The grid for the 2027 INDYCAR season is slowly starting to fall into place. After Scott Dixon’s move to Arrow McLaren shocked the paddock, his replacement at Chip Ganassi Racing is finally confirmed. Christian Lundgaard will be piloting the No. 9 for CGR after signing a multi-year contract with the team.
Lundgaard Officially Replaces Dixon
Following months of speculation, it’s a full driver swap between CGR and McLaren with Dixon and Lundgaard filling the spots in each other’s respective teams. CGR announced Dixon’s departure about halfway through the season. This made Lundgaard’s future at the time, completely unknown.
Lundgaard is coming off a career-best third place championship finish. During the 2026 season he won on two road courses and secured five additional podium finishes. This includes his first podium finish on an oval. During a press conference, Chip Ganassi spoke about his confidence in Lundgaard’s ability to bring in strong results for the team.
“We just look for people with talent. I think everything else can sort of be taught, you saw at the end of last season at Milwaukee, he was obviously doing very well on ovals.
I think it all has to do with his prerequisites before being at Ganassi; he’s taken something away from all of those (previous teams) 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 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”
Looking Towards the 2027 Season
Going into next season, the driver lineup at Chip Ganassi is confirmed to be Lundgaard, Kyffin Simpson and five-time champion Álex Palou. As one of the youngest driver lineups on the grid, each driver shows potential to grow and adapt as time goes on. Lundgaard said he looks forward to being able to learn from the champion.
“Obviously, just seeing Álex having performed the way he has in the last six years, having won five championships now, he’s been the guy to beat.
I think the first thought that I had when this came on the table and became an opportunity was I am learning from the best driver who learned form the best driver in Scott Dixon, and I think just getting to learn as much as I can from there. And obviously joining CGR and Chip and the 18 championships, it’s really just a dream come true in many ways.It’s one of those opportunities you never expected to rise, and I’m just super excited to join Chip Ganassi and PNC Bank.”
With Palou becoming the most successful driver in the series over the past few years, healthy internal competition is going to play a key role in CGR’s performance over the next few seasons. Lundgaard now has access to the same team and resources as Palou. Along with learning from him, he’ll also be competing against him on a much larger scale as teammates.
While there were some questions surrounding the pressure of filling Dixon’s seat, Lundgaard spoke about embracing the change and viewing it as a new beginning for the team. The 2027 season is still months away from beginning but the work has already started. All eyes will be on the No. 9 car in St. Petersburg when Christian Lundgaard makes his Chip Ganassi Racing debut.