[13] The chassis is named after Dan Wheldon, who was the car's test driver, and who was killed at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 16, 2011, the final race of the previous IR-05.

The 2012 season saw the implementation of the Indy Racing League's new ICONIC Plan (Innovative, Competitive, Open-wheel, New, Industry-relevant, Cost-effective), the biggest change to the sport in recent history.

The ICONIC committee was composed of experts and executives from racing and technical fields: Randy Bernard (INDYCAR CEO), William R. Looney III (military), Brian Barnhart (INDYCAR), Gil de Ferran (retired Indy 500 champion), Tony Purnell (motorsport), Eddie Gossage (Texas Motor Speedway), Neil Ressler, Tony Cotman (NZR Track Consulting) and Rick Long (motorsport).

[17] Under the new ICONIC regulations, all teams will compete with a core rolling chassis, called the "IndyCar Safety Cell",[17] developed by Italian designer Dallara.

Teams will then outfit the chassis with separate body work, referred to as "Aero Kits", which consist of front and rear wings, sidepods, and engine cowlings.

ICONIC committee member Tony Purnell gave an open invitation to car manufacturers and companies such as Lockheed Martin and GE to develop kits.

[20] On April 30, 2011, IndyCar owners voted 15–0 to reject the introduction of multiple Aero Kits for the 2012 season, citing costs.

[21] Owners expressed their desire to introduce the new chassis/engines for 2012, but have all participants use the Dallara aerodynamic package in 2012, and delay the introduction of multiple aero kits until 2013.

[34] Honda (Scott Dixon) and Chevrolet (Will Power) began Phase II of on-track testing at Mid-Ohio in early October.

Testing resumed in late October and continued through February at several venues including Sebring,[36] Fontana,[37] Homestead,[38] Phoenix,[39] and Sonoma.

[57] In March 2017, the IndyCar Series announced that the DW12 would receive a redesign and facelift of its aerodynamic system, with all cars running a universal aero kit starting in 2018.

Named the UAK-18 (Universal Aero Kit 2018), the base Dallara Safety Cell chassis would remain as-was: however, several components, including the airbox and rear-wheel guards, would be removed.

In addition, teams would save money as they no longer have to buy different base undertray chassis strictly for superspeedways such as Indianapolis.

Due to cost reasons, several smaller IndyCar Series teams (including part-timer and Indianapolis 500-only) still carried over the Pi Research Sigma Wheel digital display for one more season.

The aeroscreen was tested by Scott Dixon at ISM Raceway on February 9, 2018[60][61] and then by Josef Newgarden at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on April 30, 2018.

At the 2015 ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway, Justin Wilson died after being hit on his helmet by the nose cone of Sage Karam's crashed car.