LED panels are screens made of light-emitting diodes. In racing, they’re often used to show important messages to drivers or fans, like race status or timing information.
Jack Harvey is a race car driver who competes in IndyCar. In this segment, he’s just being mentioned as someone who knows the show and the upcoming Q&A.
Christopher Carzoli is a listener who wrote in a question for the show. He’s asking about IndyCar championship contenders and the drivers’ chances.
Term
championship run
A “championship run” just means how a driver performs over the season while trying to win the overall title. It’s measured by results and points, not just one race.
Person
Polo
“Polo” is a nickname for an IndyCar driver. The discussion is basically asking who can beat him and challenge for the championship.
Lucas Kirk is a driver in IndyCar. In this Q&A, the hosts talk about him as one of the faster young drivers who could challenge for the championship.
Term
maximize points
“Maximize points” means trying to earn as many championship points as possible in each race. That usually comes from finishing well consistently and not taking avoidable chances.
Ron Razewski is the team principal—basically the top leader for the team. The host is saying his arrival is part of why the team’s performance is changing.
“Ganassi team” means the IndyCar racing team associated with Chip Ganassi. Teams manage strategy and car setups, and teammates can influence each other’s results.
The “Indy Grand Prix” is an IndyCar race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Because it’s not the full Indy 500 distance, getting track position early can be crucial.
Person
Davey Maluchus
This name looks like a transcription error, but they’re talking about the same IndyCar driver later in the segment. The point is that he’s shown strong potential, especially on oval tracks.
Joseph Newgarden is an IndyCar driver. In this segment, they’re talking about how he’s been performing strongly in the points race, including a win and several top finishes.
Road America is a road course, not an oval. The car has to handle lots of different turns and braking zones, so it’s a tougher test of setup and driving technique.
An “oval driver” is a driver who’s particularly good at oval tracks. Ovals are different from road courses, so the best oval drivers tend to handle high-speed racing and traffic very well.
Davey Malukas is an IndyCar driver they’re discussing as a possible key piece for Team Penske’s oval results. The idea is that he could be strong on ovals, not just on road and street tracks.
Ron Ruzewski is identified as a team principal figure who will oversee changes for Team Penske. The speaker implies that organizational adjustments will take time to fully show up in results.
“Ovals” are oval race tracks where cars mostly turn one direction at very high speed. Driving well there usually requires different car setup and strategy than road courses.
“Qualify six” means the driver started the race from 6th place. Starting up front helps because it’s easier to control the race when you’re not stuck in traffic.
A “road course” is a track with lots of different corners and braking. If a driver does well on road courses, it usually means they’re good at more than just going fast in a straight line or on an oval.
A “street course” is a race track made from city streets. It’s usually tighter and bumpier than a dedicated race track, so drivers have to be more precise and careful.
“Silly season” is racing slang for the time when people are constantly talking about who might drive for which team next. It’s basically rumor season before the next year starts.
That’s a long endurance race at Watkins Glen that lasts about six hours. Drivers have to stay fast for a long time and manage tires and traffic, not just do one quick lap.
Felipe Nazar is a race car driver. The host is talking about whether he could come back to IndyCar and pointing to his recent practice/testing as evidence he’s ready.
Preseason testing is when teams practice before the season starts. They use it to figure out how the car feels and to make adjustments so the driver is ready for races.
“Kota” is shorthand for Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas. It’s a modern road course IndyCar and other series use, and testing there can strongly affect how a driver adapts to its layout.
Term
spring training
“Spring training” is basically early practice time before the main season really ramps up. It’s when drivers and teams get more seat time and improve the car setup.
“Within a tenth” means they were only about 0.1 seconds apart. That’s a tiny difference in racing, so it suggests very similar speed.
Person
David Maluchus
David Maluchus is another IndyCar driver mentioned as a timing reference. The point is that even after time away, he was still close enough that the comparison shows strong speed.
Porsche Penske Motorsport is a racing program that pairs Porsche’s involvement with Penske’s IndyCar team. If it might end after a certain year, that can change who drives and what kind of cars the team runs.
An open-wheeler is a race car where the wheels are exposed instead of being covered by the body. IndyCar and Formula racing are the classic examples.
Topic
Daytona prototype racing days
Daytona prototype racing is long-distance racing at Daytona with purpose-built race cars. Drivers have to manage tires, traffic, and strategy over long stints.
IMSA is a big North American sports-car racing organization. The speaker is saying that racing there—especially with multiple cars on track—helps drivers get better at close racing.
Wheel-to-wheel competition means cars are racing very close together, often side-by-side. It forces drivers to be precise about positioning and timing.
Multi-class racing means different types of race cars are on track at the same time. Faster and slower cars share the track, so drivers have to constantly deal with traffic.
Development capabilities means the driver can help the team make the car faster. They do that by giving useful feedback about how the car feels and how it should be adjusted.
“Maximum attack” means driving as hard as you can. Instead of being careful to save tires or avoid mistakes, the driver tries to go as fast as possible.
AJ Foyt Racing is a major IndyCar racing team. The point here is that it’s the kind of team that can work with a driver who brings strong funding and has shown speed on oval tracks.
Mick Schumacher is a professional race car driver. Here they’re talking about his contract and how extra sponsorship money could help him land a team seat for the next season.
Indy cars are the specialized race cars used in IndyCar. The host is saying teams have to buy and test new ones for the next rules cycle, and that gets very expensive.
“Delara IR 28s” is the name of the race car chassis teams have to buy for IndyCar. The key point here is that teams may need multiple cars for testing and different track types, which makes the budget much bigger.
“Bodywork” is the car’s outer shape—panels and aerodynamic parts. Race teams change it to make the car grip the track better and slice through air more efficiently.
Term
aerodynamically perfected car
This is about making the car’s shape work as well as possible in the air. Teams tweak aerodynamic parts so the car is faster and more stable at speed.
Term
all in per chassis
A “chassis” is the main frame of the race car. “All in per chassis” means the total cost to get one complete car ready to race, not just the sticker price.
Josh Pearson is a race driver in IndyCar. The host is talking about how much money teams might be paying drivers to secure a seat.
Person
Stingray's number
“Stingray’s number” is the host’s way of saying another driver’s contract amount. It’s part of the discussion about how expensive it is for teams to sign drivers.
Person
Nolan's deal
The host mentions “Nolan’s deal” as another example of a driver contract. It’s used to show that these IndyCar pay numbers are very large.
Term
cubic financial contribution
This is a metaphor for how much money a driver can bring to help a team. The point is that smaller teams may rely more on that extra funding.
“Seagull” sounds like the name of a specific race car or model. In the podcast, it’s being mentioned with other named cars, so it’s likely identifying which car they mean. Without more context, the key point is that it’s a particular vehicle name used in that discussion.
“Midfield cars” are the cars that usually finish around the middle of the pack. They’re not fighting for wins every week, but they’re not at the back either.
Formula Two is a stepping-stone racing series for up-and-coming open-wheel drivers. If someone is doing well in F2, it can be a sign they’re ready for bigger opportunities later.
Tony Canon is a person on McLaren’s IndyCar team. In this segment, the host is basically asking what his job is and how it fits with the other leadership roles.
A sporting director is like the team’s overall performance coordinator. They help make sure the drivers, engineers, and race-day operations all work together and improve week to week.
Pit stops are the times during a race when the car pulls into the pits for service. They’re a big deal because the timing and speed of the stop can affect track position.
Chris Simmons is a key person at Chip Ganassi Racing in this segment. The hosts say he moved from working mainly on one driver/car to helping run decisions and processes for the whole team.
