"I'm happy for him" - Kanaan on "pretty decent oval driver" Lundgaard's Milwaukee podium

Credit: James Black

"Pretty decent oval driver," Scott McLaughlin remarks at Christian Lundgaard as the pair sat side-by-side in the Milwaukee Mile Media Centre following their podium finishes at Race 2 of IndyCar's Milwaukee doubleheader weekend.

"Thanks. Likewise," Lundgaard courteously replies, as he tries to withhold the grin beaming all over his face.

Both drivers are well aware of the irony of McLaughlin's comment. Lundgaard had stood on an oval podium for the first time just minutes earlier, in only his second oval race after his impending exit from Arrow McLaren was confirmed.

Lundgaard's departure from McLaren was a surprise to many, even if his, and Nolan Siegel's seats will be populated by six-time series champion Scott Dixon and defending Indianapolis 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist.

The reason why his departure was such a surprise is because he was exactly the driver McLaren had been looking for prior to his arrival.

Since McLaren's full-time return to IndyCar in 2020, there has been no hiding that Pato O'Ward is the superstar within the organisation. Not only does he hold great commercial value being the most popular driver in the series, he also possesses an immense amount of raw talent, which has helped take McLaren to the forefront of the series.

But McLaren had a recurring problem. They could not find anybody to match O'Ward. Whether it was Oliver Askew, Alexander Rossi, Siegel or most ironically, Rosenqvist, O'Ward had always been a class apart from his in-house competition.

However, Lundgaard's arrival in 2025 finally gave them the driver they were looking for. His six podiums in his maiden year with the team was the same number as all of O'Ward's teammates had earned combined.

Throughout the season, he had competed toe-to-toe with O'Ward on every road and street course and posed a genuine threat to O'Ward's dominance at the team, with his fifth-place championship finish being three positions higher then what any of O'Ward's teammates had achieved previously.

There were no surprises that ovals were a challenge though, given that Lundgaard had to effectively re-learn ovals due to the disastrous oval package he had previously had with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Encouraging progress was being made though, with promise shown towards the end of 2025 with a pair of sixth places at Iowa and Milwaukee.

Credit: Titus Slaughter

The high bar that Lundgaard had set himself in 2025 had only been elevated in the first half of 2026. By the time O'Ward notched up his first podium of the year at Mid-Ohio, Lundgaard already had five to his name, including victories at Indianapolis and Road America, as he became the first McLaren driver other than O'Ward to win for the team since their return.

But oval form had still not picked up and Lundgaard had endured a difficult 'Month of May', having to adapt to a car setup designed with O'Ward's notoriously edgy driving style in mind, a setup which even Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay struggled to deal with.

That was not good enough for McLaren and Team Principal Tony Kanaan. The team's short-term ambitions of winning a '500' and an IndyCar championship had to wait at least another year and they believed that they could not afford to rest on their laurels. Lundgaard had not shown enough on ovals to convince Kanaan and McLaren that he could be a future Indy 500 victor and more high-profile re-enforcements in Dixon and Rosenqvist were needed to guide the team's 500 package to a more competitive position.

Despite all of Lundgaard's almighty impressive showings throughout his first year-and-a-half with McLaren, his lack of oval pace in comparison to O'Ward was the reason why he was out of the team. Two oval races later, he sits next to his well-earned hardware after an impressive showing in Milwaukee.

"I mean, I don't necessarily see it more important than any other race weekend," Lundgaard modestly reflects of his Milwaukee result. "I think we probably have one of the fastest cars out there. We put it to use today, which was nice."

When asked why he had suddenly looked so comfortable at Milwaukee in comparison to other oval races, Lundgaard kept it simple.

"[The car's] been faster. I mean, we finished first and third, so I think we haven't really done that much this year."

Credit: Gabriella Hughes

Lundgaard has not had an easy time on ovals throughout his IndyCar career. Not only did he have to adapt to the unique art of oval racing when he moved over to IndyCar, he had to do so in equipment that was consistently towards the rear of the oval pecking order. Although things improved when he went to McLaren, setup was often dictated by O'Ward given his oval prowess, but those were the same setups that teammate after teammate of O'Ward's had struggled to drive with.

That left Lundgaard in a situation where not only did he have to learn to compete at the front on ovals after having stagnated towards the rear of the field for several seasons due to equipment, but he had to do so in a setup that only rewards O'Ward's unique driving style.

