Latest news with #NolanSiegel
Forbes
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Forbes
IndyCar's Nolan Siegel Returns To Action For Toronto After Iowa Crash
Arrow McLaren's Nolan Siegel returned to the cockpit of his No. 7 Chevrolet after the 20-year-old missed the July 13 Farm to Fresh 275 at Iowa Speedway. Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren Chevrolet prior to the NTT INDYCAR Series Ontario Honda Dealers Indy ... More Toronto on July 18, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Michael L. Levitt/Lumen via Getty Images) Siegel was not cleared to compete in that race after he had a hard crash in the previous day's Synk 275. IndyCar Medical wanted to monitor Siegel in case he had a concussion. Siegel was evaluated and cleared to return to action by IndyCar's Medical team on Thursday. 'I'm good,' Siegel told a small group of reporters on Friday morning at Toronto. 'I'm good. Yeah, I feel good. 'It was nice working with IndyCar Medical. They put a whole program together. We followed their program, checked in along the way. So, I'm feeling good and ready to go. 'I'm just coming here with a greater appreciation for what I'm doing. It was it was hard to sit out on Sunday and watch. That was not a fun time for me and I've been itching to get back in the car these past few days. 'I will never take that for granted again and I'm really excited to get back in.' Siegel's Disappointment From Missing A Race The young driver from Palo Alto, California explained the disappointment he felt when he was forced out of the car and not allowed to compete in last Sunday's race. 'Believe me, I wanted to be in the car on Sunday,' Siegel said. 'It was it was difficult to sit out for sure but the reason we have the people we have in medical and Dr. Julia Vaizer, as much as I hated sitting out and wanted to get back in the car and wanted to argue with them, they know more about this than I do, like that's the end of it. 'They know more about this than all of us do, and when they say you can't do it, you can't do it. 'Once they said that, they put their plan together, they helped me get back in, they did everything they possibly could to help me get back this weekend, and grateful for their help.' Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren Chevrolet prior to the NTT INDYCAR Series Ontario Honda Dealers Indy ... More Toronto on July 18, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Gavin Baker/Lumen via Getty Images) Siegel struggled in Friday's practice session. He ended the day 22nd out of 27 drivers on the streets of Toronto. 'It was a difficult first practice session,' Siegel said. 'It's not a track that we've historically been great at, so we're going to try to maximize the weekend and our package to get what we can out of it. 'I think we got better through that session, which is promising. We'll continue to get better, and hopefully we can make our way forward through the rest of the weekend.' On Saturday, however, Siegel started to find speed in his No. 6 Chevrolet and was high as third in the morning practice session. 'We were behind him all the way,' Arrow McLaren Sporting Director Tony Kanaan said. 'My heart is a little more at peace because I remember last year trying to get Theo Pourchaire here. Nolan is young and I told him he has no concern, he is our driver for now, through the end of next year and even beyond.' When Siegel breezed through the final neurological test on Thursday and cleared to compete, he appreciated the care and thoroughness of the testing from IndyCar Medical. 'I think It's great from a safety standpoint to have so much more information,' Siegel said. 'And I think we're progressing really fast, like the whole sport in that department. And I think we know a lot more about this type of injury than we did before. 'At the same time, I'm fine. I'm ready to go. I've been checked out. I'm fully confident that I'm 100 percent ready to go this weekend. So, no concerns from my end. 'Immediately starting Monday, we had a program put together that was getting back into harder workouts, like starting at 25 percent, seeing if there were any symptoms, 50 percent, 75 percent, 100 percent. 'And then Thursday was the final one. So, I got here a little late yesterday after getting checked out. And then they wanted me to do one more kind of like flat out full push workout to see if there were any symptoms and had no issues through the whole thing. 'I got on the sim to see if that would trigger anything. It didn't. So, we went through the process and it's nice for me actually having had that process to go through because now I know I had nothing wrong during all of those steps and that means that there won't be anything wrong in the car.' Now that he is back in the cockpit, Siegel's plan is to go full speed ahead for the rest of the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season. Linus Lundqvist on August 16, 2024, at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in Madison, ... More Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) On Monday, Arrow McLaren named Linus Lundqvist as Siegel's possible replacement for Toronto if he was not cleared by IndyCar Medical. Once Siegel was cleared, Lundqvist won't be in a race car this weekend, but will remain with the team throughout the weekend as he tries to find a way back into IndyCar. 