Arguably the most coveted seat in the NTT IndyCar Series opened up in early July when six-time champion Scott Dixon announced that he would be leaving Chip Ganassi Racing after 25 years and joining Arrow McLaren, along with former teammate, current Meyer Shank Racing driver, and reigning Indy 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist.
Speculation immediately went into overdrive as to who the next driver of the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda might be, and the top name discussed was predictably Christian Lundgaard, whom McLaren decided to cut, along with Nolan Siegel, to make way for Dixon and Rosenqvist, despite the fact that he has been their top performer this season.
Chip Ganassi Racing have no need to rush to make any confirmation; they have the luxury of choosing the best possible candidate for the seat, with anybody and everybody on the hunt for a new home undoubtedly willing to jump at the chance to replace Dixon and join four-time champion Alex Palou at the sport's top team, should that call come their way.
The consensus remains that it's Lundgaard to the No. 9. But what if it's not that simple, and what if it never was? Here are three possible reasons why it might not be surprising if the Danish driver lands elsewhere in 2027.
1. The elephant in the room
It seems like we can't have a nice discussion about how talented Christian Lundgaard is without someone suggesting "but he's terrible on ovals!". Although he obviously isn't, for anyone not drawn in by that overblown propaganda line, he is still notably without an oval podium finish.
Of course, it took Palou until his sixth season to score an IndyCar oval win also, and that win happened to come in a little race known as the Indy 500, for whatever that is or isn't worth. And wouldn't you know it, until he got that first oval win, fans absolutely loved using the all-time lazy argument of "he can't win on ovals" to disprove his now indisputable status as the top driver of this century.
He then parlayed that into the oval championship the same year and has added another oval win this year. It's almost like Josef Newgarden's oval monopolization this decade had something to do with the fact that Palou was actually one of several drivers who took quite some time to get their first oval win. Scott McLaughlin, Colton Herta, and Kyle Kirkwood all come to mind, each earning their first since 2024 alone.
But the fact remains that Lundgaard's oval stats aren't what Palou's were before his first win either, and while Arrow McLaren haven't been on the level of Chip Ganassi Racing, they have had a relatively strong oval program, evidenced by Pato O'Ward's two oval championships and the fact that he's scored at least one oval win in four of the past six years.
And seeing as how Palou's speed in his rookie Indy 500 with Dale Coyne Racing is what really put him on Chip Ganassi's radar to make what was viewed as a shocking move in bringing him into the No. 10 Honda for 2021, perhaps Lundgaard's lack of success could indeed be a significant hold-up.
2. Rinus VeeKay
You could legitimately make the case that Rinus VeeKay is more deserving of landing in the No. 9 Honda than Christian Lundgaard, even though it seemed at the time of Dixon's departure that Lundgaard was clearly the top man for the job.
VeeKay was actually the driver whom many had initially penciled in as Palou's replacement for 2023, when the Spaniard had done everything in his power to leave the team and sign for Arrow McLaren with the aim of eventually racing for the Woking-based team in Formula 1.
VeeKay spent the first five seasons of his career competing for an Ed Carpenter Racing team that clearly isn't what they once were, and he still managed to finish between 12th and 14th in the championship standings every year, winning the team's first road course race since 2015 in the 2021 spring race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and adding multiple podium finishes elsewhere.
And if you thought him scoring a runner-up finish in a Dale Coyne Racing car, one in which he was placed just weeks before the 2025 season began, was impressive, look at what he's done this year with a Juncos Hollinger Racing team that finally has a driver capable of capitalizing on the organization's potential.
He has hovered around the top 10 in points all year, and with three top five finishes now, he finds himself inside that top 10. If he can continue his current run of form over the season's final five races, there's a legitimate chance that he could finish in the seventh to ninth range.
The obvious answer for Ganassi would be a lineup of Palou, Lundgaard, and VeeKay. But Kyffin Simpson brings funding, and he's done a decent enough job coupled with that funding to avoid that discussion from being had, at least for the time being. He's only 16 points behind Dixon and still has a decent chance to finish ahead of him in points this year, having been performing better during the summer stretch.
That said, on talent alone, that trio could be absolutely formidable for the next decade with a team that's already a powerhouse.
3. Pato WHO?
Pato O'Ward has justifiably expressed his frustration with Arrow McLaren on more than one occasion in 2026, and while the Mid-Ohio win was a nice boost, it's still his lone podium finish of the season. Quite frankly, the No. 5 Chevrolet simply has not been remotely close to a race-winning contender at far more venues than anybody would have wanted to admit.
O'Ward's contract, which makes him one of the highest paid drivers, if not the highest, in the series, is due to expire at the end of the 2027 season, and while the thought of him not remaining loyal to McLaren seems absurd, it's a possibility that needs to be brought up the longer that deal is not extended.
For what it's worth, nobody would have imagined Dixon going to McLaren or Will Power going to Andretti either. Don't discount the impossible.
He has been in the "best to never" category for both the IndyCar championship and the Indy 500 for most of this decade, and every single year, the answer to "is this finally his year?" is the opposite of yes. He's scored multiple Indy 500 runner-up finishes, a third, and multiple fourths. He's finished in all three of those positions in the point standings as well, along with fifth.
With McLaren so eager to cut Lundgaard when he was third in points, perhaps O'Ward should cut ties with McLaren, where his ceiling seems to be right around that same point. It's starting to feel a lot like the Colton Herta-Andretti partnership. At some point, potential actually needs to turn into something.
You better believe Ganassi would love to strike back at Zak Brown in a seemingly never-ending game of striking back at each other since the whole 2022 Palou contract saga unfolded. The problem with signing O'Ward for 2028 is needing to replace one of the three drivers in his 2027 lineup. And neither Lundgaard nor VeeKay deserves to be relegated to one-year "prove it" deal, no matter the team.
If Simpson is really locked in long-term, who do you go with in 2027 if your goal is to find a spot for Pato in 2028?
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