"I think we all know the deg races specifically you really got to struggle less than anybody else," Lundgaard reflected of the package McLaren had brought to Milwaukee. "I think we see our car come to life much more kind of mid end stint than most other teams and other cars.

"I wouldn't really say we were anywhere up until qualifying. Even then we were just mid-pack. The cars come alive in the race. I think we're good at taking cares of the tyres and making the car better for the second half of the stint."

While Lundgaard celebrated his own podium, the team's celebrations were directed in the way of O'Ward, who had romped home in Race 2 to take McLaren's fourth victory of 2026, all whilst leading the postponed Race 1.

Credit: Joe Skibinski

After Lundgaard's post-race press conference duties were complete, O'Ward followed, alongside the usual team representative that accompanies the winning driver. Ironically on this occasion, it was Kanaan, the same individual who had opted to drop Lundgaard just weeks earlier due to a perceived lack of oval performance.

"Great result for the team. Great result for us," Kanaan reflected of his team's double podium. "We are still fighting for the championship. Let's face it, second and third is really realistic. It's all we're trying to build.

"Obviously Christian also did a fantastic job," Kanaan said, completely unprompted. "I think that's why we've been working with him for whole year. I think he broke through. Hopefully that will be something he will carry on. That's all he needed, to get some help I guess.

"People either will make fun of me or we're going to go battle the next whole year together."

Possibly prematurely, Kanaan's decision to drop Lundgaard has come under immense scrutiny, with the fire re-ignited further after Milwaukee. You only need to take a look at Kanaan's Twitter replies to see his reaction to the 'fun that people are making of him' as he aimlessly attempts to justify his decision-making even before Dixon, Rosenqvist or Lundgaard have turned a wheel with their new employers.

And although it may be unfair to make any meaningful assessments of McLaren's decision-making until at least several months into the new season, Milwaukee's results do weaken Kanaan's justification of his reasoning not to re-sign Lundgaard.

In many ways, Lundgaard's IndyCar journey reflects that of Álex Palou's. They came over from a European racing background, relatively unknown to those in the USA and made an instant impact in a smaller team. Once they both got their big break with a front-running organisation, they were competitive week-in, week-out on road courses, even if they could not replicate such form on ovals.

Credit: Joe Skibinski

It took Palou well over four seasons to win an oval race at Chip Ganassi Racing, and he had even won three championships before his first trip to Victory Lane on an oval. However, 2025 saw him earn the most points of any driver on an oval and he is now amongst the discussions as one of the best oval drivers in the series.

Although it will be impossible to tell if Lundgaard's trajectory would have been the same at Arrow McLaren, his Milwaukee result certainly suggests it was trending in the right direction. Things would now indicate that Lundgaard will find himself alongside Palou at Chip Ganassi Racing for 2027, with the Dane having the same opportunity to learn from those who made Palou a master at ovals.

"If I'm going to worry about things that I can't control, I'll go crazy," said Kanaan on the potential of racing Lundgaard on ovals next year. "I've always said that he was going to be a threat. The question was not that he could win on the oval, the question was when. When I made the decision, I wasn't sure. I think if that was what took him to come up and bring himself to the next level, obviously we didn't give up on him, because look what he's doing right now.

"Hey, life is full of tough decisions on both ends. If that actually is what he needed, we're going to give him a hell of a fight next year, and likewise. The sport is going to be better. The fans are going to watch it."

"Like I said, they're going to have a jab at me, then that's the way life is all about. I'm not going to dwell on my decisions. I'm not the person that I regret things just because."

Although it comes across externally as a messy divorce between McLaren and Lundgaard, there's no doubting that the team has helped raise his pedigree and has unlocked his potential that many believed he had during his time with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

He heads into his last race with the team in a position to claim second in the championship, should he be able to fend off O'Ward and Kyle Kirkwood at IndyCar's season finale in Laguna Seca before he prepares for pastures new in 2026.

"I'm happy for him," Kanaan concluded. "He's a human being, also race car driver. Deserves to be in IndyCar. Deserves to have a job. We agreed to disagree on my opinions and his opinions. That's quite normal.

"Was really proud of him. That's when you show. That's why I say, 'if that's what he needed to do what he did, good for him'. What can I say? Maybe in a way I helped."