INDIANAPOLIS – What still drives you?
That was the question Arrow McLaren team principal Tony Kanaan posed to Ryan Hunter-Reay as the two of them debriefed with Dario Franchitti in the IMS motorhome lot the day after last year’s Indianapolis 500. Kanaan called it a “casual” conversation between the three drivers who have combined to win five Indy 500s.
It led to Kanaan, Hunter-Reay’s friend and former Andretti Global teammate, realizing Hunter-Reay was the guy to place in the team’s fourth seat for this year’s race.
Hunter-Reay was a day removed from having to exit last year’s race, which he led for 48 laps, due to his Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet running out of fuel in pit lane. If not for the mechanical error that ended Hunter-Reay’s day 29 laps early, the 2014 Indy 500 champion may have been the one drinking milk last year. Instead, he walked away with a 21st-place finish.
“To come that close to win number two just had a big impact on me,” Hunter-Reay told IndyStar. “I couldn’t sleep very well at all for weeks, but the days after, it was tough.”
Driving for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, which has become an Indy 500-only team since 2021, Hunter-Reay’s car caught fire on Carb Day, forcing the team to go to its backup car just two days before the race. Hunter-Reay and the rest of his crew got little sleep the weekend of the race, as the car needed to be worked to ensure it was race quality.
“It’s just phenomenal what happened and how they were able to put a car that had never been run,” Hunter-Reay said. “We put a car that had never been run on the racetrack for the first time in the race. And to have that story, that massive underdog story, almost come true and how much it means to me, it had a massive impact on me.”
How Arrow McLaren and Hunter-Reay made a match
By November, when it was time to decide who Arrow McLaren would have drive its fourth entry alongside its three full-time drivers — Pato O’Ward, Christian Lundgaard and Nolan Siegel — Kanaan didn’t have a list of drivers in mind. He knew Hunter-Reay was the guy to call. Kanaan called Hunter-Reay one of his best friends in racing, along with Franchitti and Scott Dixon.
After informally offering Hunter-Reay a deal to drive Arrow McLaren’s fourth entry, Kanaan gave Hunter-Reay three days to agree. Hunter-Reay did so and has been around the team ever since, including for all six races leading up to the Indy 500. Now, it’s Hunter-Reay’s turn to pilot the No. 31 Chevrolet.
“We think the same,” Kanaan said. “We share the same goals and qualities and defects. We speak the same language, and it became a lot easier for me to just default to him.”
Hunter-Reay and Kanaan’s careers as full-time driver have a lot of similarities. Both have 16 career IndyCar wins, they both have one IndyCar championship and both won the Indy 500 once — Kanaan in 2013, then Hunter-Reay in 2014.
That connection not only made Hunter-Reay’s integration into the team for the Indy 500 smooth, but it has also helped Hunter-Reay, in Kanaan’s words, be a “sense of security” for the three full-time drivers throughout the year.
Kanaan often expresses himself in a direct and animated manner. During his career as a driver, that worked. But as he’s worked his way from a special advisor at Arrow McLaren to the principal role he’s in for his second year, he’s had to tame that a bit as the boss.
That’s where the mild-mannered Hunter-Reay, who has no intention of being a driver coach because he doesn’t like “working with psychos,” has helped this year. Although Hunter-Reay and Kanaan think similarly, Hunter-Reay delivers messages differently, and given that he’s not anyone’s boss, his comments come across as suggestions more than instructions.
“He has a pretty set idea of what works, at least for him,” O’Ward said. “And I think that’s pretty powerful when you come into a team that we all kind of live in a somewhat similar island, and he does bring some new things that he believes he might like where he’s tried in other race cars around here.”
“He comes with a lot of credibility,” Lundgaard said. “He comes in, he knows exactly what he wants. He asks the crucial questions that may not be asked, and I think that’s made a pretty big difference.”
In the last three Indy 500s, Hunter-Reay raced for Dreyer & Reinbold, which isn’t a full-time IndyCar team. Hunter-Reay has spent the last six months around this Arrow McLaren team he says is “operating at full stride” along with familiar faces like Kanaan, team manager Kyle Moyer and director of engineering Eric Cowden.
“Success is about people, who you surround yourself with,” Hunter-Reay said. “And what value you put on those relationships, and that’s what this process is about. And there’s a big difference between showing up in May with your helmet bag and shaking everybody’s hand and jumping in the car as a one-off versus being a part of the program for months leading into it.”
The people Hunter-Reay has attached himself to and grown familiar with provide comfort heading into Sunday. But Hunter-Reay could end up winning the race because of a group of people he hasn’t been around much.
Arrow McLaren hires NASCAR pit crew
When the race begins, Hunter-Reay’s pit crew will be a group of guys who have never been on an IndyCar pit crew. Most of them have never been to an IndyCar race.
Arrow McLaren has contracted Legacy Motor Club, the NASCAR team owned by NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson, to run pit stops on the No. 31. Johnson and Kanaan were teammates at Chip Ganassi Racing for the 2022 Indy 500, the penultimate race of Kanaan’s career and the second (and last) Indy 500 for Johnson.
According to Ryan Harber, Arrow McLaren’s head of human performance, the team lost around 30% of its pit crew members from last season, forcing the team to think outside the box for Hunter-Reay’s car. In the late winter and early spring, the seeds were planted for Legacy Motor Club’s crew to make their way to IndyCar for the biggest race of the year.