Scott Dixon is referenced as a driver whose race engineer had a more limited, single-car scope before the team-wide shift. Dixon is a major IndyCar figure, and the segment uses him as an example of how engineering responsibilities can be structured.
“One car, one driver” describes a narrow engineering scope where a race engineer is primarily responsible for a single entry. The host contrasts this with a later team-wide scope (“look at everything”), implying a shift from isolated support to cross-team coordination.
Person
Dario
“Dario” is used as a shorthand for Dario Franchitti in the context of IndyCar engineering roles. The host is describing how a race engineer previously worked on a single car/driver before moving to broader responsibilities.
Concept
granular inspection
“Granular inspection” here means breaking down performance and processes into very detailed, specific checks rather than relying on broad assumptions. In racing terms, it implies deeper analysis of what’s working, what isn’t, and where improvements are possible.
Alex Palo is mentioned as arriving and then developing into a high-performing contributor within the team. The host’s point is that the team’s competitive rise included new talent whose impact wasn’t fully appreciated at first.
Hunter Ray is described as not being at the same level of full-time availability as the other person discussed (Chris Simmons). The host uses this to explain how leadership coverage and time commitment can influence team performance.
Victory Lane is the special spot at a race track where the winner celebrates right after finishing first. It’s basically the “you won!” moment in motorsports.
A performance engineer is the person on the team who uses data and engineering know-how to help the driver go faster. They help figure out what to change on the car based on what’s happening during the session.
LIVE
Welcome to the Marshall Pruitt podcast, their week in any car listener Q&A show.
It is a beautiful, beautiful Monday evening here in Northern Californ, IA it is 7.53 PM.
I'm going to do my best to get this show done as swiftly as possible and go ahead and start
laughing because I almost always fail in that endeavor.
But I'm truly going to try, finally had some formal confirmation of some changes that told
you all to expect. Many of you all knew to expect before I said to expect them, but nonetheless
we have additional movement, formal movement, final movement, and there's more to follow here
in the IndyCar silly season. So big thanks as always to you all for the many great questions
you've sent in to our dear pal Jerry Siddoth and his wife Erin sometimes who helped put together
the show, gather all your questions, decide what to use, what order to place them in and so on.
For those who ask upon occasion, look for a weekly call for questions usually on my X
profile at Marshall Pruitt and then also on the Marshall Pruitt podcast Facebook page,
post a call for questions, folks reply to those calls and Jerry then goes in and grabs them up
and presents them here for us. So big thanks to him, to y'all, and to our show partners at the
Justice Brothers, makers of mighty fine automotive chemicals, lubricants, and cleaners. Learn all
about them in more than 80 years of supporting the Indy 500 motor racing of all forms, short track,
and have been with us for I think nine years now on the show, which is pretty amazing.
And then our original show partners been with us, I think we're year 11 now, the show
been with us since year one, the latter part of year one, Toronto Motorsports.com, sellers of
awesome modern motor racing memorabilia hats, t-shirts, books, stickers, models, formula one,
Indy car, sports cars, primarily, pay them a visit, please, Toronto Motorsports.com. So with
all that said, let's fire into your questions. Jerry tells us we have about 1600 words worth of
questions. And yeah, more than 30 questions, we're not going to get to them all. Some of them are
similar, so he groups those together. But why don't we fire off the show here, Steve Grinstead
says so with no news happening on the Indy conference this week is now a good time to talk
about LED panels. Well, Steve, I love you and you know, my kind of moronic snarky sense of humor.
That's a perfect way to open the show. And then the second one is well fitting the same theme, our
pal, the bean flicker himself, Jack Harvey, dear friend says, Hey, got a feeling you're going to
be getting a lot of questions this week. And indeed we do. So why don't we open with the first proper
one. And that is Christopher Carzoli. Christopher says this year's championship run has been more
the same with Polo's performance. But I'm enjoying the battle between second through fifth place.
So seeing great young drivers like Lucas Kirk with Lundgarden award, figuring out how to maximize
points is one thing. But each of these drivers are just flat out fast. So the future of IndyCar
looks bright. But which of these drivers do you feel has the best chance to contend with Polo
for the championship, both this year and next. And just a little bit of a prompt of what's coming
after this, we do indeed have some questions about the air McLaren changes and whatnot. But
great, great opener here, Christopher. I'd say Kirk is the first answer here in terms of now
and future contention. He has been the closest so far of a complete package to knock on the
door of Polo in Genasi. Thing that has been the separator differentiator is his Andretti global
team has not been in a state of competitiveness on a consistent manner to truly give Polo a race
by race headache. Is that somewhat Kirk's fault to put on him? I wouldn't say so.
The offseason changes that the team's gone through Colton Herten Colton Herten. Gee, sorry,
little Freud. I mean, yeah, he'd been hurt lately. I feel bad for for our guy. But Colton leaving
will power coming in, but late not being able to start till January 1st, per se. Same with
Ron Razewski, the new team principal, the new person in charge of the team.
This is a situation where the team has indeed been better this year than it was last year.
All three cars, their maximum potential. But this is also a bit of a delayed
serious improvement arc for them, Christopher. So I look at Kirk and I say, hey, guess what?
Here's our guy, dear friend of the show. So is Alex. So are many of the folks. So is Lil Dave.
Alex Polo, by the way, Lil Dave. Still, I believe, I don't think they've ever
renounced it, members of the Prude listener group. So that's pretty cool. Gotta ask Kirk,
why he's not a member? Well, he's got to, you know, he's got a real life. So I understand. But
Kirk is indeed sitting P2 in the standings, jumped back up to P2 after a fine podium last weekend.
This is someone who is more often than not extremely consistent and placing in rather
incredible places race by race. But here's where. And again, I realize that I'm telling you things
that you probably know, but they just need a little bit of further emphasis. So Alex Polo
wins St. Pete. Where's Kirk P4? Let's go to Barbara. Where is Alex wins again? Where's Kirk P5?
Long Beach, Alex wins. Kirk's P4. Detroit, Alex wins. Kirk's P2.
Wrote America. Alex was on pole, finished P5. Where's Kirk? P10. Last weekend got ahead of Alex,
right? So a really amazing drive by our guy, Mr. Kirkwood. But this is the situation where you go
two to three positions of separation, more often than not, when they're both running incredibly
well. That right there is the main issue. And spoken to the Ganassi team about this
and some others, just hypothetical scenarios. Could you imagine if Kyle Kirkwood was able
to join your team and be Alex Polo's teammate as our cat Rocky? Rock, how you doing, bud?
You just announcing your presence? And he says me out again. Hi, bud.
These guys as teammates, it'd be stupid. It'd be over. There'd be no reason to show up and
hold motor races. Just give those guys first place and second place trophies seemingly just about
everywhere. So I'd put Kirk P1. I'd look at Maluchus and say, despite having not won,
I'd put him right behind Kirk. This is not pile on Lundgard week. Just saying that Maluchus
in particular, we know that P3, of course, at Phoenix this year, right? Indy 500, P2.
Gateway was running fairly well there. Didn't exactly pay off the way that he wanted. But
second place at Road America, I know that he's starting to get sick and tired of second places.
P2 as well at the Indy Grand Prix behind Lundgard. But this is a kid who, in his first season,
in a full title contending team, is sitting fourth in the championship. One point behind Lundgard
would say every single race that Davey Maluchus goes to, he has the potential to win. Oval's in
particular, he is doing very, very immensely impressive work for Team Penske. Enough so,
I realize still that he has to get that first win, second win. But I would just say this.