'I'm very happy to be here with Arrow McLaren as a reserve driver and staying ready in case something were to happen,' Lundqvist said. 'I got the call after Nolan had his crash in Iowa, and they weren't sure that he was going to get clear for Toronto. That sparked a lot of craziness over the past couple of days because they tried to prepare me as well as they could you know getting seated in the car. 'I'm glad to see the Nolan is good and that's never how you want to be on the grid, but I would be ready if that were the case. 'I'm at every other race basically just in civilian clothing so to do it now with a team feels good um I didn't really realize how much I miss being with a team until this weekend. It's been a minute, and I want to drive but just being with them listening in on the engineering meetings and hearing what people say it felt good to be back and obviously, a team like Arrow McLaren I feel like I can learn quite a bit.' Once Lundqvist got the call from Arrow McLaren, he was at the team's shop in Indianapolis on Monday to get fitted for a seat and uniform. In some ways, Lundqvist has been an overlooked driver in IndyCar despite showing flashes of promise in the few races he has competed in. Lundqvist competed in three IndyCar Series races in 2023 including two for Meyer Shank Racing and one for Andretti Global. His best finish that year was 12th on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. He was hired by Chip Ganassi Racing for 2024, won the pole at Road America at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, and finished third at Barber Motorsports Park road course and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway oval. He finished 16th in the standings, but when with IndyCar's new Charter System, team owner Chip Ganassi reduced his fleet of race cars from five to three and Lundqvist has been looking for a ride ever since. 'I've learned a very long time ago that life is not fair and if you expect it to be fair, you're going to be disappointed,' Lundqvist said. 'I have a saying that as long as I can go to bed saying I did everything I could then win lose or draw I'll be happy because that's what I'm doing right now. 'I've been in this position before where in 2023 we were out of ride, but you know I was at every single track, staying ready, staying sharp. 'We went through my playbook of 2023 and trying to do a repeat of that.' So, what has Lundquist been doing while he tries to find a full-time job? 'I've been training neck and trying to stay ready,' he explained. 'Like I said, I'm just trying to stay in shape and be ready and stay sharp for as much as I can. 'And like I said, showing up at the races, calling bosses, harassing them like I once did, I'm back on that train. 'I did a little bit of coaching some back and forth in some of the other junior series. But apart from that, I'm living on some of my savings, getting to and from races. 'That's the way that I've choose to go about this.'
Indianapolis Star
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Indianapolis Star
'I have a greater appreciation for what I'm doing.' Nolan Siegel energized for Toronto return
TORONTO — In the history books, it'll go down as an otherwise innocuous race missed for Nolan Siegel, but the Arrow McLaren driver said the lesson of the last six days will stay with him the rest of his IndyCar career. 'If anything, I have a greater appreciation for what I'm doing. It was hard to sit out on Sunday and watch. That was not a fun time for me, and I've just been itching to get back in the car the past few days,' said Siegel, who Friday returned to the cockpit less than a week after suffering a mild concussion in a single-car crash in Race 1 of IndyCar's Iowa Speedway doubleheader. After being reevaluated Sunday morning four hours ahead of Race 2, the IndyCar medical team opted not to clear the 20-year-old to return later that day. As Siegel retold, his passion for the sport and the pursuit of growth in his young career that's seen more downs than ups had him wanting to engage in an argument to talk himself back into the car. 'Believe me. I wanted to be in the car on Sunday. It was difficult to sit out, for sure, but the reason we have the people we have in (IndyCar medical) … As much as I hated sitting out and wanted to get back in the car and argue with them, they know more about this than I do,' Siegel said Friday ahead of practice No. 1 for the weekend's Toronto street race. 'And when they said, 'You can't do it,' you can't do it. 