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Tony Kanaan rarely heads to a 2023 Indianapolis 500 race with Arrow McLaren SP, at least not yet. Just Tuesday of this week, the winner of the biggest racing exhibition of 2013 spoke by phone with the owner of his last two Indy 500 cars: Chip Ganassi: to see how things were with last year’s race winners.
Recent reports that Kanaan is signed, sealed and delivered to slide alongside Pato O’Ward, Alexander Rossi and Felix Rosenqvist in a car of just 500, Kanaan said, helped speed up other talks. He told IndyStar on Wednesday that he spoke with Chip Ganassi Racing, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Dreyer and Reinbold Racing, as well as AMSP, but “nobody said ‘Let’s do it. ‘”
Given recent comments by McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown about who prefers a veteran to, say, a NASCAR rookie like Kyle Larson or Kyle Busch, the favorite’s chances pointed to Kanaan, given that Ryan Hunter-Reay is a CGR driving force under contract. and whether Brown sought his only driving force of the past two years. Juan Pablo Montoya, I wouldn’t want to have all this uncertainty going around. Besides Takuma Sato, who would want a Honda-powered 500 lap, Kanaan remains the only former winner still floating in the group of loose agents who would do the trick. for an AMSP team that aspires to win its most sensible 500.
“Everyone still has questions,” Kanaan said. And so do I, that’s why he didn’t come to a conclusion in any way, form, shape, or form. The rumor is not true that it is signed and done. All I can say is that I know I’ll be in the Indy 500. If I had a team, it would be my first choice, so I’m pretty sure it’s going to happen, but where?Honestly, right now, that’s what I’m waiting for.
“(After completing third in the 500m last May), some other people asked me on the spot if I wanted to do it again, but I’m not going to say I’ve been doing it since. You have to wait until the championship is over and who moves where. But might a team come in and say, “Hey, I need to lock you up and understand”?They may have, but it hasn’t happened yet.
If something happens, he continued, he recognizes very well that it may be the last, but even that he is not yet in a position to dedicate himself. Almost 3 years after pronouncing his “Last Lap” crusade with AJ Foyt Racing, Kanaan realizes the irony that he has run five IndyCar races, adding a pair of 500, since then. Two years ago, around this time, he settled for his 19th place finish, the worst in a car that finished the race in 21 starts, his last race being around the well-known 2. 5-mile oval.
And then followed Jimmie Johnson and Chip Ganassi.
Insider: Why did Johnson, the NASCAR driving force of his generation, struggle in IndyCar?
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Imagine if you put your foot on the ground and sank into this pandemic-ravaged 2020 IndyCar season as its beginning.
“As long as you keep those decisions in your head, instead of putting your foot on the ground, you can replace your mind,” Kanaan said. “Look at the opportunity I had, I almost won it! And if I had let that go and saw the one in the car in third position, I would have said, “Dude, I may have done that. “
“I can say it will be my last, but if I faint and win, what are we going to do?So I don’t need to call him anymore. That might be the case, but it may not be the case. “.
At this point, Kanaan says it’s been around as long as festival car owners are interested in his talent, which obviously hasn’t been reduced at all, even though there are far fewer one-off trips in the Indy 500 to do full-time. Caja has grown in length and competitiveness. Along with fellow Brazilian Helio Castroneves, Kanaan will turn 48 before starting next year’s 500, an age at which we’ve rarely noticed athletes succeeding while still active, even in this series, in a few decades. But Castroneves boss Mike Shank recently said he believes the four-time winner is smart until he’s at least 50 years old, then, until after the 2025 500 miles that would give Castroneves 25 to begin with. If Kanaan had to pass again, he would have done 24, a feat that only AJ Foyt (35), Mario Andretti (29), Al Unser Sr. (27), Johnny Rutherford (24) and Gordon Johncock (24) have matched in career history.
Something like this sounds worthy of a birthday party, even a formal sending or farewell, but Kanaan says he’s not interested, because paving the way for something like this in early May puts him on stage if he returns to the pit lane as a high-profile team executive interested in picking his brain for some other attempt.
He prefers opportunities to give to themselves, and when the phone stops ringing, he will no doubt be placed at IMS next May with more time to take photos, sign autographs, and thank followers.
Indy 500 ride or not, Kanaan will go anywhere anytime soon.
“It’s not like, ‘Oh, what a shame after all those years. . . ‘It’s unfair to me to be entitled to that,” he said. I’m going to be close to sports. I know other people can debate and say, “Oh, we have to see you one last time!”But come on, if you haven’t noticed me yet?I’ve been here for 25 years. “
This article gave the impression of Indianapolis Star: Indy 500: Tony Kanaan says he has a lap but he is not (yet) McLaren