Nolan Siegel’s absence from the second Iowa IndyCar race, explained

Arrow McLaren will be without one of their drivers for the second race at Iowa Speedway

Nolan Siegel was set to take the green flag in P5 for the second race of IndyCar’s doubleheader in Iowa on Sunday. But after a hard crash in the closing laps of Saturday’s first race at Iowa Speedway, the Arrow McLaren driver has not been cleared by IndyCar’s medical team, and the team has decided not to run the No. 6 car without him.

Siegel got loose on Lap 248 of Saturday’s race, careening into the wall to bring out the red flag:

After the race resumed, Siegel’s teammate Pato O’Ward took home the win.

In a statement from the team, Siegel expressed his disappointment at not being cleared to race on Sunday after the team gave him a “rocket” for the weekend.

“There’s no place I’d rather be than out there driving today, especially from P5, one of my best starting positions of the season,” said Siegel. “I know I’m in good hands with the INDYCAR Medical Team and thank them for the great care they provide us drivers. Most of all, I feel for the 6 car crew. They gave me a rocket this weekend and put in a ton of work last night with hopes we’d be racing today. They deserve to be out there fighting for podium, and we’ll be back soon to do just that.”

Arrow McLaren Team Principal Tony Kanaan outlined how he sympathized with his young driver, having been in his shoes before.

“I’ve been there, I know how Nolan feels not racing today. It’s the worst feeling in the world. The most important thing, though, is that he’s fit to race, and unfortunately that’s not the case today,” said Kanaan. “It was a tough decision to park the car, but we’ve been through this before. We just found out this morning he’s not cleared, and we decided the best thing for the team is to not rush into switching drivers this weekend. It’s too much of a shuffle and unnecessary stress when we’re right back to racing in Toronto in a week.”

Regarding next week’s race, the Arrow McLaren boss made it clear the team will have a contingency plan if Siegel is not cleared in time.

“After today, we’ll have to make a contingency plan in case Nolan’s not cleared to race in Toronto, but today, this is the best for the team,” added Kanaan.

Could that contingency plan be the former Indy 500 winner himself? Kanaan participated in a refresher test ahead of this year’s Indianapolis 500, in case he needed to slide into Kyle Larson’s seat as the NASCAR champion attempted “The Double.”