'Once they said that, they put their plan together to help me get back in, and they did everything possible to help me get back this weekend, and I'm grateful for their help.' Beyond Saturday evening in the immediate aftermath of his accident, one that required SAFER barrier repairs due to the severity of the hit, Siegel told reporters Friday that he experienced no lingering symptoms, despite not being cleared to immediately get back in the car. His week this past week consisted of workouts of varying degrees of intensity, as well as time on the simulator to best, well, simulate the rigors of racing a car well above 150 mph down the back straight on the streets of Toronto. After being cleared, he traveled on his own up to Toronto on Thursday midday and underwent an additional final workout with the IndyCar medical team just to be safe. 'Going through that whole process, it's nice for me to have had that process to go through, just because now I know I have nothing wrong having gone through all those steps, and that means there won't be anything wrong in the car,' he said. 'It's an unfortunate nature of this sport; they're all big hits, and if you hit at just the wrong angle, sometimes it's an issue. How Nolan Siegel became rising star: He broke both wrists, then 'kicked everyone's a--' 'So while it sucked to sit out on Sunday, everyone at medical thought that was the right decision and thought there was a big risk if I were to hit something again. I would definitely regret it a lot more if I had hit something else Sunday and was out for the rest of the season. It's not where I wanted to be, but I trust their opinions and trust that that was ultimately the best thing for me in the long run.' Maybe the toughest part — tougher than the simple fact of being out of the car at all — was that the first-year full-time driver was slated for his second best IndyCar start, having qualified fifth for Race 2 the day before, Siegel's third consecutive top 10 qualifying performance. Paired with his second best career finish a couple weeks prior at Road America (eighth) and another reasonably solid one at Mid-Ohio (11th), Siegel was sitting well within the top 10 at the time of his crash with under 30 laps to go. There was momentum to be had in putting together perhaps a sixth-place finish and then stating fifth the next day. 'I missed it': Ex-Team Penske IndyCar leader relishing new chapter with Arrow McLaren After finishing 22nd fastest in practice Friday afternoon, there's work to be done to rediscover that much-needed momentum as Siegel attempts to finish his 2025 campaign on a solid upward swing. 'Yes, we had a small setback, but at the same time, we've been competitive multiple weekends in a row. We've been fast, and there's no reason we can't continue to do that,' he said. 'As a group, I'm not letting us change our flow, and we're approaching this just like we finished fifth at Iowa (in Race 1) rather than having to sit out.'
Fox News
7 days ago
- Automotive
- Fox News
Siegel Back On Track, DeFrancesco Back At Home: What To Know For INDYCAR At Toronto
TORONTO — The lone INDYCAR race this season across the border goes green this weekend on the streets of Exhibition Place and Lake Ontario. The 2.874-kilometer course (OK, you want it in miles, 1.786-mile) has 11 turns and has been part of a summer festival for 37 years. The tight course requires precision and also handling a pit road that isn't straight but instead has some curves. At 90 laps, it is five laps longer this year (noon ET on FOX). The 27-driver field is the same as it has been for most races in 2025. And that wasn't a certainty until Thursday morning for the final street course race of the season. Let's dive into a few things you need to know about this race. Nolan Siegel Cleared The Arrow McLaren driver was cleared Thursday to race after missing the event Sunday at Iowa following a hard crash Saturday in Iowa. "Missing out on Sunday's race in Iowa was definitely tough, especially after qualifying fifth," Siegel said in a statement. "After a week of rest and recovery, I'm looking forward to being back in the car." Siegel said Friday at the track that he feels good. "Just coming here, if anything, I just have a greater appreciation for what I'm doing," Siegel said. "It was hard to sit out on Sunday and watch. That was not a fun time for me, and I've just been itching to get back in the car these past few days. "I will never take that for granted again and really, really excited to get back in." Drivers have accelerometers in their ears, so INDYCAR doctors know how hard the hit is when they evaluate the driver. Any accident that registers 80Gs in any axis or direction is required to return for further evaluation. INDYCAR, like most sports leagues, uses the King-Devick test from the Mayo Clinic among its tools. INDYCAR's head neurologist, Dr. Bert Vargas, along with INDYCAR medical director Dr. Julia Vaizer, typically does the evaluation to clear a driver to return. Vargas serves as a member of the NFL Head, Neck and Spine Committee and is also a sideline unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant for the NFL. Earlier this year, Marcus Armstrong had to return to the medical center at Indianapolis a few hours after an accident to