Siegel takes encouragement from strong Nashville run

Nolan Siegel made another statement regarding his development as an IndyCar Series driver on Monday at Nashville Speedway.

The 21-year-old started 12th, right behind teammate and Arrow McLaren oval master Pato O’Ward, and led the team for 179 of the 225-lap race.

Siegel and the No. 6 Chevy passed O’Ward on lap six and ran ahead of him and Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard for most of the afternoon; he ran as high as sixth but lost out to O’Ward during the final pit stop sequence under yellow on lap 185. Restarting ninth, Siegel eventually settled for 11th while O’Ward went on to claim seventh and Lundgaard placed 16th as the last car on the lead lap.  

"Solid day for us in the 6 car,” Siegel said. “We ran up in the top 10 for the majority of the race and then just had a bit of a weak last restart there on the last sequence under yellow. We're running where we deserve to be running in the top 10 with good cars.”

It was the latest in an increasing number of fast and smart performances by Siegel who is looking for new opportunities to stay in the series once his contract expires at the end of the season.

“If we keep doing that every weekend, at some point it's going to fall our way, and we're going to have a really solid result,” he said. “Nothing to complain about, nothing to brag about today. We'll keep soldiering on."