We look to Joseph Newgarden, who's holding an amazing sixth place in the championship
after running four races with his foot ankle area in seriously not great shape instead of that
terrible crash that he had at the Speedway. Finish 28th. That could have been him sinking
like a rock in the championship afterwards. Finishes 10th at Detroit. That was amazing.
Know that strategy and how the cautions fell certainly helped. But look,
the car didn't get to 10th just by itself magically. He had to put in the work. Then
wins at Gateway, just stellar classic Joseph performance. Road America obviously didn't go
well, get that. But then ninth at Mid Ohio, some of the most subtly impressive performances by any
driver over say a one month span or so, then just about anybody. He should be 20th, 25th at every
race due to the limitations. And indeed, he's got three top 10s, including a win. It's just
ridiculous. All that being said, Joseph recognized within Team Penske and I think within IndyCar as
a whole best oval driver in the series period. In his first season with this team, Lil Dave,
Big Dave, Chef Dave, David, not quite Goliath, but he is looking like someone who,
if Joseph were indeed as the rumors have been floating around for a while, decides to leave
at the end of his contract, which is believed to be at the end of 2027. If he were to leave,
Davey Malukas is giving indications that forget the road and streets where we know he can perform,
but on the ovals where Joseph has been the singular best, not saying Davey is ready to
take that P one position. But he appears to be capable of really filling in the majority of that
quality oval expectation within the team. So look at Kirk and say he's complete right now,
won one race, but he's always there there about going to need to get through this season,
get into 2027, let Ron Ruzewski team principal, some of the changes there will powers influence,
give it a full year to bake. We should be seeing that fourth place, that third place on the days
that pillow wins that should become firsts for Kirk, if not seconds. Malukas complete driver,
just needing to get the wins. So I'd put Lungard behind Malukas, even though he's won multiple
races now and is always seemingly there thereabouts on the podium for the team,
just the thing that we know not there yet on ovals. Hopefully he will get there. If he does,
right? If Lungard gets there on ovals, this guy is a serious problem provided he is with
a serious team. I think we have a question here somewhere about where he might land.
We do. So I'll save that for that. But great question, Christopher for sure. They are without a
doubt flat out fast, multifaceted, right? Malukas win anywhere, everywhere has that talent. Kirkwood
has and does. Lungard, he's got two thirds of the puzzle figured out.
Pato, you mentioned, I didn't even feel a need to go into Pato because we already know that guy
can win anywhere at any time. So he's been that guy for a while longer than the others that I
mentioned. But yeah, you're right. And then, hey, hello, Kyle Collette, right? Just had his career
best finish realized on 11th might not sound like much, but this was a high quality finish for him.
Marcus Armstrong, right? Kid could have two wins this year. Definitely shown he is someone to
take into account on ovals without a doubt. Renus VK just saying I would chuck his name in there.
I'd probably put him behind Malukas, put him ahead of Lungard. And that's because he is absolutely
a threat everywhere. He goes ovals, a definite specialty, and he's only ever driven for midfield
teams. It's another thing. I mean, the most impressive performance at mid Ohio from day
one to the checkered flag. Renus VK could qualify six finishes fourth, not a fluke like actual serious
what just happened, right? We know the team's good on ovals. Connor Daley's proven that.
Best ever Indy 500 result by Renus P six goes to Gateway finishes fourth, like a really serious
fourth adds another fourth place. Now the team's best ever finish on a road course or street course.
Open the season with a ninth at St Pete sitting 11th in the championship. He is three points
behind and ready globals. Marcus Erickson, he is what five points behind Scott Dixon.
He is tied with Marcus Armstrong coming back to the how competitive as he been.
Graham Rahal is one point behind, etc. etc. In the little hunkos hauling a racing team.
There is nobody in Indy car punching so far above their weight class.
Then Renus with the hunkos hauling a racing team. He is singularly responsible for the output
that is reflecting so well on himself and his team. This is something where with him in that car
complimented by amazing work on pit lane. Dave O'Neill's the team principal there
gone to work heavily on reformulating then the engineering side as well. When I say Renus is
singularly responsible, I don't mean to say the rest of his team isn't equal if not a bigger part.
I just mean he's been the transformational agent. This isn't a team that blew everybody out on that
number 76 car during the offseason. It started from scratch and now here comes Renus right.
Vast majority same players. Some mild adjustments but also
it's a two car team but in terms of setup information, anything of value to learn,
it's a one car team. Just saying what O'Neill, Brad Hollinger, what they have done,
what everybody at that team has done with the number 76 car being the tip of their spear
and this Dutch kid who's not chucking the thing into the wall race after race and making big
mistakes that really set them back heavily race by race. The weekends where they've been adrift,
he's like 12, 13, 14, 15. Some others a little worse but for the most part he's either top 10 or
midfield but not much farther back and that is a huge thing to consider for such a little team
that nobody expected this from coming into the season. So yeah, let me recalibrate that a little
bit. Kirk for sure, Malukas right behind him and then I got to put VK and Lundgard now free agent
market for sure. I'll get into this maybe a little bit more about Renus. We get to the question
about where does Lundgard go but if mid Ohio did not cause team owners searching for
victory ready young talent waiting for a breakthrough worthy of a shot,
if Renus' work there didn't say why aren't we taking him more seriously on the free agent market,
nothing will.
Nothing will. Let's go to Elliot. Gentlemen, how you doing Elliot? Like so many of you opens by
saying something very kind saying hope you and the family are doing well. By the way, cannot wait
tomorrow morning. Heck, about 12 hours from now. Gonna go and have a consult with a doctor that
hopefully will allow us to get back on track with some really important medical care. So
yeah, boy, fingers and everything else crossed and prayers being said. Elliot says since this is
officially the silliest of silly seasons with Dixon leaving Ganassi, I still can't believe
I'm actually typing these words, says let's have some fun and take a few waltz wings. Any other
at a left field driver team changes you could see happening next year. Saying Jack 8kin, for example,
absolutely crushed it at the six hours of the Glen. So let's see him in a coin car. Oh, I mean,
I love Jack. Why would we have to put him in a coin car, my guy? That's a Honda, by the way,
and he drives for Cadillac. So let's aim a little higher on the Chevy side. Also says just wanted
to say your YouTube videos have been incredibly insightful. That's sweet of you, man. So
he's in Brazil right now. We meant to do a little video last week. I just ran out of time,
so we're going to try and do it this week. But would say Felipe Nazar do not count our guy out
of wanting to come back to IndyCar knowing that he did preseason testing, did spring training with
the Carlin team. What was that 2019 ish 2020? I forget the exact year when we were at Kota.
And I was a rocket, as you would expect, with the equipment that he had available to him.
Testing for Penske multiple times since he's been a part of the Penske family there. And the Mid
Ohio test took place a weekish before the race, stepped in for Joseph, right? Just had surgery,
and was within a tenth of David Maluchus, a guy who hadn't driven an IndyCar in a while,
and right Mid Ohio knows the track well, doesn't know this car super well, but
that close to Davey that quickly. So he is indeed signed through 2027.
Porsche Penske Motorsport got one more year in that.
Rumors that that Porsche Penske Motorsport program could be winding down at the end of 2027,
we'll see. But regardless of that, we know that Felipe for sure has a single year left on that
contract. Not knowing what Penske might look like at the end of 2027 on the IndyCar side.
Joseph is still there. Awesome. If he's not awesome with wherever he chooses to go.
