Nolan Siegel has had an eventful year so far, starting the season driving in IndyNXT with HMD Motorsports and now driving full time for Arrow McLaren in IndyCar.
His first taste of IndyCar during a race weekend was at Long Beach in April of this year, the first of a couple races he had planned to run with Dale Coyne Racing while still contesting the IndyNXT championship.
In June, he was asked by Juncos Hollinger Racing to fill in for Agustin Canapino at Road America, a decision that was made while he was in the middle of an on-track IndyNXT session.
A short time later, Siegel completely abandoned his feeder series ambitions when he was offered a chance to finish out the season with Arrow McLaren starting with the race at Laguna Seca.
The progression into the top level of American open wheel racing has happened very quickly for the 19-year-old, and he has been handling his new duties quite well considering how little time he has had to digest the changes.
“No, certainly not,” said Siegel when asked by Motorsportweek.com if he could imagine being where he is now six months ago.
“Really until a couple days before Laguna I had no idea I would be here. Obviously I was expecting to be here in IndyNXT, now I’m here with Arrow McLaren in IndyCar. It’s quite a big change.
“It’s already starting to feel normal being here every weekend, but it’s pretty cool to look back on the start of the season and how quickly everything has changed. It puts it all in perspective.
“Yeah, it hasn’t been easy, but I’m feeling a lot more comfortable. Again, each weekend gets better on that front. It has been wild. But it feel like it’s been a lot longer than it has been, so it is wild to think that two and a half months ago I had no idea I would be here.
“I think the progress everywhere has been good. Every weekend has been better, in a lot of aspects, than the previous. To look back at where we started in Laguna to now, it’s a big difference. I’m quite happy with the way the #6 team has pushed through and progressed.”
Siegel finished third in the IndyNXT championship last season, was third in the points before leaving the series for IndyCar, and has already scored a top 10 finish at Gateway.
As each weekend goes by, he is gaining more and more comfort and it seems likely he will soon be fighting for podiums alongside the best in the sport.
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