Kyle Larson attempted the Memorial Day Double in both 2024 and 2025, and his IndyCar ride for his first two Indy 500 starts came with Arrow McLaren, in collaboration with his Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team.
Larson did not return to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for this year's running of the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing", and if he opts to do so in 2027, it won't be with Arrow McLaren.
In 2026, McLaren welcomed 2012 IndyCar champion and 2014 Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay to the team as sporting director, under the leadership of team principal Tony Kanaan, a former series champion and Indy 500 winner himself.
Just as Kanaan did in 2023, before he became team principal, Hunter-Reay piloted a fourth entry for the team in the Indy 500 this past May, driving the car that Larson drove in both 2024 and 2025, albeit renumbered from No. 17 to No. 31.
Kyle Larson replacement announces 2027 return
Despite an early crash, Hunter-Reay, who might well have been one clean pit stop away from winning the race for the second time in 2025 when he was still with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and Cusick Motorsports, is set to return as the team's fourth Indy 500 driver in 2027.
Other than the expected return of two-time Indy 500 runner-up Pato O'Ward as the full-time driver of the team's No. 5 Chevrolet, it's the only thing set to remain the same in McLaren's lineup beyond the conclusion of the 2026 season.
Nolan Siegel, who has just five top 10 finishes since joining the team in 2024, was always expected to be out. But the team also released Christian Lundgaard at a time when he sits third in the championship standings with two victories, simply because they don't feel he is capable of winning the Indy 500.
They are set to bring in Scott Dixon, the six-time series champion and 2008 Indy 500 winner who has been with Chip Ganassi Racing for 25 years, and reigning Indy 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist, who has spent the past two-plus years driving for Meyer Shank Racing after being dropped by McLaren himself after a three-year stint from 2021 to 2023.
Now all of a sudden, the only driver in the team's new-look lineup without an Indy 500 win to his name is O'Ward, who has come close on a number of occasions and would have been the 2024 winner if the race were the Indy 499.
With the focus on IndyCar experience and previous achievements over youth, despite how talented that youth, Lundgaard in particular, is, it's hard to imagine Larson, who has just two series starts to his name, running another Indy 500 in papaya anytime soon, especially after he crashed three times in 2025.