be cleared for the next session. Siegel had to revisit Sunday morning and was not cleared. Arrow McLaren team principal Tony Kanaan missed a race in 2001 because of a concussion so he knows how hard it is for the driver to sit out. "I crashed in Detroit on Saturday, got a concussion," Kanaan said. "They sat me out in the race on Sunday, but we had Portland next week, and I am sure I wasn't right because that weekend, I was so slow in Portland. I started that and I crashed again in the first lap, and I couldn't understand why. And I felt fine. "We've come a long way, and this is probably one of the worst things because when ... you're looking at yourself, you're perfectly fine, and you think you're fine. Those type of injuries are so frustrating." Siegel said Friday he had little doubt he would be ready to go this weekend. He wanted and felt OK to race Sunday. "As much as I hated sitting out and wanted to get back in the car and wanted to argue with [the INDYCAR doctors], they know more about this than I do," Siegel said. "That's the end of it. They know more about this than all of us do. And when they say, you can't do it, you can't do it. "So once they said that, they put their plan together, they helped me get back in. They did everything they possibly could to help me get back this weekend. And I'm grateful for their help." In the last 12 years, there have been two drivers who have not returned to INDYCAR because of concussions — Dario Franchitti and Simon Pagenaud. Alex Tagliani was the replacement when Franchitti got hurt and Conor Daly was the replacement when Pagenaud got hurt. Linus Lundqvist, the 2024 INDYCAR rookie of the year, is on standby for Siegel. Jack Harvey was the last driver before Pagenaud in 2023 to miss a race because of a concussion. He missed the race at Texas after a crash in practice in 2022 and was replaced by Santino Ferrucci. In 2021, Felix Rosenqvist missed two races following an accident in 2021 at Detroit. He was never diagnosed with a concussion but did not perform well on the post-crash concussion protocol tests. Oliver Askew and Kevin Magnussen replaced him in those races. Robb Car Escapes Damage in Hauler Fire About 150 miles into the trip from Iowa last Sunday, the transporter carrying Sting Ray Robb's car blew a tire, which broke a seal on the axle and started a fire. It burned the hole of about 5- to 6-feet high, according to Colona Township Fire Department Chief John Swan. The fire department is about four miles from where the accident occurred on Interstate 74/280 in Illinois and that was critical, Swan said, in keeping the car from getting damaged. The fire didn't penetrate the inside wall of the transporter, and equipment suffered smoke and heat damage. The Juncos Hollinger Racing team has both of its cars at Toronto. It is using its Indy NXT hauler for Robb this weekend. Comeback ... Of Performance Kind While all the Andretti drivers raced last weekend, they probably feel they need as much of a comeback as a driver such as Siegel. All three of the drivers blew right front tires during the Iowa doubleheader weekend. Since that race was on an oval, there isn't a lot of correlation between the loads last week and this week. "It sucks," driver Colton Herta said. "I don't like to think about it for sure, and it makes me annoyed. But as far as what were the problems there, and are they going to come into this weekend? "There's almost zero percent chance. Such a different race, such different setup." Herta said they will figure out why they had the issue and no other organizations did in the coming weeks as they need to focus on the upcoming races here at Toronto and next week at Laguna Seca. "It's something that we're definitely not taking lightly. And it's important for the team to do that, just because for my peace of mind, too, inside the car, for blowing tires ... because there's a chance that you have a big one at some point," Herta said. "But at the end of the day, it's part of it. This is the first for us at Andretti, so I think we're learning this together for the first time." Herta is the defending winner of the Toronto race. "It's a track that poses a lot of different challenges," Herta said. "It's a street circuit. So no room for error, and the concrete walls are not good friends. So any little mistake turns into quite a big one here very fast. "It's a good mix of high-speed, low-speed corners. The pit stops are always difficult on this curvy pit lane that we have." Adjusting Goals? Bouncing back will be vital for Andretti driver Kyle Kirkwood, who has won two of the street-course races this year. Kirkwood went from 113 points behind series leader Alex Palou to 180 points behind after the Iowa doubleheader. With just five races left, Kirkwood doesn't think he has a reasonable shot at the title. "That seems unattainable from this point," Kirkwood said. "As long as it's mathematically possible to beat him, we're going to keep trying to get wins. At the same time, we put ourselves in a pretty big hole. "We're just going to go out and try