I'm just saying we realize that Felipe would need to learn ovals. But I cannot think of anybody
who is more battle hardened, battle tested, and ready to go to war an IndyCar. This is a lifelong
open wheeler who has rerouted to sports cars because that's where the opportunities took him.
Coming out of F1 would have been a natural fit to go straight into IndyCar. Didn't pan out, get that?
Just saying, having watched him since his Daytona prototype racing days or whatever the heck the
things were called when he first came over many moons ago at Daytona. Having seen this guy in open
wheel, little flirtation with IndyCar, but especially in DPI and GTP. Oh boy, this guy
is so ready to go back to open wheel, but come back at a higher state of murderous capabilities.
Not only is he brutally fast, but just the sheer mileage of nasty wheel-to-wheel competition,
IMSA in particular jumping out. Might be saying, oh hey, those are heavier cars and the fenders
and they're sturdier and you can beat each other up more. I get that. Those cars are so often
regulated to a point to where you've got to just be on permanent attack and be crazy aggressive
in order to make progress. Also, while dealing with multi-class racing and so many cars to dodge and
get around and use his picks, it just sharpens the skills of an open wheeler like him and he
lead open wheeler to an even higher level. It's why the Palos and Dixon's and run down the list,
McLaughlin's and something like they continue to do it, love it, and it just makes them better. Well,
this dude's been doing nothing but that at effectively the highest level for many years now.
And then when he jumps into an actual IndyCar for the first time in a really long time,
he's within a tenth of Davey Maluchus. Imagine what the guy could do with consistent miles
and with all of his pretty immense feel, development capabilities. He's been a huge part
of the Portion GTP development side and Cadillac before that and DPI,
just saying I cannot think of any driver who would be a greater asset to acquire for a team,
whether it's a Penske or any other team with a new IndyCar coming in 2028 to help with that
development and really harnessing all of his immense development skills and feedback
plus behind the wheel the dude isn't afraid of anybody ever and he's stupid fast.
Yeah, so I love the Jack Aitken call and I love Jack and I would describe him with
many of the things that I just mentioned, but if I'm putting Jack and Felipe in identical cars
and saying 10 laps, just the two of you, maximum attack or 24 hours,
I'm putting my money on Nazar. What do we go to John Weier? John says,
see any possibilities for Nolan Siegel? Because he seems to have some potential.
He seemed to have expected too much too soon from him, but he's had some decent performances lately.
I spoke with Nolan earlier today, trying to get a little story out here, just said, hey,
I've heard that you want to continue, but I haven't heard it from you and so do you want to
keep going because kids incredibly smart could do anything in life that he wants to. Going back
to school has been an option for sure. He's going to be a huge success in life and whatever it is
that he chooses as his permanent vocation. I'm very glad though that he is choosing to continue
in IndyCar. So having made that choice, they are indeed talking to teams. I didn't ask which
teams he didn't offer and I wouldn't expect him to at this stage, but I'd say on the topic of
do I see any teams with possibilities? Knowing that he has the ability to bring a budget.
What's said to be a pretty formidable budget as well. I would say the AJ Foyt racing team stands
out, right? If they lose one driver by choice or get signed away, would say that Foyt jumps out as
one that could be perfectly positioned to receive him. They need at least one of their cars to be
heavily budgeted by a driver. So that would fit plus he's proven to be very good on ovals and also
still early in his career to your point. Plenty of development left, plenty of growth left. So Foyt,
I look at for sure. Nothing at Andretti, nothing at Aaron McLaren obviously, nothing at Ganassi.
Coin was there, it didn't go super well. That would feel like a bit of a stretch.
Feel like they know what they'd be getting and that would maybe not match with where he's wanting
to go if he's going to keep going. Nothing at Carpenter. Say, Hunkos Hollinger could be an option,
but they're looking to hire a pro to be in the second car. Meyer Schenck wouldn't really consider
that to be an option. They do need someone to bring some budget to the second car, but
they have so many options there. I just would not think that Nolan would be towards the leading edge.
Questions about Ray Hall, let him in Lannigan racing about what might happen there. Mick Schumacher,
I think I mentioned last week, I don't remember honestly, but Mick signed a one year deal,
driver option for a second year. Team has to counter sign that, but basically if Mick wants
to stay, he can. But I also keep hearing there's potentially some new and very significant support
behind him that might allow him to secure a seat at a team that has a seat or hire. So
could be interesting to see what happens there. And then you've got Team Penske,
which doesn't have any openings that we know of. So just back to your point,
you're really looking at the teams where a young driver with a budget would be potentially received.
I've heard Sting Ray Rob at the Hookos Hollinger racing team is apparently offering a budget
that so far exceeds what anyone's ever received, seeming, I shouldn't say ever,
at least in the modern era here, that from a price point I'm told there's no one able to
come close to that number. So I do think we are staring at a situation where
this is the overarching point and I know the question is about Nolan and where might he go,
but this is the bigger thing just to keep in mind that will probably drive how this question and
other teams with seats for offer answer the questions. Heading into 2027,
teams are going to be buying and testing their new Indy cars.
This is going to come with a significant cost. So run the full season, 17, 18 races,
whatever number it ends up being, full budget, full season, play race car and buy new cars and
test those cars and that comes at a cost as well. And then you need to buy more of those cars, spare
cars, build those up and Speedway car and build that up and all of a sudden every team with every
entry is looking at three cars per entry of these Delara IR 28s that they need to buy.
So you definitely need to have your primary car purchased. You'll be testing that for each entry.
You're going to need to buy your Speedway car. Realize that not every team has a dedicated
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Indy 500 car, most do. And I think with the heightened level of
competition that things just keep moving towards, I'm going to be shocked if every team for every
entry does not have a just for the month of May bodywork, everything is perfect, aerodynamically
perfected car. There'll be a need to get that in inventory and working on that by
mid to late 2027 to have that ready for testing, Speedway testing, and then the Indy 500 in May
of 2028. And at some point in there, they're going to want to buy a spare car for call it their
normal use primary car, the backup to that. So from the projected numbers that I'm hearing
spoke with a couple team owners about this said, Hey, what do you think it's going to cost you?
Not the actual wire transfer price to Delara for this, but like all in per chassis.
From the moment you pay for every single thing needed, plus the real costs, right? Labor and you
got to do graphics on it or paint some stuff or who knows what to here it is sitting on the ground
ready to go with all the spare like this is a single car with everything it needs. Let's go racing.
1 million to 1.4 million is the number that I've had quoted back. So if you multiply that by three,
again, it's just a really big number to absorb in a season where you're already doing normal
motor racing at high costs in the full championship, plus the cost to do the testing with these new
cars. Just to come back to the primary point here, hearing the rumor that Josh Pearson,
Indian XT driver, been offering a two year $25 million deal to teams, 12 and a half million.
That's a huge number. Don't know what Stingray's number is, but it's said to be above that. Holy
crap. Nolan's deal said to be approximately 10 to 11 million a year. It's a big number.
That's in a normal year of racing. So I think for the teams that are offering a seat for higher,
those tend to be the smaller to medium sized teams. They're the ones who tend to need money
more than the others. The others tend to have wealthy owners, big investors, etc.
They're the ones who are going to need the most cubic financial contribution from a driver.
So that's where the Seagulls, Pearson, Stingray's, I'm sure there are some others
probably going to be getting a really serious look by a couple of the teams that we know of
that normally take drivers who can hire a seat. They're going to be looking at the bottom line
probably more than just raw talent. Definitely would say Nolan is putting himself into a higher
caliber of regard. Having Eric Cowden as his race engineer, veteran of veterans,
since Long Beachish, Month of May, somewhere in there. I've really seen Nolan react to that.
