five times.We do sack the quarterback here at Notre Dame. So for you guys that didnt think that that happened, we do sack the quarterback, Kelly said.SETTING THE TONEDefensive tackle Jarron Jones set the tone for the Irish, making three tackles for loss and deflecting a pass in the first five plays by Miami. Jones finished with seven tackles, including six for loss. The Irish finished with 12 tackles for loss, the most since they had 12 against Syracuse in 2005.UP NEXTMiami: The Hurricanes return to Atlantic Coast Conference play against Pittsburgh, a team it has beaten nine of the past 10 games.Notre Dame: The Irish face Navy in Jacksonville, Florida, a team it has beaten five straight after losing two of the previous three. ' ' '