ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — Nolan Siegel hopes he has put some frustration behind him over the last week.
It should be easy to look ahead. Riding an eighth-place finish Sunday at Road America, Siegel will have a new strategist starting with the next race in two weeks at Mid-Ohio.
The strategist? Kyle Moyer. He was Scott McLaughlin’s strategist. That was until Penske released Moyer as part of a dismissal of the organization’s three main INDYCAR executives after two technical violations in a little more than a year.
The well-respected Moyer likely had offers from many others, but he won the 2004 INDYCAR title with Tony Kanaan, now the team principal at Arrow McLaren. Kanaan called Moyer his easiest hire ever, as Moyer will serve as director of competition and also the strategist for Siegel.
“I’ll meet him this week and try to spend a lot of time with him, get to know him,” Siegel said. “I’ve heard nothing but good things. Obviously, I’ve heard of him … and I’m very, very excited to get to work with him.
“That’s a huge pleasure and a huge learning opportunity for me.”
Nolan Siegel prior to the NTT IndyCar Series XPEL Grand Prix at Road America
Siegel’s current strategist is Scott Harner, who is the team’s director of racing operations. Harner and Moyer will work hand-in-hand with Moyer directing car builds and other competition-focused projects, while Harner will handle logistics and other critical infrastructure elements.
This year, Harner, Kanaan and a couple of engineers were collaborating on the strategy and communication with Siegel.
“Kyle will do a better job than all four of us together,” Kanaan said.
Leading up to Road America, Siegel had to face questions about an expletive-laced rant a week earlier at World Wide Technology Raceway when he got penalized for blocking Scott McLaughlin.
That rant was partially because Siegel was frustrated in that particular moment and also because he was running 21st in the standings in his first full season at Arrow McLaren. The eighth-place finish moved him up a spot to 20th.
“It’s nice to move on from everything from last week and end on a high,” Siegel said. “And this has been a much-needed weekend. Nothing’s gone wrong this weekend.
“We had a smooth Saturday. We had a smooth Sunday. … It’s something that we can build off of. We’ve had a lot of bad weeks where everyone leaves upset, and it’s just not a good feeling. It’s nice to kind of turn that around. And until you have a weekend like this to turn it around, it’s very hard to get out of that slump.”
Kanaan knows that Siegel is under pressure. Kanaan was the one that made the decision a year ago to put Siegel in the seat of the No. 6 car after the organization had used a couple of other drivers after David Malukas broke his wrist in a mountain bike accident (and was eventually released because of it).
He is still backing Siegel after the rant.
“I know what’s right for this team,” Kanaan said.
Siegel talked with McLaughlin, and they appeared to be all good. McLaughlin even seemed to feel a little bad for Siegel, considering the in-car audio landed him in hot water.
“We should be very careful in terms of how we apologize for outbursts on the radio. I get that it’s important to be sportsmanlike,” McLaughjlin said. “I didn’t take offense to it. You do get heated.”
Siegel knows it was inappropriate and knows his frustrations will attract attention.
“It was not a conscious thing, and certainly not something I’m proud of,” Siegel said. “To anyone saying how unacceptable it is … yeah, you’re probably right.
EVERY WRECK from XPEL Grand Prix at Road America
“But at the same time, think back on everything that you’ve ever done in your life. And if maybe there’s been a time that you’ve been upset and said something you don’t mean. I don’t think there is anyone that can honestly say that that’s never happened to them in life.”
On the track, Siegel said he is not trying to focus on results from one week to the next. He knows the races often come down to strategy — just as it did Sunday afternoon.
“We’re going to continue to focus on the process and not on the result,” Siegel said. “We’ve had a lot of weekends where the result has been bad and there’s been a ton of potential. Like really good pace. We’ve had good race cars. We’ve worked together well and it just hasn’t come together.
“For me, I am continuing to focus on doing everything in my power to make it a good weekend. And if the result doesn’t come for some other reason, then it is what it is.”
And what it was Sunday was something good.
“It was nice to be on offense and feel fast,” Siegel said. “[That builds] confidence for me.
“And I think we’ll continue to do this in the coming weeks and hopefully just keep getting better and better.”
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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