and get some wins here, show that we are a championship-capable winning team, which I believe we are." So now is it win or don't care considering the championship is out of reach? "Winning races does win championships," said Kirkwood, whose three wins rank only behind Palou's seven this season. "Palou is proving that this season. That is the No. 1 focus. "Of course, it would be nice to claw back some and give ourselves an opportunity to be in the second position because in a lot of cases, getting a second this year is like getting a win in the championship." Home-Country Pressure And, finally, since the race is in Canada, that means it will be special for the one Canadian-born driver in the field. Devlin DeFrancesco believes his first Toronto Grand Prix was in 2013. "I feel very relaxed," DeFrancesco said. "I'm excited to be home. I like this track." He said he doesn't know how many friends and family are coming but he has a suite and has let someone else handle all the requests. "There's a tidal wave of support this weekend," DeFrancesco said. "Toronto is one of the biggest turnouts for fans. It's a hugely popular event. ... It'd be amazing to be able to go back somewhere like Edmonton [too] or somewhere like that." Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Arrow McLaren's Nolan Siegel cleared to race in Toronto
Nolan Siegel missed Race 2 of the Iowa Speedway doubleheader after crashing during Saturday's Synk 275. The 20-year-old lost control of his Dallara-Chevrolet exiting Turn 4 on lap 246 of 275 and hit the wall with enough force to suffer a mild concussion and punch a hole in the SAFER barrier. He was ruled out of Sunday's Farm to Fresh 275 and scheduled for reevaluation later in the week. Since then, Siegel has followed a regimented recovery program and was evaluated by IndyCar medical staff Thursday morning. He has now been cleared to return to the cockpit and will be back on track Friday on the streets of Toronto. 'Nolan has been cleared by the IndyCar Medical Team to drive this weekend in Toronto,' Arrow McLaren confirmed. 'He will pilot the No. 6 SmartStop Arrow McLaren Chevy in their first primary sponsorship race of the season. He's en route to Canada now and is expected to be trackside later today.' The California native was expected to start from fifth place on Sunday at Iowa Speedway, after posting his second-best qualifying result of the season — part of a run that includes three consecutive top-10 starts. Heading into the races, his eighth-place finish at Road America remains his strongest performance so far. Siegel currently sits 21st in the standings with 156 points, six ahead of rookie Louis Foster (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing), who holds the final spot in IndyCar's Leaders Circle program. The scheme provides bonus payouts to the top 22 full-time entries at the end of the season. Fellow rookie Robert Shwartzman (Prema Racing) is 23rd with 145 points and looking to break in. Should Siegel be unable to complete the weekend, Linus Lundqvist will serve as reserve driver. The Swede, who raced for Chip Ganassi Racing last year taking two podiums and one pole position, qualified 24th and finished 13th in CGR's No. 8 car at Toronto in 2024. Read Also: Why it isn't 'unrealistic' for Alex Palou to reach IndyCar win record in 2025 To read more articles visit our website.
Indianapolis Star
17-07-2025
- Automotive
- Indianapolis Star
Nolan Siegel cleared from mild concussion to return for IndyCar's race in Toronto
Nolan Siegel has been cleared to return to the cockpit by IndyCar's medical team following the mild concussion he suffered in a late-race crash at Iowa Speedway in Race 1 of last weekend's doubleheader, Arrow McLaren announced Thursday. The 20-year-old first-year full-time driver is scheduled to be back in the car for Friday afternoon's weekend opening practice for the Honda Indy on the streets of Toronto. In the wake of his single-car crash that brought out a red flag due to extensive repair to the outer wall's SAFER barrier, IndyCar's medical team required Siegel to be re-checked Sunday morning ahead of Race 2 and in that process did not clear him to return to the cockpit for Sunday's race. Arrow McLaren opted not to run his No. 6 car, and Monday they announced that 2024 IndyCar Rookie of the Year Linus Lundqvist, sidelined since losing his ride at Chip Ganassi Racing after the team scaled back from five cars to three last offseason, was being readied this week as the potential stand-in for Siegel. IndyCar's medical team scheduled Siegel to be reevaluated Thursday morning ahead of traveling to Toronto, and after a week of rest, recovery, light workouts and time on the simulator, they deemed the driver ready to return to racing. Lundqvist will still be on-hand with Arrow McLaren throughout the race weekend, should Siegel again feel lingering symptoms from his concussion and require a backup driver at a moment's notice, but the car's full-time driver is slated to complete the entire weekend unless something otherwise changes.