So this is going to be an interesting one. And if it's an outright spending war,
I guess they could probably win that if they needed to. But I do wonder,
not just the case of who can afford the seat, but we now have some teams who are saying,
for us to buy everything we need to on top of competing in a full season.
This is probably going to be going to the highest bidder in one or more cases. So I just don't know
if there's a kind of a pull the rip cord point where you go, yeah, at that amount, maybe we do
just transition to college or IMSA running in LMP to or otherwise as a new full time thing.
And thanks for that, John. As a single question about one driver, but gave us an opportunity to
explore a whole separate thing going on that maybe not everybody knows about. But in theory,
it's one of the reasons why we do the show here. Our pal Lynn underscore Indy car.
And Jerry also says that Mike Jablo asked the same. Here we go. Finally, the thing
with the official McLaren signing of Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenkvist, where does Christian
Lengard end up? Says, Will Andretti not renew Erickson and sign Lengard or will Gnassie sign him
to the nine car? Will it be a shock and someone else sign him? Is this the craziest silly season
you ever saw? I don't know if it's craziest. I do recall the Lord's year 2022. And guy by the
name of Alex payload, aka Alex Polo, who just won an car championship for the first time. And then
was pretty grumpy about what he's getting paid and wanted to go to our McLaren. And then there
was that and the signing of the thing. And then the lawsuits or the threat of lawsuits and then
there's more and yeah, huge name leaving a team. That's always going to be a blockbuster thing,
no question. But yeah, can't argue that it's certainly top two, top three, at least again,
modern era. But yeah, this is a pretty, pretty crazy one for sure. Okay.
So had heard, don't know if it's factual, but I've heard, I'm hoping to find out whether it's
true or not that after not hearing much, knowing that Marcus Erickson's in the final year of his
three year contract with Andretti, that there'd really just really not been much anything about
returning. And then have heard that there might have been some sort of outreach very recently
on that topic. So I'm trying to find out if that's the case, then that's awesome. Great guy,
definitely capable of delivering top performances for the team, etc, etc, things we know.
But I don't know if that would stop an Andretti global team, one with owners who love shiny things
from looking at a Christian Lungard and saying, Hey, maybe we didn't fully know you were going
to be available. And now we see that you are
questions here. So how Kirkwood, to me, is demonstrated an ability to win the Indy 500
for about three years now, hasn't worked out. But in terms of aptitude, pretty much from the
moment he joined Andretti was like, Oh, this kid's damn good around the speedway. And now
a winner on short ovals at least, we know he knows how to get around an oval. So that means a lot
to this team. Again, they're all about the shiny objects, the flashy things, and there's nothing
flashier than the Indy 500 in winning it. Brought will power in. Obviously, not only a winner of
the 500, but always expected to factor there. Marcus Erickson meant to be that guy was their
best all month long terms of performances there. I look at the team as it's constructed now and
say yes, need to get Kirk across the finish line speedway. So you can say that he's a winner,
but they got two other winners for sure. We're talking about championship. Lungard might be the
play to consider if you're willing to accept that you're going to have to lean pretty heavily on
Kirk and power to be your real strong oval presence while enrolling Christian in Andretti
oval excellence 101 and hopefully getting him to a place where he can be that guy.
So this to me is the real question, Lynn Lungard, no doubt this guy can win motor races for any
quality team right away. We know that he's done it period.
Which team are we talking about though and how heavily do they prize Indy 500 relevance?
Couple reasons why Christians not going back to Aaron McLaren. We know that maybe the most
mentioned reason is ovals. It's true. Some other factors as well.
Would say one of the items here to consider chemistry hasn't been a good fit at Aaron McLaren,
at least among himself and Pato. Don't get along. Do not They are not
buddies. They're not colleagues. They are people on very different islands. This was evident last
weekend, podium, post race press conference. None of what I'm saying is some sort of like, oh my
gosh, it's never been witnessed before. It was witnessed last weekend in particular.
Thing just to know here and I realize this is very different than talent and potential.
But this matters so much for any of you who've played organized sports. This matters.
You can have crazy talent, but if you are not a good fit within a particular team's culture,
you're not going to last long. There's no amount of points you can score or
races you can win. That's going to change the fact that there's just not a good fit
in the feeling within the team that it is not achieving its full potential because
of that lack of cohesive work among teammates. Not what I'm saying is placing the blame on
Lengard. I'm just simply acknowledging what has been seen and known for a little while,
but seen after last weekend. And that is Pato is the team's number one driver.
Not even talking about where he finishes in the races or in the championship.
Christian is currently P3 Pato's P5. So I'm not talking about number one in the standings,
talking about internally. We know this, right? Even at Chip Ganassi racing.
This has been Scott Dixon's house for this is 25th season. Get that. Who's the number one
driver there? It's Alex Palo. Definitely it's because of not just his achievement on track,
but the consistent achievement and becoming a champion and champ. And he has ascended to that
role. Also, while knowing Scott, it's his team. But Alex is certainly the number one driver that
they look to now. Pato's never had a teammate who has outrun him on anything other than the most
infrequent basis. Christian has been doing that a little bit, not always, but enough so to where
this is new territory. Nonetheless, and regardless of where they are on the standings, Lynn,
within that team, when Zach Brown, Tony Kanan, Scott Harner, Brian Harner, run down the list
when they wake up in the morning, you ask them, tell me the first driver that comes to mind within
your team. They all say Pato. That whole place is built around him. He has been there long term
projects since he showed up in what 2020 was it. He's been the foundation of this team,
especially under McLaren's entry into return back into IndyCar. So this just means one thing,
and I'll just close on this. Regardless of whether Pato loves Christian, Christian loves Pato,
or these two hate each other and whose fault it may or may not be. This is Pato's team. He is Zach's
guy, Tony's guy, right? This is the guy who's always going to receive
number one treatment within this team by its leadership. So the fact that Pato and Christian
are not working together and it's not working out as envisioned.
This has only ever meant one of those two was going to be on the losing end of making a decision
of whether someone had to go if it ever got to that place. You know how that was going to be
answered, and that has been answered in that capacity. The flip side just to throw in here
is one thing that I've thought of. If Pato and Christian were cool, we're good, and
Christians somewhat limited output capabilities on ovals were still there in front of us.
I absolutely think that Pato goes to leadership and says, hey, if by chance you were thinking of
moving on from him, do not. Because he and I work really well, love the guy, whatever, but like we
are good and tell me what I can do to help. But I'm put my arms around the guy and saying,
do not let him go. I'm absolutely confident that that is what would happen. Pato did not
want Felix to go. He's got him back. This is a chemistry play. No disrespect to Felix. We know
Felix can win the 500. We know he can. I mean, Felix can win any race, but in terms of like
consistent race by race threat outside of the ovals, I'm Christian. He's the one who's proven,
right? But if we're talking about who within the team is going to support the
internal number one driver best, they've gone with bringing back Felix
for all the positives he can do on track, but also the intangibles that he brings
to support Pato, keep Pato in a really happy positive place and have that chemistry
returning back to the central premise here that they feel has been lacking that they need
as a team as a whole to take a step forward. So
will Gnasi sign him to the nine car? Anything is possible. I would also say that
few teams are more protective of their internal, I guess I can't think of an external culture
so much, but their internal culture than Gnasi. Every team has their own unique ways of being,
thinking, doing. Yeah, we know that. This is one where they truly have a blueprint. It is in
Chip Gnasi's shape, Mike Hull's shape. It is super blue collar. It is super no ego,
except for when you're behind the wheel, go drive like you are king of the world. But
once you get out of the car, like just recognize you will get snatched up. You start acting
any kind of way. It is all about team. If you've ever listened to Mike Hull,
he talks about team culture, selfless giving, all about helping your teammates, chemistry,
all these things. It is their internal language team, culture, giving, sacrifice, humility, help,
support, give, contribute.
