Those questions, among others, are what Silly Season is..........and one more reason to keep copious amounts of Motrin around('ya know, for those headaches one gets trying to figure out who's driving for whom and so forth.....
)****Let's start with the Big 3...................
~~Andretti-Green Racing(4): Tony Kanaan, Danica Patrick, Hideki Mutoh, Marco Andretti. This team appears set for 2009.
~~Team Penske(2): Helio Castroneves, Ryan Briscoe. This team appears set for 2009.
~~Target/Ganassi Racing(2-3): Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, Alex Lloyd. Dixon will return for 2009; the team announced today that Franchitti will be replacing current TGR driver Dan Wheldon for 2009 and that they've have retained the option year on Alex Lloyd's contract[if sponsorship can be found, likely w/Target's help, TGR could have 3 cars on the grid in 2009]
****Now, let's look at the rest of the full-time grid......................
~~A.J. Foyt Racing(1): Darren Manning. No word on whether the Yorkshire native will return to Supertex's team in 2009; the assumption is that he will be back.
~~Conquest Racing(2): Enrique Bernoldi(?), Jaime Camara(?), Alex Tagliani(?). These two seats likely won't be settled until all the "sponsorship issues" are settled prior to the season opener in 2009
~~Dale Coyne Racing(2): Bruno Junquiera, Mario Moraes. All expectations are that Junky will return in 2009 for DCR; while he's struggled at times, Moraes has gotten better as the year's progressed, so all expectations are that he also will be back.
~~Dreyer & Reinbold Racing(2): Buddy Rice, Milka Duno, Townsend Bell. Expect Rice to have the team's one full-time ride while Duno and Bell will share the team's second entry[w/separate entries for the 500]
~~HVM Racing(1): E.J. Viso(?), Robert Doornbos(?). By all accounts, there will be one HVM entry on the grid in 2009. Who's driving it, on the other hand, is the question.........
~~KV Racing Technology(2): Oriol Servia, Will Power. Expect both drivers to be back in 2009.
~~NHL Racing(2): Justin Wilson, Graham Rahal. This team appears set for 2009.
~~Pacific Coast Motorsports(1): Mario Dominguez. If this team returns in 2009, Dominguez is their likeliest choice for driver.....
~~Panther Racing(1-2): Dan Wheldon, Vitor Meira(?), Mike Conway(?), Anthony Davidson(?), Dillon Battistini(?). Wheldon has been signed by Panther for 2009; the team is all but expected to field a second entry next year, so expect a shootout of sorts for the seat.
~~Rahal-Letterman Racing(1): Ryan Hunter-Reay. This team appears set for 2009.
~~Roth Racing(1-2): Marty Roth, Jay Howard(?), John Andretti(?). Roth will be back in 2009(.........
); if sponsorship can be found, they will try to field a partial 2nd entry next year~~Vision Racing(2): A.J. Foyt, IV, Ed Carpenter
No. of confirmed drivers: 15
No. of open, full-time seats: 11
###....Now, the part-time teams................
~~Luczo-Dragon Racing(1): Tomas Scheckter
~~Beck Motorsports(1): Roger Yasukawa
~~Sarah Fisher Racing(1): Sarah Fisher
.......all-in-all, it will be a very, very interesting silly season......
...I will have a wee wager on Team Penske 
