NTT INDYCAR SERIES News Conference

Thursday May 22, 2025

Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Nolan Siegel – Arrow McLaren

Starts 24th

THE MODERATOR: The weather looks good. Nolan, for you, same story? The difference of the balance, the feel in the car between qualifying and the race?

NOLAN SIEGEL: I definitely feel the same as Kyle where qualifying was, I think, tough for everyone. It was a bit weird, I would say, how strong we felt on Monday relative to kind of the opposite on Saturday, which I guess is a good thing, but it’s been a bit confusing for us.

We’ve, I feel like, been really strong at some points and then weaker at other points. And qualifying day we weren’t as good as we thought we were going to be, and Monday we came back, and the car is fast and we’re really competitive in traffic.

Hopefully that stays that way, but it’s been very up and down. It’s been interesting. It’s been interesting.

Q. Nolan, for you as well, and we’ll just call you Kirk too. Your thoughts? First 500. As we mentioned, there’s a bunch of veterans in and around you. Is your mindset, great, I’m going to go in front of them right away? Or is it do I play it safe, learn from them, and then attack? What’s the mindset?

NOLAN SIEGEL: It depends how it plays out. No, I feel — starting where I am, I feel a lot better that I’m starting around great people that are also going to be moving their way forward. Yeah, I couldn’t ask for better people to be around.

If I can slot in behind Helio and follow him through the pack, then that’s going to be a great learning experience for me. Obviously he knows how to get around here.

Yeah, it’s definitely — starting where I am, it’s not where I would want to be starting, but it’s kind of the best-case scenario being where I am. So we’ll see. I’m going to do what I can. I’m going to try to be smart for the first part, but I think you can’t just sit around in INDYCAR. There’s no INDYCAR race where you sit around and wait, things just come to you. You kind of have to go get it.

I’ll try to move my way forward and be smart about it at the same time.

Q. Nolan, take me back to Sunday. You were watching Jacob Abel and trying to make the field, and it was the situation that you were in a year before. I’m sure you were relieved you weren’t in the cockpit at that time. Did it bring back some emotions? Did you have any opportunity to talk to Jabel and discuss, hey, I know the exact feeling, and maybe you and him might be the only two in the last two years that have felt that?

NOLAN SIEGEL: I have spoken to Jacob, and I stood out on pit lane with Jack Harvey, who was there with me through it all last year. It’s just hard. Someone has to go home, but no matter what, there’s no one in the field that you want to see go home. It’s just hard.

I know exactly what Jacob was going through. I have a lot of respect for Jacob. We’ve raced against each other for a long time, known each other for a long time, all through the Road to Indy.

Yeah, it definitely brought back some memories from last year. While I was happy to not be doing that on Sunday, it was hard not to feel for him and feel for the whole team. Like everyone there has put in so much work to be here in the first place, and to see a group of people go home with nothing, it’s hard.

Q.  Nolan, your famous quote last year was “I wasn’t going to go home because I lifted.” Is there a part of you that is amazed at the path your life has taken over the past 12 and 13 months since that day?

NOLAN SIEGEL: Yeah, definitely. I feel very, very lucky to be here. While I feel settled and obviously I’ve been in the same spot for long enough now for it to kind of feel normal, it is cool being here and looking back one year and thinking about all that’s happened.

I feel very grateful to be in the position that I’m in, and a lot of great things have happened in the past year. I just want to make the most of all the opportunities that I’ve been given. That’s my goal here.

Yeah, grateful to have another shot at this race obviously, and it’s been my goal for a long time to be full-time in INDYCAR, and to do it with a team like Arrow McLaren is really special. Yeah, I just want to make the most of that amazing opportunity.