By: Ashley McCubbin

The combination of a contract year and results the year before not hitting expectations can bring new pressure for the year ahead. Despite Nolan Siegel being in that spot right now, he says it does not change anything entering the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season.

“The goal for me is always to finish as far up the grid as I possibly can and perform at my best all the time. So I show up every weekend, I’m pushing myself as far as I can and trying to perform the best that I possibly can,” he said. “It’s not like if the goal is to finish in the top five, I’m like, Oh, okay, I’ll push a little harder to get there, I don’t want to finish seventh, I want to finish fifth. I want to finish as far up as I possibly can every weekend. That doesn’t change for 2026.

“Whatever the expectation is, I’m still going to be doing the same thing.”

Team Principal Tony Kanaan asserted his belief in the young driver last July in Toronto when speaking with News From The Pits in saying, “Nolan is our driver,” but shared with Motorsport.com about a month ago that if Siegel fails to finish inside the top-10 in the standings, it will be hard to keep him on the team moving forward.

The comments may have caught some people off-guard, but it has not brought extra pressure thus far, according to Siegel.

“That’s why I’m here. I’m here to challenge myself to compete at the highest level. Ultimately if I do perform, there will be a future. If I don’t, there won’t,” he commented. “That’s always how it’s going to be in motorsport. That’s how it is for everyone in motorsport. That’s how it is even if you’re established. That’s kind of the nature of being a professional athlete. If you perform, you have a job. If you don’t, you don’t.”

Siegel went on to add that it’s about turning the pace and speed they showed into execution and results over the long haul this year to score more than just a couple top-10’s as he did this past season.

“I think I’ve kind of grown in that role and gotten better in that role. That’s been a challenge, but something I’ve kind of embraced and really tried to learn from, again, my more experienced teammates, Tony. T.K. is really good at that, a good leader and someone that people want to work hard for. I think seeing that mindset from him has been helpful for me,” he explained. “I think from an actual driving standpoint, in INDYCAR I feel like there are very critical phases of the races. Some phases where you can kind of chill and save fuel, save tires, save yourself, then portions of the race during pit sequences where you really have to push. That’s where you really make a difference.

“For me, kind of understanding when those critical phases are I think is important and something that I learned in 2025. There were a couple races where we lost some ground just from me kind of not reading the race properly from in the car. I’ve reviewed all of that and I think that I can make big gains there for ’26.”

Since the comments, the pair have not had a conversation together, due to Kanaan being busy at the shop while Siegel kept himself in a racecar through racing sportscars over the winter.

“I’m not really super concerned about that,” he commented. “I think he knows me well enough to know where we’re at on that front. There’s not a whole lot to talk through. There’s no issue. I’m excited to continue working with T.K. I hope he’s excited to continue working with me. I hope we have a good season together.”