It's not that Christian couldn't be a great solution for them. I just don't know if where
he is at right now. If that is an immediate plug and play fit for the team. If Dixon was
remaining in the nine and Kiffin Simpson decided to retire or go do something different,
then I'd say there's you new driver in the eight car with this Lynn, the number nine,
the most successful car, modern era in Indy car with all the accolades we know that come with it.
This is the really hard part for the team. There were many folks, I shouldn't say many,
whatever amount of folks who were convinced Marcus Armstrong was going to get promoted to the nine.
Not once did I ever imagine that that was going to happen. And that's not said with any disrespect
for Marcus. Love that kid. He ain't ready. He's done nothing to demonstrate. He is ready to step
into that car. That blue and orange represent PNC into the footsteps of Scott freaking Dixon.
Granted, almost no driver is ready to step into that kind of vacuum and represent that. That's
iconic driver. It's so hard to live up to those expectations. But this is where I look at this
situation and say they could do a short term thing with Christian and hope that it works out and he
ends up kind of molding into the selfless team first approach they're looking for.
Hasn't been happening. Everything siloed off at Aaron McLaren and effectively a bunch of
individual cars where folks aren't really jiving. Nolan actually gets along with everybody. Don't
get me wrong. But that's not how they work. Could they if they had to, sure hope to tune
them up and get them into that mindset that they need possibly. It's a guy with three wins.
Jump out as the immediate successor for Scott Dixon who's not currently a threat on ovals.
Not to me. The eight car, sure the nine.
Just a high standard. Or do they just say, you know what? We're starting over. We're going to try
and build our own. Going to go hire someone who we think can be a future superstar. And we're going
to accept the fact that for about two years, we're not going to be much of a threat on ovals
with that car. But we believe we're going to, we're going to do our best to sign someone who's
going to become the next Scott Dixon. Just tell you that looking within the paddock right now.
I already mentioned VK. I think that kid would be the perfect person to work with.
Probably do a short term ish deal, right? One in 11 year deal with an option for a second.
Team option. Think he could be pretty amazing. Potentially can win on any type of track,
seemingly just has never had a car to really do that. And if he turns out to be as good as
think he is potential to be amazing, right? Took a little bit of a flyer, but he's a little bit
more than just a flyer. But hey, someone with no wins. Well, at least we know this kid's been
hitting home runs in midfield cars. He's done this long enough. It's got three front row
starts at the 8500. I think three or four finishes inside the top 10. Like he's done enough
in multiple times to warrant a serious look. But do you do that for one year and see if you love it?
Stick with it if he develops into that guy. I have no doubt that he wins at least one race,
maybe two in that nine car next year. More than that, I don't know. Personality wise,
sweetheart of a kid, big heart, warm, just warm and fuzzies.
Think that might actually be a little bit to his detriment. Too smiley, too kind.
Maybe isn't received as the true threat that he is. It's an image thing, but image is real.
How people onboard that and assign value to it. Even so, one win. If I'm going to say
Lundgaard with three wins, yeah, that's maybe not the direction.
I think Renus might be a more complete solution right away, but that one victory
certainly is not going to make anyone go, oh my gosh, how could I pick anybody else?
Interesting times ahead, Mike. If the Ganassi team chooses Lundgaard, this tells you
they are planning on going to work to try and change, add and shape an awful lot
with the belief that this kid could be a true watch out everybody type threat.
And if they don't, it tells you they think someone else, likely a kid in formula two,
is going to have the potential to be an even bigger star in the future.
Let's wind up the show here with a couple of quick ones. Chris Ward and Rick Creech also asked
Tony Kanan put his reputation on the line, his words, and hiring Nolan Siegel
to showing young Nolan the door, put a tarnish on that reputation.
Will TK evolve to a higher level provided the 2027 McLaren trio succeeds? And how do we judge that?
Yeah, so here we go. Had this come in a couple times here, got some in the new race or mail bag
to answer and just share my straight, straight thoughts on this when I heard it
originally and now that it's been brought up so many times since. I just received it
even though again, it was like, oh man, Tony, what are you doing, my guy? The honest reaction,
at least for me, was this was Tony trying to provide some air support, some cover for a kid.
Really unpopular change. Good old Teddy Porkchops, Teopore Cher, right, had come in,
F2 Champ was really showing some aptitude, loving things, smiley, like folks in a short amount
of time enjoyed going on the ride with Teddy Porkchops. Then he got signed, if you might remember,
hey, so we're going to keep for the rest of the year. And then they effectively said, no,
you're not going to drive the car anymore. And they brought in Nolan.
Tony's comments, who was the sporting director at that point, Gavin Ward was team principal.
Tony's comments at the time were pretty wild, way over the top. Let me just find it and pull it
up so I can actually say what he said. Hopefully I've got it here. What did he say? I came straight
to Gavin Ward, and I said, hey, you've got to trust me on this, I'll put my job on the line,
but I know what I'm doing. I believe it, I truly believe it. I don't need to sit here and try and
sell it. I wouldn't put my reputation on the line, just because. And so that's what Tony said. And
this has been thrown back at him. And rightfully so, he said those words, if you have memory.
And he said that and now they're jettisoning Nolan. Well, boy, that would seem like someone
said silly things and is needing to be held accountable. And I don't disagree. I get that.
You know, I'm not trying to give him a pass, but my honest take was he is saying things
in print publicly to try and pump the kid up, express his belief in him so loudly
that it is being said not in a private meeting room and whatnot, but actually I'm going to go on
the record and say these things to the world as a motivational attempt, but also a inspirational
attempt to try and let Nolan know, even though well understood was paying for the opportunity,
that he wasn't just simply a big wire transfer. This is how I received. I would also say that part
to something where Tony wanting to be a bit of a shield for him. Hey, folks don't really know
Nolan Siegel. There's no conceivable reason why you would sign and then drop formula to champion
for Nolan. Nothing even close in results at that point in time.
He's there because they thought that they would have that budget filled for the car. It did not
happen and they made a pivot to take someone who could indeed cover that budget in 2024 and through
the next two years. Believe there might have been some other aspects to that as well, support with
trying to find funding and whatnot in the F1 side too, but maybe other things regardless.
I just also interpreted Tony's attempts here to basically drive home the fact whether it was true
or not that Nolan was being hired on pure talent, pure talent alone. And he definitely had talent
and has talent in a fan of his since he's been in junior formula, IMSA as well. He has talent.
We've seen that come out more recently. At the time it was completely unearned praise.
And so this to me just continues as we've seen to stand out for folks is like, yeah,
right, man. So I guess you're handing in your resignation.
I'm just trying to be honest about how it came across then. And yeah, it was always going to come
back to haunt him unless Nolan was coming back for three more years to get the craziest amount
of high level development. And even then, I don't know if he would level up to a lund guard or an
award as it is the bar to stay was set so impossibly high that he was never going to reach it this year.
Team has found the necessary budget to go back to hiring all of their drivers.
