Christian Lundgaard still seems a little surprised that he has ended up at Chip Ganassi Racing. The 25-year-old driver finished third in the 2026 INDYCAR standings with two victories — victories he earned before he was told in July that he wouldn’t be retained at Arrow McLaren. That had to be devastating.
And yet it could easily be argued he is moving up to a better organization at Chip Ganassi Racing, an organization that has won six of the last seven INDYCAR titles. "It's still a big question mark to me, and I think it is too many," Lundgaard said during a virtual news conference on Tuesday. "I choose to look at it in a very different way.
I've done well and a better opportunity has arose versus what it could have been. "I think this is a conversation that Chip and I have already had. We're just looking forward now.
It's not really look back." But it’s hard not to look back because of the bizarre situation. Arrow McLaren, with a heavy focus on winning the Indianapolis 500, determined it would do better by adding six-time Scott Dixon and 2026 Indy 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist to the organization. That meant that Lundgaard and Nolan Siegel were out.
Now Lundgaard replaces Dixon — who last won a title in 2020 — at Ganassi, where Alex Palou has been the dominant driver in capturing five titles over the last six years (including the last four). Lundgaard spent three years at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, where he won one race and then the last two at McLaren. He now joins CGR as the driver of the iconic No.
9 with sponsorship from PNC Bank. "I think I've learned so many things in the past five years, on track, off track, matured a lot from when I joined INDYCAR … to now having the experience that I have," Lundgaard said. "It’s really [thinking about] just what I've done to achieve this in many ways.
I wish them the best, but it's definitely big shoes to fill." While it has been nearly three months since Lundgaard found out he would be released, it became clear relatively quickly that he would land at Ganassi. But it still didn’t make it easy. "A lot of long nights, a lot of long race weekends, in all honesty," Ludngaard said.
"Obviously, I found out a couple of hours before the media found out back in [July]. I sort of had an idea midway through the season that that was a possibility, and I tried to just keep my head down. "I know the media likes to talk about the relationship between the teammates there.
For me, it was I need to just keep my head down and do the best that I can. I knew there was an opportunity here, and we made it work." One thing’s for sure: It has been a roller coaster of a season for Lundgaard. "Obviously, I was very disappointed, very confused, and I'm sure I share that opinion with many," Lundgaard said.
"But as soon as the conversations started, that was when I knew there was a chance, and all I had to do was keep performing on track, and it would all fall into place."
