While he wasn't able to hang on to second place in the championship standings, thanks to Kyle Kirkwood's strong runner-up result to conclude the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season, Christian Lundgaard did enough to solidify himself as Arrow McLaren's top driver over the 18-race calendar, finishing 13 points above teammate Pato O'Ward for third.
We can officially say that McLaren have indeed fired their top driver, with Lundgaard not coming back to the No. 7 Chevrolet next year because he supposedly "can't win on ovals".
The subject of Lundgaard's departure has been debated ever since it was confirmed in July that McLaren would be bringing in Scott Dixon from Chip Ganassi Racing and Felix Rosenqvist from Meyer Shank Racing to join O'Ward next year.
It has always felt like there is more to the story, seeing as how Lundgaard totally shredded the lazy oval narrative with a podium finish at the Milwaukee Mile that would have been a win if not for an extremely slow final pit stop.
O'Ward did win more races than Lundgaard this year, but he didn't score any additional podium finishes. Lundgaard was responsible for 70% of the team's podium results, and in addition to his Milwaukee podium, his Barber Motorsports Park runner-up also might have been a win if not for an extremely slow final pit stop.
Christian Lundgaard seeking new IndyCar home for 2027
Given some of the comments recently made by O'Ward, it seems relatively clear that he isn't exactly heartbroken by Lundgaard becoming his former teammate.
While we would stop short of suggesting that O'Ward demanded Lundgaard's release, there is little doubt that McLaren will stop at nothing to keep the face of their team, who has long been the series' most popular and most marketable driver, happy, even in a year that saw Lundgaard outperform him.
Regardless of the real reason (because it surely can't be oval performance) why the decision was made to effectively fire the 25-year-old Danish driver after inexplicably giving him a shorter leash than Nolan Siegel, who is also out after failing to record a single top five finish over two and a half years with the team, the fact is that he is now officially a free agent.
The obvious landing spot for Lundgaard all along has seemed like Chip Ganassi Racing as Dixon's replacement, and seeing as how Dixon, who is now 46 years old, just had his worst season since 2002, this could be a win-win for all involved, and possibly the best way to stick it to Zak Brown and Tony Kanaan for letting go of arguably their best chance to beat Ganassi's Alex Palou, who has now won four consecutive championships.
Lundgaard was also briefly linked to Meyer Shank Racing, but Mick Schumacher is set to join the team as Rosenqvist's replacement, albeit in Marcus Armstrong's old car as Armstrong slides over from the No. 66 Honda to the No. 60 Honda.
Rosenqvist is the reigning Indy 500 winner, but he too was dropped by McLaren after the 2023 season. His Indy 500 win back in May is his only oval podium finish in eight seasons in the series, so again, Lundgaard remaining with a championship-caliber team could be the best way to send the message that McLaren made a mistake that could come back to bite them over both the short term and long term.
And the fact that it could happen with Ganassi, who himself has a rivalry with Brown and McLaren, could make things even more interesting, especially since Lundgaard would have been effectively handed to him with no strings attached. It almost seems like he's waiting until the right moment to make that announcement, after having been smiling about the news since it broke two months ago.
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