“I think this is the way that the sport deserves to be progressed,” Harber told IndyStar. “I mean, we’re here to innovate, right? We’re constantly doing that on the mechanical side with the car, but nobody’s ever done on the human side.”
In IndyCar, teams don’t have full-time pit crew members. Those working on pit crews split their time as mechanics, working on gearboxes and other duties to perfect a car’s performance on race day. Thus, pit crew work often comes second to building cars, which leads to shaky performances in the pits over the course of the season.
Arrow McLaren has already been burned badly by a poor pit stop this year, as Lundgaard would’ve been neck and neck with Alex Palou at the Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix if not for a botched pit stop. Instead, Lundgaard finished the race second, over 13 seconds behind Palou.
“With the way that sport is evolving, and if races truly are won and lost in the pits, then why aren’t we putting our best people out there?” Harber questioned. “If we can do that with a true, dedicated athlete pit stop performer, then let’s try it.”
The Legacy Motor Club crew has no responsibility this weekend other than to get Hunter-Reay out of that pit box as quickly as possible. The crew wasn’t in Indianapolis for last week’s practice and qualifying, but it worked on pit stops — 89 to be exact — at the McLaren Racing Center in April before being at IMS for the open test on April 28 and 29.
Hunter-Reay’s pit crew is adjusting to doing IndyCar stops, which are different (and quicker) than NASCAR stops. In NASCAR, five members are allowed over the wall: two tire changers, one tire carrier, one jackman and one fueler. In IndyCar, six are allowed over the wall: four tire changers, one jackman and one fueler. NASCAR’s pit stops don’t allow for all four new tires to be in the pit box, thus the need for the tire carrier. The two tire changers start by replacing the outside tires before moving to the inside, while IndyCar has one person dedicated to each tire.
Arrow McLaren is hoping the endurance that Legacy Motor Club’s members have from doing longer races and about double the number of races as IndyCar teams will give them the advantage in the Indy 500, which is typically a five-stop race.
“It’s faster than a NASCAR pit stop,” said Jake Holmes, the jackman on the No. 31 this week. “You’re doing it in five seconds instead of eight, so it’s exciting. It’s still got the thrill and it’s a lot different, but it’s a lot more exciting.
If this experiment goes well, Arrow McLaren will look into contracting teams from NASCAR in the future or hiring full-time pit stop members who aren’t responsible for building cars. Arrow McLaren, true to its nature since McLaren Racing bought a stake in the team in 2020, is looking to “push the envelope,” Harber claims.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m nervous, I’m excited, I’m all the above,” said Harber, who’s a former minor league pitcher. “I’ve prepared them as best I could in this short amount of time, but they’re professionals and they understand that they’re here to execute.”
With Hunter-Reay starting the race in 22nd, quicker pit stops could help him move forward on the grid in the first half of the race, especially on cautions. It’s a daring decision by Arrow McLaren, but it’s one that might pay dividends.
Can Hunter-Reay win No. 2?
Starting 22nd would intimidate a lot of younger drivers. But situations like this are why Arrow McLaren brought Hunter-Reay in. Starting on the eighth row is something Hunter-Reay is comfortable with, as he started 25th last year and made his way to the lead.
“For the 500, it’s a different race,” Kanaan said. “Experience counts so much, and that’s why you can still see it, the veterans kind of dominating. So for me to run a fourth car, put the team to the length of stretching out a little bit because you’re adding a car, it needs to mean something.”
Hunter-Reay brings experience in the fourth seat that Arrow McLaren lacked in the past two Indy 500s. In 2024 and 2025, Kanaan and McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown hired two-time NASCAR Cup champion Kyle Larson to race for the team as Larson attempted ‘The Double.’ While Larson’s talented, it was his inexperience in an Indy car that kept him out of contention in both races.
Larson was with Arrow McLaren to prove he could drive in IndyCar, even if for only one race. At 45, Hunter-Reay is with the team to win another Borg-Warner trophy.
“Ryan Hunter-Reay wants another ring on his finger,” said Moyer, who’s entering his first Indy 500 with Arrow McLaren after being fired by Team Penske last May. “That’s why he’s here and everything like that. So having that type of champion is different than what Kyle was as a champion. Kyle wanted to do good here — if he could win, that would be great. In Ryan’s case, he’s a champion that’s already won here.
“So the only thing he can do is win a second time, and that’s all that matters. A second place, a third place, that is not a good day for him. It’s only winning. With Kyle, if he was at top five at the end of the day, that’s a hell of an accomplishment.”
Hunter-Reay said he evaluates retiring from the Indy 500 on a year-by-year basis, but “that fire burns as bright as it ever has” for him to win this race. As long as that’s the case and he can secure a seat, he’ll keep coming back.
“I just don’t want to participate, I want to win,” Hunter-Reay said. “And I know that I can contribute to that right now. And I know that if put in this position, I am still fully capable of making that happen.”
Since his 12-year run at Andretti Global ended at the end of the 2021 season, Hunter-Reay has been searching for the right fit. On Sunday, he’ll look to prove he’s found it.
Zion Brown is IndyStar’s motorsports reporter. Follow him at @z10nbr0wn. Get IndyStar’s motor sports coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Motor Sports newsletter. Subscribe to the YouTube channel IndyStar TV: IndyCar for a behind-the-scenes look at IndyCar and expert analysis.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Ryan Hunter-Reay readies for Arrow McLaren Indy 500 debut as team uses unorthodox pit crew
Reporting by Zion Brown, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
