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As I promised a week ago, I am going to catch up on all of the news I missed when we went on vacation the week after Road America. Last Wednesday, I gave my opinion (for whatever that’s worth) on the new TV deal with FOX, as well as my thoughts on the 2025 schedule.

After the race weekend at Laguna Seca, not much else has happened. That gives me a chance to review the other two news items that took place while we were gone – the signing of David Malukas at Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) and the unceremoniously dumping of Theo Pourchaire in favor of Nolan Siegel at Arrow McLaren.

I’ll tackle the Malukas story first, since there is not a whole lot of drama surrounding it.

It’s funny how the seemingly smallest things can have such huge impacts on several lives. It’s almost like George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life, when his guardian anger, Clarence, shows him how even the smallest actions can make a significant impact on others.

We all know about the mountain bike incident that sidelined Malukas from the first part of the season, and ultimately cost him his ride in the No. 6 car at Arrow McLaren that he never got to drive. I don’t really fault Zak Brown or Arrow McLaren for letting Malukas go at the end of April. His recovery was taking much longer than expected, and there was no solid evidence when exactly he would be ready. They had sponsor obligations they had to fulfill, and they had no answers. Something had to give.

Theo Pourchaire was brought in to drive the car at Long Beach to fill in for Callum Ilott, who had been brought in to sub for Malukas at St. Petersburg and Thermal. Ilott had some schedule conflicts, so Pourchaire drove the car at Long Beach and Barber. Malukas was let go just after Barber and Pourchaire was given the job for the remaining races of 2024, except for the Indianapolis 500 – or so we all thought.

Getting back to Malukas, the opening lap of the Indianapolis 500 was very eventful – even though he wasn’t even in the race. Things had not gone well in Tom Blomqvist’s rookie season at MSR. When he lost control in the first turn of Lap One and took others out with him – MSR had seen enough. While still employed with the team, his IndyCar services were no longer needed. Part-owner Helio Castroneves was in the car for the next two races at Detroit and Road America, with very forgettable results.

Malukas was announced at MSR just before Road America. The signing made sense. He was a young driver paired with a proven veteran in Felix Rosenqvist. Suddenly, MSR was a safe haven for Arrow McLaren cast-offs. Rosenqvist struggled in the McLaren cars for three seasons, but has found new life at Meyer Shank. Quite honestly, Rosenqvist seemed to breathe new life into the MSR program as well. They were a major disappointment in 2022-23 with Simon Pagenaud and Castroneves as their drivers. It sounded like a dream team on paper, but for whatever reason – it just didn’t work. The arrival of Rosenqvist in the No. 60 changed all of that.

The No. 66 was a different story. Try as he might, Tom Blomqvist never seemed comfortable in an Indy car. There was no real improvement when Helio jumped in the car for the two races after Indianapolis.

I wondered what to expect when Malukas jumped in the car for hybrid testing at Milwaukee. That car had underperformed and Malukas was coming off of a serious wrist injury. He was ninth quick in the test, but it was just that – a test. Teams were looking for a lot in that test besides sheer speed. A better idea of what was to come would be this past weekend at Laguna Seca.

Malukas excelled in practice, and actually made the second round of qualifying at Laguna Seca. Not only was this his debut with his new team and a new car – it was his first time in a race car since Laguna Seca last year. He finished sixteenth in the race, but spent a good portion of the day running in the Top-Ten. This was on a physically demanding track for the first time to test out the injured wrist. As Townsend bell told viewers on Sunday – you can be physically fit, but there is a difference between being fit and race fit. You can’t simulate all of the g-forces a driver feels in the cockpit.

In his first race with his new team, he gave the No. 66 it’s second best drive of the season. Blomqvist drove that car to a fifteenth-place finish at St. Petersburg, but it was downhill from there.

It may sound odd, but the injury to Malukas from his mountain bike crash may be the best thing that could’ve happened to his career. I’ll touch on it more in a bit, but history has shown us that Arrow McLaren has a very short leash with their drivers. It’s quite possible that the young Malukas may not have net the expectations of Zak Brown, and he could have joined the list of many drivers that Arrow McLaren gave up on too quickly.

By going to MSR, I think Malukas is joining an organization where he can refine his craft for two or three years – and then make the jump to one of the Top-Tier teams. I think, for now, Malukas has found a home.

