So far McLaren’s extra Indianapolis 500 car has provided an entry for two ex-Formula 1 stars that each bring a unique benefit to the team.
With the news this week that Zak Brown is keen to still run an extra car at the 500, despite expanding from two to three full-time cars in 2023, that has obviously led to questions of who might take the fourth seat alongside Pato O’Ward, Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi at the team that finished second, fourth and 11th this year.
The Race has outlined some of those drivers linked to the seat next year and attempted to predict how likely they may be.
The new favourite
It might have been unthinkable, but it certainly appears that 2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan is the favourite to take the seat should Arrow McLaren SP expand.
His deal with Ganassi, with whom he has contested the last two Indy 500s with, might seem like a blockade. Especially when McLaren’s pursuit of Alex Palou worsened already strained relationships between the two team owners and led to Palou being sued by Ganassi over his attempt to move to McLaren.
The Papaya’s pursuit of another one of its stars, Scott Dixon, certainly didn’t help, either.
If Kanaan sticks with Ganassi or becomes available depends on the undecided plan for Jimmie Johnson’s car.
“I’ll be there, I will be back,” Kanaan told IndyCar.com from the Ironman World Championship triathlon in Hawaii this weekend, confirming his 22nd Indy 500 entry.
2.4 mile ocean swim112-mile bike ride
26.2 run to the finish line2004 INDYCAR champ and 2013 Indy 500 winner @TonyKanaan finished the @IRONMANtri. 👏
pic.twitter.com/RmJCsafkT1
— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) October 10, 2022
“If Jimmie’s not in the fourth car for the ovals, then I don’t see myself there [at Ganassi] because Jimmie will be the fifth car, which I totally understand.
“They’re not my only option. I talked with Chip last week, saying, ‘Look, if you don’t mind, I’m going to start looking around. He was like, ‘Of course’.
“He said to me if it makes sense, we’re going to do it. The relationship is there.”
So whether Kanaan becomes available or not likely depends on how Ganassi’s squad shakes out for 2023.
But if it doesn’t have room for him, it would be a no-brainer for it to pounce and sign him.
After all, Kanaan has the best average finish and points per race stats of anyone in IndyCar last year. Admittedly that’s a little frivolous to mention, as his third in the Indy 500 was his only start…
The known quantity
Juan Pablo Montoya has been in the third car for the last two seasons at Arrow McLaren SP.
He turned a 24th place start to ninth in 2021 and 30th into 11th in 2022. Had the team not made an error that resulted in him failing tech and a missing favourable qualifying position this year, he might have started close enough to be a victory contender.
The point is, it feels like Montoya could qualify 33rd and he’d still be contending for a top 10 at the end of the race.
That’s the kind of experience and support you need in your team for the 500, why Brown wants someone experienced. Montoya may have far fewer starts than other drivers his age, but it certainly feels like he knows this race better than anyone.
It’s doubtful he’s the winner Brown’s looking for at this stage of his career, but as a team-mate he’d still be invaluable.
He hasn’t been discussed much at all in the media when it comes to examining options for the fourth car. But he should be.
An outsider that still fits the bill
Placing my own personal relationship with my The Race IndyCar Podcast co-host aside, I think JR Hildebrand could make a lot of sense in a fourth car for AMSP.
Firstly, commercially he occasionally finds himself working with McLaren Automotive, and when it comes to relationships with sponsors and getting your value for money off the track, JR’s as good as anyone.
On-track he’s seldom had a car capable of winning the race, but his altered mental approach in the last three or four years has helped him to learn to enjoy his racing again, and he’s taken some very tricky cars at the start of the month to finishes that are above and beyond the resource available to those teams that have fielded him.
This year’s 12th for AJ Foyt Racing is the perfect example, its best finish since Kanaan in 2019.
He also has a fascinating understanding of the car on a technical level from his engineering knowledge.
And he’s gone through the wringer of how tough it can be to win the 500. Arguably no one has come closer than he to winning without doing so with his infamous 2011 near miss.
It might be a suggestion born more out of my own brain than any at McLaren at the moment, but if Brown and the team want a driver who fits their bill of experience and brings knowledge to the team, they could do far worse than Hildebrand.
With Larry Foyt saying that a return for JR isn’t on the cards at AJ Foyt Racing at the moment in 2022, Hildebrand could be available, too.
The NASCAR stars
Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson (above) are both available and up for taking on the 500.
While Busch never said it was a priority in his contract with new team Richard Childress Racing, he has had a clause inserted to say he can attempt the 500 and McLaren has spoken to him.
But Brown says experience of the event is one of his key criteria, therefore a rookie NASCAR driver’s hopes appear to have faded.
“We want to make sure if we run a fourth car, we’re in the mindset that we want someone that is experienced around the 500,” Brown said.
“It’s such an important race and from a ‘going for the championship’ point of view, we’ve got three drivers that we want to have finish as strong as possible.
“So if we ran a fourth car, we’d want that to be additive, not only for the fourth car itself, but to the three cars and so bringing in someone who’s not done [the race] before, potentially doesn’t add that value from an experience point of view.”
The same can be said for Larson, who is arguably one of the most exciting racing drivers in the world right now.
That might not be obvious to those outside of the States, but his exploits in NASCAR as its reigning Cup Series champion, and his ability to win in just about any car or track in short-oval racing on dirt (pictured above), makes him a hark back to the glory days of the 1960s and ‘70s where drivers raced across different disciplines and became legends for it.
“Nothing’s changed, I would love to do it,” Larson told the Associated Press last week, shortly before he lost the chance to defend his Cup Series title by not making NASCAR’s playoffs. “It’s just timing and I want to be in the best equipment possible.
“But I’ve told Jeff [Gordon] and Rick [Hendrick, car owners] that I’d like to do it and it’s kind of up to them to find something.”
The issue for Busch and Larson is that Penske doesn’t appear keen to field extra cars, and with McLaren and Foyt seemingly off the table, that leaves Juncos Hollinger Racing and Ed Carpenter Racing.
ECR has its own challenges to field Paretta Autosport’s entry more and JHR is set to sign a second driver to expand across the season. Neither appears poised to add a one-off car at the Indy 500.
Keyword: Who will follow Alonso/Montoya in McLaren’s extra Indy 500 car?