Nolan Siegel is unfazed by the pressure to perform entering a contract year with Arrow McLaren.
The California native was placed on the hot seat by Arrow McLaren Team Principal Tony Kanaan, who, in an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com in late December, shared the criteria Siegel needs to hit if he hopes to continue in the No. 6 Chevrolet beyond 2026.
“Yeah, he was quite frank about that in the media,” said Siegel, 21.
“To me it doesn't really change anything. The goal for me is always to finish as far up the grid as I possibly can and perform at my best all the time. So I show up every weekend, I'm pushing myself as far as I can and trying to perform the best that I possibly can.
"It's not like if the goal is to finish in the top five, I'm like, ‘Oh, okay, I'll push a little harder to get there,’ I don't want to finish seventh, I want to finish fifth. I want to finish as far up as I possibly can every weekend. That doesn't change for 2026.
“Whatever the expectation is, I'm still going to be doing the same thing.”
Although the two have yet to talk since Kanaan made his comments, Siegel isn’t concerned. If anything, he’s understanding of it since Kanaan is a former driver.
“Him having been a driver, I think he knows exactly how it feels,” Siegel said. “He knows we're pushing as hard as we can and are doing our best every weekend. I think he sees it from that side, as well.”
The climb to achieve the desired results has been steep for Siegel. It’s been a difficult adjustment for Siegel ever since abandoning the 2024 season in Indy NXT - while leading the championship - and switching to IndyCar. And with limited testing available in the series, he’s looked into other routes to gain valuable seat time, such as spending this offseason competing in the Asian Le Mans Series, along with an appearance in IMSA's Rolex 24 At Daytona.
“Other than being in the sim, I haven't really driven an Indy car at all,” Siegel said. “But just being in endurance racing is helpful for me. Personally I feel like if I don't drive a race car for a long time... Last off-season was the first time I really hadn't. I thought I would spend a bunch of time with the team, go to the sim, spend time in the shop. That was great to get to know everyone.
“Now I know everyone. We gel well. For me, from a driving standpoint, the best thing was to be in a race car even though it's not an Indy car. Going into Sebring (for testing) being fresh off the Daytona, Asian Le Mans, all these LMP3 races is a nice refresher rather than going in cold and being rusty.”
Perhaps the most important thing for Siegel, though, was the ability to hit the reset button after what was undoubtedly an emotionally and mentally taxing 2025 season that featured just two top 10s in 16 races, along with one missed start due to a crash (Iowa, Race 2).
“For me, just getting away and taking some time away from racing in general was a really good thing,” Siegel said. “I didn't really do any racing other than IndyCar last year, which I think was a good thing in some senses to just focus on it. In other ways I think doing endurance racing and going to LMP2, doing it with old friends I grew up racing with, really kind of racing – it's still obviously serious and we want to win, but it's more for fun in a way – reminded me of why I fell in love with the sport.
“It has really made me take a step back and realize how cool it is to be in the position I'm in and when I was doing that full-time and not racing in IndyCar, I would have done anything to be in the position I'm in now.
“That's been kind of the mental reset. Sometimes you get so focused on what's going wrong that you don't really appreciate the situation you're in, how special it is to be here. Going back to endurance racing, taking a step away from IndyCar, has made me very grateful for the position I'm in. Definitely reminded me how much I want to succeed here.”