And so that's the pivot that they have made. So don't disagree on the Tony part. But I think
there might also be a willingness by some who just want to stick it to him for saying things
that did not stand out as truthful at the time. Fair enough. Where do we go? Darren Kings,
can you explain the exact roles of Tony Canon and Ryan Hunter Ray at McLaren?
Says I know they want Dixon as an engineering minded driver. What role does our HR play in the
totem pole? So Ryan came on earlier this year, kind of advisor, coachy, observer type became
sporting director. It's actually signed and done before month of May, but basically they wanted
to get through the month of May, where he obviously competed in their fourth car. Then they announced
that then he did take on this more present role, meaning he is more present at the track,
involved more heavily. So he's the sporting director. What does that mean? He is now
like a Chris Simmons at Chip Ganassi Racing and some others. He is the person tasked with
looking at all aspects of how this team goes and competes. So it is driver performance,
it's engineering performance, it's pit stops, it is how they debrief, how they go. It's all aspects
of how this team performs. And so to give an example, Chris Simmons, former high level
in the NXT driver, became race engineer, championship winning race engineer,
winning of everything race engineer, Ganassi. And I think 2020
was promoted to the new role within that team of sporting director and it might be a similar name
of director of competition or whatever, but it's effectively the same thing. And all of a sudden
Chris went from having a somewhat limited scope, right? Scott Dixon's race engineer, Tony Canons
before that, so Dario's right, working one car, one driver, obviously in a collaborative environment,
but taken out of that singular focus, one car, one driver, to everything. Look at everything. How
do we do everything? We doing it right? What are we doing wrong? Dive into places that maybe we
haven't done enough of a granular inspection. And they uncork a 2020 where they just destroy everybody
would say that Alex Palo's arrival, obviously they didn't know how good he was. Alex didn't
know how good he was developed into this extraordinary creature. But the thing that does not receive
nearly the amount of appreciation or emphasis since Chip Ganassi racing has gone on this epic
what five championships in six years or however many it is,
won all of them basically this decade except for 2022. Heck, step back before that they won in 2018,
wasn't it with Dixon 2015 before that 2013, then Dario did 2009 1011 Dixon before that. Anyways,
we have to absolutely attach Chip Ganassi racing's rise championship dominance since 2020 with the
shifting of Chris Simmons aka pushy loose to this role. So I'm not saying he is the one and only
person responsible, but taking him out of that singular car focus to team wide focus has just
unlocked so much more for the team that they've been achieving at this crazy high level.
He's full time. This is all he does. There's nothing else.
Hunter Ray is not at that level of available time. He's got business interests, family,
kids, their lives, they live in Florida like, but within his available time that he makes
available to Aaron McLaren, he has effectively the same kind of responsibilities. What are we
doing? How are we doing it? What aren't we doing? What are others the things we aren't
thinking of? What are the mistakes we're making? What are the things we're doing wrong? Why are we
doing things like that, etc, etc? This is in a very general sense, his remit. Look at how we do
stuff. Tell us what we're doing well. So we can maybe not need to focus so much there. But more
than anything, we don't need to hear nothing but praise and blur doing great here. We need to hear
the things we aren't doing well. Because racing is not about celebrating the things you do well,
except for that brief moment in Victory Lane. It is, what are we doing wrong? Because we're doing
way more wrong than we're doing right in terms of getting to the championship mountaintop.
So that's it. Working with drivers, talking to drivers, engineers, looking at data,
looking at setups, going to figure out how the team came to a decision to do a thing,
how during a session when a problem was experienced, how they, between the driver's input,
engineers, whoever else's, performance engineer, you name it, came to a call to go here, why they're
going up on this instead of down on that, how they're just run through the whole thing. So that's
his scope within his available time. Tony is a team principal. So he runs the team on a day-to-day
basis from a budgeting standpoint to a personnel standpoint. He is, if we were thinking of an
NFL team or pick another team, team principal is another word for general manager, runs the
organization. Has Zach Brown as his boss? Definitely, though, Zach is giving Tony a lot,
a lot of leeway to try and fashion this team in his image, doing things, how he feels they should
be done, ways that he has seen in his career as a driver, championship winning guy, et cetera,
how to do things successfully, write people, write culture and so on. But it's working within
budget. It is hiring, it's firing. It is also getting in mentoring a bit, drivers, pushing,
being a bit of a coach, being a dad type or being grumpy dad, it's chewing people out, it's all kinds
of things. So this is running the business of racing for McLaren, while also being a bit of
sporting-ish director too. It's not as if Tony is going to sit there and see something that he
thinks is wrong and say nothing, but this is where Hunter Ray coming in, being able to focus
strictly on this, was done because Tony having to go to a dinner with sponsors because you got
to make them happy and then needing to go and meet with someone about the new paving that's
going to be done to expand this and then, hey, we've got to wrap the transporter in the new thing
and let's look at the design and does it on and on and on. Makes it hard to look at the minutia
of competing on track in the best form of yourself. This is where Ryan Hunter Ray was brought in to
say, okay, this is now yours. You're of course going to get input from Tony and from Zach, but
this is having someone who can really be the number one person in that area.
Last thing I'll just mention, one of the things Darren that Hunter Ray brings and has been credited
for already is no BS. And I think that there might have been a belief that
we need to maybe present things in as positive a light as possible, want to keep everybody happy
and Hunter Ray does not live his life trying to make people happy, professional side.
He is someone who is trying to make a team as good as it can be. And so with all of that said,
he is going to absolutely say what is on his mind. And if it is not a positive thing,
he is going to absolutely fire 1 million percent of his beliefs into whatever the answer might be.
And so I am told that boy, he did not pull any punches coming out of the Indie open test where
his car was atrocious, handling wise, and that actually earned him nothing but super respect.
So pretty cool when someone is just willing to say what it is, even if it actually ends up
potentially putting them in a dangerous place, but he is all good. Todd Hudson, let me see,
I think you are going to be one of the last ones here. Didn't mention we had 30 plus questions,
so we are actually getting pretty close to the end. Todd Asking, Dixon's ability to help with a new
car development being something that McLaren desired. Oh, it completely is. Felix as well,
but Scott in particular, he is just renowned. Keep in mind that 2015 championship won with
Chevrolet, first year of the manufacturer arrow kits. Dixie was, I think, one of between himself
and Will Power, people that did more testing than anybody else. They know firsthand how insane he is.
Just couldn't ask for anyone better. So yes, completely. Part of this, of the many reasons
that I've shared for these big changes, one of them was exactly what you mentioned. Holy poop,
we got a new car coming. Pato, again, drive the wheels off the thing. He's just not known for
setup development otherwise. So yeah, okay, Lundgaard, awesome on streets, road courses,
not ovals. Okay, we are going to get our asses handed to us if we do not make big changes here
to help us here for the future. This is indeed a huge part of it. You also mentioned is veteran
leadership and knowledge, even bigger factor this early season with the new car coming.
It depends on the team, right? Aaron McLaren needs this. Mostly young drivers, none of them
true team-wide leaders. Well, you're getting like the number one leader in the series with
Dixon Cummins, so that's going to be great. Felix, definitely leadership-ish role, but
he's always going to defer to Dixon because he should. But great chemistry there, worked
together for many years, all's good. Yeah, this is something for sure where this is going to help
them, but you do raise a great point as well. And this is where we talk about Ganassi, who should
they hire to replace Dixon with this new car coming. They've got Polo, who's elite, absolutely
elite with helping on the development side. So they're good there. That means they can,
if they wanted, take a kid out of F2, etc., not going to be much help on ovals, but Alex will
certainly be that guy. But they can afford to do that. Another team, maybe not having someone who's
good in one area or the other, that could definitely shape their approach on who they would take.