No offense to Malukas, but when he was announced last fall to Arrow McLaren, I thought that was a mighty big jump for a second-year driver whose second season at Dale Coyne’s team was not quite as good as his rookie year. I was afraid he would be chewed up and spat out at McLaren. To be blunt – I thought he was too nice to fit in at McLaren.

I might say the same for Nolan Siegel. Other than his credentials from Indy NXT, I know very little about Siegel. Graham Rahal certainly spoke highly of the nineteen year-old after he failed to qualify for the Indianapolis. Others have shared the same sentiments.

He first raced an Indy car at Long Beach this past April for Dale Coyne, and finished twentieth – a respectable outing for an IndyCar debut, especially for a teenager. He crashed while attempting to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, but still raised some eyebrows with his talent and demeanor.

By Detroit, Theo Pourchaire had been tabbed to finish the season in the No. 6 car that had been left vacant by the aforementioned departure of Malukas. During the race at Detroit, Pourchaire came together with Juncos Hollinger Racing’s (JHR) Agustin Canapino and was penalized for avoidable contact. No one knew at the time what type of ripple effect this incident would cause. The dominos that fell afterwards ended up being fascinating to trace, although Pourchaire might use a different word to describe the course of events.

Pourchaire ended up on the wrong end of Canapino’s supporters. As they had with Callum Ilott a couple of times last season, a few of his supporters began making death threats to Pourchaire. Canapino did himself no favors by minimizing the threats and suggesting people just ignore them. By Road America Brad Hollinger, one of Canapino’s car owners, removed him from the car for the weekend – just to give him a chance to take a mental break.

Literally minutes before the first practice of the Road America weekend, Nolan Siegel was offered the chance to drive the car. No leading Indy NXT driver would pass up the opportunity to race an Indy car, so of course he jumped at the chance. He kept his nose clean and brought the car home in twenty-third place – an admirable job, considering the circumstances.

Many thought that Canapino would bot be back and that the ride would go to Siegel for the rest of the season. But on the Monday before Laguna Seca, it was announced that Canapino would be returning to the seat of the JHR No. 78 after a one-race absence.

Siegel did not sit in limbo very long. By last Tuesday morning, it was announced that Pourchaire was suddenly out of the Arrow McLaren No. 6 and Siegel was in for the remainder of 2024 and beyond.

Although we had seen Arrow McLaren and Zak Brown kick drivers to the curb before, no one saw this coming. Given his age and lack of experience, Pourchaire had done nothing wrong. He finished eleventh in his debut at Long Beach, twenty-second at Barber, seventeenth at the IMS road course (tenth at Detroit (despite being penalized) and thirteenth at Road America. For those keeping track, that’s an average finish of 12.6 – not bad for a twenty year-old that had never seen any of the tracks before racing on them. All indications were he was doing an excellent job.

McLaren had made up their mind. Nolan Siegel had nothing to do with Pourchaire’s dismissal from the team, but no driver would turn down a ride like this – no matter the circumstances. Did Arrow McLaren make the right decision to eject a twenty year-old driver with potential, for an even younger driver with less experience in IndyCar? Time will tell, but the early returns are encouraging. Even after spinning in Sunday’s race at Laguna Seca, Nolan Siegel fought back to finish twelfth in his debut with Arrow McLaren, where he admittedly did not know many of his crew members after just a few days.

Right or wrong, I’m happy for Siegel but I feel bad for Pourchaire. I am not sure I’ve seen such a head-scratching decision like this one. Things usually have to be going really poorly for a team to make a driver change in June – especially after five decent outings. Maybe Nolan Siegel is the next Alex Palou, but that doesn’t mean Theo Pourchaire was just a can of corn.

I think Pourchaire and Siegel both have a tremendous amount of talent – as does David Malukas. It’s going to be interesting to watch all three of these drivers progress through their careers, after being tied briefly with the No. 6 at Arrow McLaren.

It’s funny how these things can become so intertwined. Had Pourchaire not made contact with Canapino at Detroit – none of this would have happened. Or if you want to go even further back, had David Malukas not gone for that bike ride in February – he would still be in the No. 6. It’s all interconnected. Clarence would be proud.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on June 26, 2024 at 4:03 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.