Kanaan playing the long game as Arrow McLaren hunts for first IndyCar win of 2026

Has Arrow McLaren taken a small step back this year, or have its closest rivals taken larger steps forward?

“This is the thing that is always so hard to tell,” team principal Tony Kanaan told RACER. “You start looking at everything, so you go to circumstances, different year, different day, and it’s always changing, even in the same year. This is one that is always hard to answer, even if somebody tells you they know.”

Coming off a 2025 season where Pato O’Ward ran second behind Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou, the team led by Kanaan has been good this year, with two podiums earned by Christian Lundgaard and three top fives from O’Ward. But it’s no longer a game of McLaren vs. Ganassi. Last year’s two-team reckoning has evolved into a proper four-team tussle as Andretti Global and Kyle Kirkwood, who faded last season, have taken the championship lead ahead of Palou. And Team Penske, which disappeared from the title hunt in 2025 as it dealt with an array of dramas, has surged forward to restore IndyCar’s four-way fight. Ganassi and Palou own two wins, while Penske with Josef Newgarden and Andretti with Kirkwood have one apiece.

Arrow McLaren hopes to join the front-running group with a victory of its own. Lundgaard holds third in the standings and had a shot at winning the last race – the first time this season that the team was contending for first place – but has Penske’s David Malukas and Newgarden bearing down on him, just a few points behind in fourth and fifth place.

O’Ward, in sixth, has yet to pose the same threat and is searching for the form that delivered multiple wins and poles 12 months ago.

Being judged by its all-time high from 2025 is the new standard for Arrow McLaren, and through the first month of the season, the second-best team from last year has a tenuous grasp on third, and could fall to fourth if it encounters issues at the next race in Long Beach. Kanaan isn’t alarmed by the development and says it was inevitable, as Andretti and Penske have gotten off to strong starts and restored IndyCar’s Big 4.

“The same four teams are always alternating, so I don’t think we’re the worst and I don’t think we’re the best,” he said. “I think we need to be realistic. Last year, we capitalized when Penske and Andretti struggled, and that's why we probably looked as good as we did, but that is racing. So things are back to normal now, and it's just bloody competitive.

Kanaan is confident that Arrow McLaren can be a season-long contenders. Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment

“To be fair, we had as good a car with Christian [Lundgaard] as Palou did at Barber. We just showed up late. We started 10th with him and that wasn’t helpful. Then on Sunday, we had a hiccup in the pit stop and the chances went away for us to maybe win. One thing that I keep trying to challenge my team is the swings, the ups and downs. We fought really good, had an issue, but that doesn’t take away from our potential. Don’t lose focus. The potential is really good, so I tell them, ‘Guys, just keep doing what we're doing. We’ll get through this.’"

Lundgaard stood on the podium at Long Beach last year and O’Ward, with three street course victories to date, should be able to put a forgettable Barber race behind him when action resumes next week in Southern California. As one of the more pragmatic folks in the paddock, Kanaan sees the potential for McLaren to get its first win of 2026 and join the Big 4 in that regard, but knows it will take flawless execution – not hype and hope – to out-run the Andrettis, Ganassis, and Penskes.

“We're third in the championship battle with Christian,” he said. “He was second last year at this point. So to be fair, we’re in a very similar place. But anything can become worse if you let that get into your head. I am realistic. We didn’t do so good in qualifying at Barber, but in the race, we had the fastest car in the race. Now, are we going to win the race if there’s no issues in the pits? I don’t want to say that, because Palou wasn’t taking it easy on us.

“But we were freaking competitive. We started 10th, and we finished second. And it wasn't a strategy that did this for Lundgaard. The kid passed everyone. So we are competitive, and we're not better, we're not worse. But we still have a lot to prove – to ourselves, really, more than anyone else.”

McLaren missed the mark for all three cars in qualifying at Barber with Lundgaard as its best, O’Ward a surprising 12th, and Nolan Siegel not too far behind O’Ward in 15th. Of the three, only Lundgaard motored forward: O’Ward was frustrated to cross the finish line in 17th, and Siegel was just over one second behind in 18th.

From Kanaan’s perspective, there weren’t a lot of specifics to take from O’Ward’s weekend to improve beyond acquiring the single-lap pace that was missing for the entire squad.

“We missed in qualified, and then, circumstances-wise, got shuffled to the back and he never recovered," he said. "But the fact is that Pato didn't lose anything. This was one race. If it was four or five races like this, then it’s a different story. But it’s not, it’s one race.

“I was a driver before, and there was a lot of overreaction about Pato’s race. I really don't think it’s that bad because I’ve had those kinds of weekends where nothing goes the way you want. And you turn the page."