And we also come back to the fact that a third of the teams are just strictly going to need to hire
somebody, at least for one of their openings, who can bring the most money. And that means they know
they are not going to develop themselves to as high a level as the others because their needs
not as much about pure competition as it is money to stay on track. Michael Steenblik, you know,
Mike says, I hope this question finds you and your lovely bride. Well, thank you.
Says with the king of fuel saving moving to Chevy power team, will the ice man be able to
provide insight and help Chevy to create better fuel mileage? Possibly, but keep in mind,
Dixon's ability to save fuel comes from driving style. Not as if he can't or doesn't work with his
engine text to amplify that through their mapping of the motors, but
also come back to the point that Chevrolet's worked with him for a couple of years in the past,
and championship winning year as well. So it wasn't the longest tenure with Chevy,
but I would say they are not unaware of his talents, nor have they failed to benefit from it
in the past. I'd have to assume they incorporated what they learned with him back then into what
they've been doing for all the years since. But yeah, how's this can hurt? But I wouldn't expect
some sort of giant leap simply because Scott's there. So much of what he does is during the
act of driving. Also, so many others have learned pattern themselves after copied, or just explored
on their own to where Scott's no longer singularly capable of doing something that others can't.
Not like tons of others can do it as well as him, but there's a couple for sure,
Polo being one of them who, boy, kind of hard to know who's who in terms of fuel mileage saving
because a couple are really good at it. Sean Olmsted wondering what's going to be the next
big silly season thing to fall. Let's see, spoke with shank today and he said, you know what,
continue to have so much interest that I'm actually just going to push back
the urgency on getting Felix's replacement done. So that might lead us into August possibly.
After that, I mean, I feel like Lungard is going to be the one who accelerates someone to act.
Is that Andretti or does Andretti say, you know what, we're happy with Erickson, even though
Lungard's become available. We're going to stick with Lungard or I feel like someone's
going to want to act on that sooner than later. I don't know if I see a ton of urgency with any
other team right away. So I wish I had an answer like, oh, this is the next one to drop. But I
feel like if it's anybody, it's going to be Erickson slash Lungard in some capacity.
Doug Stevenson wondering if Dr. Ryan Reinbold will still try and come up with something more with
Brad Hollinger, only heard that that hasn't really gone anywhere. And not that they've stopped
talking. I don't know if they have truly ended talks, but I've just heard that no real progress
has been made. I've heard there's been talks with Ray Hall. Could there be an alignment on
third car there? Who knows what that might end up being? So yeah, don't know if it's going to be
Hongkong's Hollinger racing. Shana Oakwood asking when Joseph's contract was extended.
So I'd heard teams who were telling me they were wanting to talk with him and were
of the impression that he was available at the end of 26. They were telling me this early in 26
and had mentioned that somewhere. And then early in the season, I forget where one of the senior,
senior, senior most people within the Penske team or entertainment empire texted me,
never been texted by this person to tell me that he's not available and etc. So
they're so super cryptic about this stuff with Joseph in particular that I couldn't tell you,
Shana, what was signed and when I'd always led to believe by them with him that I never know
anything. So I'll just take that as fact. So was he up and then signed an extension in 26? And so
that changed his availability? Were teams telling me they understood him to be available totally
wrong? I don't know. But I can just tell you that I've got text here telling me that from the team
slash Penske entertainment that I was wrong. And so not as if folks never lie to me, but
I'll just go with that as being factually accurate. Have heard again, we'll see that it's a two year
deal or it's a whatever deal then he's available at the end of 27. We'll see. You didn't talk about
it. They don't talk about it. Yes. So sorry, Shana, I wish I had more, but I don't.
Eric Franklin, wondering if Honda is a clearer edge on street courses, but safe to assume that
edge disappears in high speed, better grip, better grip, natural road courses. I mean, it's one race,
right? I don't know if I would just start saying everything has changed because
Polo and Honda powered ganassi team were surprisingly off the mark.
For once like that was the big shock. Dixon obviously qualifying penalty blocking penalty
started towards the back and proved to what 17th or something, which I mean, it was actually
way better than I thought because usually when you're towards the back and it's a caution free
race and there's no chance for any alternate strategy, you rarely move. But yeah, realize that
Lundgaard won for sure at Road America. Maluchus was looking pretty good there until he wasn't
winning, finished P2. Power was pretty spicy. Polo was looking like he was going to turn another
pole into a win until he pooped the bed and pit lane speed limiter issues and then things
devolved from there. So know that Christians obviously won two races for Chevy and natural
terrain road courses would say Polo and Kirk were running 12 at the Indie GP until the whole
Rossi local yellow full course yellow confusion left them out and they gave the race away. So
again, not saying that Chevy hasn't made significant gains. Also not saying Honda has
somehow given up or forgotten anything. Like a lot of the things we've seen have been situational
would also say last weekend number of the stronger Honda teams and or entries
were not particularly strong and qualifying. That certainly handed the potential of a really
strong race to Chevrolet's best and dang it, they made use of it like you wouldn't believe.
Also just say that in a race where there were no cautions, no options for real
I'm not necessarily getting too concerned here. Kirk going from 10th to third.
That was pretty darn serious. Polo went from eighth to fifth.
We'll have to see if there's a race coming up soon on a road course, street course something
where it's like, okay, no real exceptions or asterisks to consider. Let's just see how everybody goes
and then see if indeed there's a trend to discuss. All right.
Joseph Muha, how you doing brother? We're going to close with you. You say, does IndieCar have
a similar super license point system to F1? Can anyone with enough money strap into an
IndieCar and go racing? No. So there's no super license system. It is just a we look at you and
evaluate you and decide whether you have the skills and experience to be in an IndieCar,
which I think it is kind of sort of the way it should be because licensing points don't
necessarily equate to you being fully ready or prepared, but veterans, veteran drivers being
there for driver evaluations and saying yes or no or close but keep working on this and then come back.
I place a lot more trust in that than anything and then obviously IndieCar president heads of
competition and otherwise technical director. There's a pretty serious vetting process that
takes place and I don't want points. I don't want, hey, you finished here in this race,
you get X amount of points and if you amass enough of them, well then ding ding ding, you get a magic
license, holds no meaning to me. Give me some veterans though. Give me some serious, serious folks
evaluating. That's where I will place my faith. So thanks again, Joseph for sending that in.
Some kind messages here as well from you. So I'm going to go ahead and say farewell to this episode.
Appreciate y'all, appreciate without a doubt. Good friend, Jerry Siddoth for taking the time
to make this happen for us each week. To our dear pals at thejusticebrothers.com,
TorontoMotorsSports.com. I'll speak to y'all here very soon.
About this episode
IndyCar’s “silly season” is heating up, and the Marshall Pruett Podcast tackles a big listener Q&A with lots of focus on championship contenders. The panel debates who can realistically challenge Alex Palou, highlighting Kyle Kirkwood’s consistency and recent podium surge, Davey Malukas’ speed and near-misses, and Joseph Newgarden’s standout performances despite injury. They also look at how team changes could shift the pecking order, plus quick hits on other drivers’ momentum and where talent might land next.
It's The Week In IndyCar Listener Q&A show, which uses listener-driven comments and questions covering a variety of topics submitted by open-wheel fans via social media.
If you'd like to join the PrueDay podcast listener group, send an email to [email protected] and you'll be invited to participate in the Discord chat that takes place every day and meet up with your new family at IndyCar events.
