Note: This continues a series of 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES team previews on INDYCAR.com. The season starts Sunday, March 2 with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding (noon ET, FOX, FOX Deportes, INDYCAR Radio Network).
Starting Lineup: Pato O’Ward (No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet), Nolan Siegel (No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet), Christian Lundgaard (No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet), Kyle Larson (No. 17 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet for the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge).
2024 in Review: O’Ward was Arrow McLaren’s constant year over year, competing in all 17 races in the No. 5 Chevrolet and returning to it for 2025. Last season, he won three races, scored three additional top-five finishes and chased Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden to the checkered flag in the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. O’Ward finished fifth in the standings. The three race wins were a career best for one of his seasons, and he finished the season with 189 laps led, ranking fifth in that category. Alexander Rossi drove the papaya-color No. 7 Chevrolet throughout last year, finishing 10th in the standings. His best result was a third-place finish in the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and he totaled 10 top-10 finishes. Rossi had yet another strong run in the “500,” finishing fourth to give Arrow McLaren two drivers finishing in the top four. Rossi suffered a broken wrist in practice for the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto and was replaced by rookie Theo Pourchaire, who finished 14th. Rossi led 109 laps for the season, his most since 2019. Pourchaire and Callum Ilott got opportunities to drive with the team because of injuries to David Malukas, who got hurt on a mountain bike before the season began, and Rossi. Ilott finished 11th for the team in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding and in the “500.” Pourchaire’s best finish was 10th in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear, and he was 11th in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in his series debut. Siegel won the season-opening INDY NXT by Firestone race in St. Petersburg before turning his attention to NTT INDYCAR SERIES opportunities. He joined Dale Coyne Racing for the Long Beach race, finishing 20th, then spun and flipped in “500” practice. Forced to compete for one of the final starting positions, he crashed in his Last Chance Qualifying run, the only driver to miss the race. Siegel was a late substitute for Juncos Hollinger Racing’s No. 78 Chevrolet in the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America, finishing 21st. He was hired by Arrow McLaren soon after, driving the No. 6 Honda for the final 10 races of the season. His best finish was seventh in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway. Kyle Larson was the final member of Arrow McLaren’s 2024 lineup, qualifying for the “500” in the fifth position. In the race, he was in fifth place when he got penalized for speeding on pit road on Lap 134, and the drive-through penalty dropped him a lap off the leader’s pace. He led four laps, finished 18th and was named Rookie of the Year. Lundgaard completed his third full season with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, finishing 11th in the standings. He led seven laps in St. Petersburg, one of the four occasions in which he occupied the top position in a race. He had his best Month of May, leading 35 laps and finishing third in the Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and earning a career bests for a start and a finish in the “500.” He started 28th and finished 13th, leading five laps. He had four top-10 finishes during the season.
New for ’25: Lundgaard arrives, creating one of the more interesting car-and-driver combinations of the season as he is one of the 13 full-time drivers who have won a race in this series. He won the 2023 race in Toronto.
Keep an Eye on This: It’s at least interesting that Arrow McLaren has one of the youngest driver lineups in the series. At the season begins, O’Ward is 25, Lundgaard 24 and Siegel 20. By comparison, Larson is an old man at 32. Siegel is the youngest driver in the series, a month younger than Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson.
Little-Known Fact: O’Ward is one of only four drivers in “500” history to be leading at the white flag only to yield the top spot on the final lap. The others were Marco Andretti in 2006, JR Hildebrand in 2011 and Marcus Ericsson in 2023. None of those three had such an opportunity again, although it’s worth noting that O’Ward has consistently been strong on the IMS oval, finishing sixth, fourth, second, 24th and second in the past five years. In 2023, he crashed in Turn 3 trying to pass Ericsson for second place on Lap 193. O’Ward has led 93 laps at Indy in his career, which ranks seventh among drivers with confirmed rides for this year’s race.