Ganassi believes Lundgaard’s talent, approach make him right fit for No. 9

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INDIANAPOLIS — Chip Ganassi needed only one question to explain why Christian Lundgaard was the right driver to succeed Scott Dixon in one of INDYCAR’s most prominent seats.

“When is the last time a guy that finished third in the points was available?” Ganassi said when asked this week why he chose the 25-year-old Danish driver to drive the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda.

 “That about says it all to me.”

Lundgaard will take over the No. 9 following Dixon’s two-decade run with Chip Ganassi Racing. Although Ganassi considered candidates from inside and outside the series, he said Lundgaard continually emerged as the standard against which every other option was measured.

“Christian’s name kept landing back as the obvious one,” Ganassi said. “Like wait a minute, ‘We’re not overlooking this guy, are we?’”

Ganassi said the team compared each potential candidate to Lundgaard, weighing whether drivers from outside INDYCAR would need time to learn the tracks, adapt to the driving style or commit to racing in the United States.

Lundgaard already had the experience Ganassi wanted. He has spent five seasons in INDYCAR, knows the circuits and paddock and has made five Indianapolis 500 starts. Most importantly for a team that has built its success on consistency, Lundgaard has demonstrated an ability to finish races and accumulate points.

“We just look for people with talent,” Ganassi said. “I think everything else can sort of be taught.

“I think it all has to do with his prerequisites — before being at Ganassi, his prerequisites, he’s taken something away from all of those to develop into the driver that he is today. So he has five years of experience in the series. He’s been to the Indianapolis 500 now a handful of times.

“These are all things that are no small thing when you’re coming into a new environment that make you attractive to a new team. And he seems to be able to keep the car on the — he keeps the rubber side down and the shiny side up, as they say. He keeps the car on the track, so that develops into points. And as you know, we like those guys that can amass points.”

Ganassi’s evaluation extended beyond Lundgaard’s results.

Ganassi said he does not spend his initial meetings with prospective drivers discussing setups, springs or other technical details. He instead wants to understand their character and determine whether they will fit into the culture developed by managing director Mike Hull and the rest of the organization.

“I want to know what they’re made of, what their values are,” Ganassi said. “Christian will tell you, I grilled him pretty extensively in terms of what we expect and what we want, what’s important and what’s not important.

“Yeah, we have a great culture that Mike Hull and his team have built and we try to push that down on other people, whether it’s on-track activities or off-track activities. I’m confident that our system will continue to develop Christian in the same manner.”

Ganassi described Lundgaard as clinical and “a student of the craft,” qualities the team believes will help him adjust to the No. 9 while learning from five-time series champion Alex Palou.

Ganassi also dismissed questions about Lundgaard’s ability on ovals, an area that has been portrayed as a weakness during his INDYCAR career. Lundgaard has 29 career starts on oval tracks and scored his first career podium finish in August at Milwaukee.

“He didn’t seem to have these sort of oval questions — I didn’t see any of those questions at Milwaukee; he seemed to do OK there,” Ganassi said. “That’s an oval, and he beat all three of our guys. So I’m not overly concerned.”

Lundgaard believes his performance during the second half of the season showed meaningful progress on ovals. He said he felt he had a chance to win the second race at Milwaukee and is confident Ganassi provides the right environment for him to continue developing.

“Chip Ganassi Racing, if I’m not mistaken, has two new 500 winners in (Marcus) Ericsson and (Alex) Palou,” Lundgaard said. “Alex had never won an oval until he won the 500 and kind of mastered it ever since. I think it’s the right place to learn that.

“But again, I thought we carried a lot of momentum at the second half of ’26. In many ways, we could have, would have, should have won race 2 in Milwaukee. And from the conversations and just the talks out there, it’s not really anything that I look at or care so much about. It’s we want to figure it out. It’s not like I’m sat on the couch just waiting for it to happen. We’re working hard behind the scenes.

“I think we’ll figure it out very quickly here.”

Lundgaard will inherit a car and crew closely associated with Dixon, who helped establish the identity of the No. 9 during his record-setting tenure with the organization. Ganassi said he was not looking to make a dramatic departure from what Dixon brought to the team.

“I don’t know why you’d want to go too far off of that,” Ganassi said. “Maybe a degree or two, but we’re not talking 180 degrees off. I think it would be hard to argue with Scott’s 25-year run, and it would be hard to say there was anything bad about that. I certainly wouldn’t want to do anything too different if I was to say I want to do something different.”

Lundgaard understands the expectations that come with succeeding Dixon, but he also sees an opportunity to learn from the organization that has won a record 18 INDYCAR championships.

“The amount of old races that I have seen, and that No. 9 car is Scott Dixon,” Lundgaard said. “It’s going to feel very strange to me to be in that car, and I’m sure it’s going to look very different from the outside as well.

“But it’s a task that I’m super excited to take on and join the team and see what we can do. We’re in the business of trying to win but also create some great memories and stories.”